A website. An app. A business. A startup. I'm Mash — 25 years of building companies and teaching people how. Whatever you're making, I'll coach you through it, teach you what I know, or roll up my sleeves and build it with you.
You've read the posts, watched the videos, maybe bought the course. Information was never the bottleneck — momentum is. What actually moves a build forward is someone who has done it before sitting next to you: deciding what's next, cutting what doesn't matter, and holding you to shipping it. That's the work I do — with founders, with solo builders, with people on their very first thing. It's the idea behind my book, What Holds Up the Roof.
See the full approach →A website, an app, a business — the work is always the same shape: decide, build, put it in front of a real person, repeat. Here's where I'm most useful.
From an idea in your head to something real you can show someone — the hardest, most avoided step.
The smallest version that proves the idea — and permission to cut everything else for now.
The tools, the AI workflow, and the working sessions that get it out of drafts and into the world.
Who it's for, what to say to them, and the one channel worth running before you try five.
The specific thing that's blocked you for weeks. Usually one hour, usually not what you thought.
A standing session and a cadence, so the build survives the week your motivation doesn't.
Join the free community. Come to a workshop. Book an hour when you're stuck. Keep a standing session every month. Or hire me to build the thing with you. Start wherever you actually are — and if you can't pay yet, start free and come back when you're ready.
Four exits — one as a founder, three as an advisor. I founded FastPencil and sold it to Courier Corp in 2011, then built a consulting practice of my own; three of those clients went on to billion-dollar exits — an IPO, a merger, and a private-equity deal. I was on the team, not the reason it happened. I also launched a startup incubator at San José State, and I've taught there since 2018 — thousands of students so far. Building is what I know; teaching people to build is what I actually do — the throughline of my book, What Holds Up the Roof.
More about me →
And these days a visible body of work beats a resume — it's evidence, not claims. So I help people build both: the thing itself, and the reputation that makes people trust them before the first conversation.
My book What Holds Up the Roof is a business fable — the four principles of entrepreneurship, drawn from 25 years in startups, told through a founder learning what actually keeps a business standing when the plan falls apart.
The free Skool community where builders meet other builders — live workshops, meetups, and honest conversation about what's actually working. This is where I send everyone who isn't ready to pay for help yet. Come back when you are.
Join for free →Occasional essays and field notes on building things — written the way I'd say it in a working session, sent straight to your inbox.
Read on Substack →Every Thursday I sit down with builders and leaders — from people shipping their first thing to CEOs scaling past $10M — to unpack what really works.
Listen in →Book thirty minutes. Describe the thing you're making and where it's stuck — you'll leave with a clear next step, whether or not we ever work together.
Book 30 minutes with meCan't pay for help yet? Join the free community instead.
