Who?I’m a software engineer and entrepreneur focused on modern web technologies and AI.
Here's an ongoing autobiography, which also shares the story of my by-the-bootstraps "unschooling" education: now the subject of a chapter on grit and resilience in the bestselling book Mindshift by Barbara Oakley.
An angel investor once described my core soft skill in the role of founder or early team member as: "The ability to perceive exactly what needs to be done. And then to do it."
My experience working in difficult environments around the world means that I can be trusted to get things done, even when things go wrong.
In the past, I coined the term "Startup Cities" as co-founder of StartupCities.org and a startup spinoff, both of which focused on why startups should build cities. I now write about Startup Cities at StartupCities.com
I've won several awards for economic research and have been published or interviewed in Virgin Entrepreneur, a16z's Future.com, The Atlantic's CityLab, Foreign Policy, and in academic volumes by Routledge and Palgrave MacMillan.
Wait... what is this site?
This is my personal portfolio, inspired by the question: "What would the opposite of the two-color template developer blog look like?"
Have fun exploring!
Click the Start Menu to learn more.
Contact:hello @ zach.dev
Adventures with People Around the World
Note: some of these photos were taken during filming of a documentary about the War on Drugs and contain images that some people may find distressing.
5000 Calls Per Day – Central Station, Zone 4
Border Crossing, Juárez
Bullets for Genesis – Signs of Organized Crime, Sololá
Burn Victim, Zone 9
Chicken Bus Mechanic
Clothes Vendor with MPesa – Digital Banking in Kenya
Paperwork – Los Voluntarios Central Station
Disabled Traders Union – Kisumu
Homebrew Dispatch – Los Voluntarios Central Station
Line Up – El Basurer
El Basurero Swarm
Genesis – Guatemala
Guard – El Basurero
Herber Showing Off His Kids
"It was a shot to the head"
Get a better look – Zone 10
Homebrew Security System
Javier, 22
Miriam, Trashpicker
Fruit Trader – Mombasa
Onion Vendors – La Terminal
"Peace in Kenya" – Mombasa
Check Out My Phone – Mombasa
Recycling
Ecoplast Plant
Red Zone – La Limonada
Revolving Loan Fund
"Pay your dues!"
Dustbowl – El Basurero
Scavenger Streetside
Vaqueros – Casas Grandes
Squatter House Chihuahua – Formerly home of Pancho Vill
"TGI Fridays"
New Generation - Sololá
Viejita and Dog
Vegetables Wholesale
Wilson Maina – Nairobi
