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When people ask me about my entrepreneurial journey, I usually start with Member.buzz, the first company I built. It began in an unexpected place — the May Ball hosted by the St Andrews Alumni Club in New York City. I was helping coordinate the event, and I realized how painful it was to pull everything together. Ticketing, communication, membership, logistics — none of the tools available worked well enough for a group that was growing quickly.
That frustration became the spark for Member.buzz.
Building at Night
I officially started building the platform in 2014 as a side project. By day, I worked full-time in finance and consulting. By night, I taught myself to code and stayed up until the early morning hours piecing the platform together.
My path up to that point had been unconventional. I graduated from the London School of Economics in 2009 planning to go into investment banking, but the financial crisis changed that path quickly. I pivoted, co-founded a hedge fund with a friend, and later went into consulting. Along the way, I developed an obsession with building and problem-solving — and coding became a way to bring ideas to life.
The first piece of functionality I built was event ticketing. It worked, and it was awesome to see it come to life. That was the moment I realized I was onto something.
Lessons in Perfectionism
Early on, there were a few advocates who encouraged me, but for the most part, it was me grinding it out. Looking back, one of my biggest lessons was tied to perfectionism. I spent too much time making the platform beautiful and functional for myself instead of listening to what customers wanted or focusing on sales.
Advisors told me more than once to forget the product and focus on selling it — and I brushed them aside. The customers I did have loved the platform, but they were a small subset, not a mass market. I also made the early mistake of offering it for free and trying to monetize payments. That model didn’t create stickiness, which is why I eventually shifted toward a monthly subscription.
The Challenges
Like most startups, the road wasn’t smooth. Scaling the platform, raising money, and finding the right people to join me were constant challenges. Investors kept moving the goalposts: “Come back when you have X revenue,” or, “Come back when you have Y members.” The bar always shifted.
Despite those hurdles, adoption was real.
More than 20,000 users and 300 organizations signed up over the years. Nonprofits like the NYPD’s charities and chambers of commerce used it, as well as lawyers and niche groups. It had strong grassroots appeal, but it never broke into mass adoption. That mismatch between traction and sustainable revenue was the hardest part.
What Worked and What Didn’t
Even with those struggles, I’m proud of what we built. To this day, organizations still use Member.buzz. One nonprofit, Ride Janie Ride continues to run its annual fundraiser on the platform.
But there are things I would do differently. I spent a huge amount of time making it an all-in-one tool — even building out a website editor (a WYSIWYG builder) just as Squarespace was gaining traction. It turned into a complex feature that distracted from the core value: bringing members and groups together.
In my mind, adding features was efficient because of the common code base. But I underestimated how hard it would be for end users. What seemed simple to me as a developer required heavy onboarding for them. My thesis was right technically, but wrong practically.
The big lesson was discipline of vision. Instead of trying to boil the ocean, I should have solved one critical problem really well and grown from there.
How It Shapes Me Today
If I could go back, I’d design a different roadmap. But I don’t regret the time I invested. Member.buzz taught me how important it is to balance vision with pragmatism, to listen to customers early, and to focus on what really delivers value.
Now, as I build YGI Solutions, I’m applying those lessons every day. I’m no longer trying to make everything perfect. I’m focused on a clear pain point — helping companies simplify their tech stacks, cut costs, and strengthen compliance.
At Member.buzz, I built the tech myself. At YGI, I bring that same builder’s mindset to clients who need someone who actually understands their environment.
Looking Ahead
The story of Member.buzz isn’t over. There’s still opportunity to license the technology and refine its business model. But the biggest legacy is the set of lessons it left me with:
Those lessons are my compass now, and they're the foundation I'm building on with YGI.
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