Think under pressure
Debate taught me to research unfamiliar ideas, find the real clash, and make a decision while someone intelligent was pushing back.
Founder and CEO
Debate changed the direction of my life. I'm building SuperDebate so more people can discover what happens when their ideas are taken seriously and tested.
The origin
I grew up in neighborhoods on Chicago's South Side. At 15, I was captain of the football team, reading Nietzsche and Plato at night, and arguing with classmates often enough that a history teacher sent me to the debate coach.
The first varsity round I watched was alienating and exhilarating. The jargon was ugly, but the precision was extraordinary. I wanted the clarity, the rigor, and the ability to defend a difficult position against serious challenge.
Three years later, I was a city-wide varsity champion. Debate carried me to college on a full scholarship and gave me skills I still use every day.
What stayed with me
Debate became the cognitive infrastructure beneath everything I built afterward.
Debate taught me to research unfamiliar ideas, find the real clash, and make a decision while someone intelligent was pushing back.
It gave me earned confidence: not the belief that I am always right, but the knowledge that an idea can survive being tested.
Arguing positions I did not hold taught me the hard form of empathy: the discipline of understanding a worldview before answering it.
Builder to founder
I spent the next decade building products, advising technology companies, leading teams, and founding ventures. The work changed, from marketplaces to AI strategy to Web3, but the method remained familiar: learn quickly, find the hidden assumption, stress-test the plan, and keep showing up.
Why SuperDebate
Public disagreement has become a performance: outrage for an algorithm, certainty for a tribe, and very little room to change your mind. Adults have almost nowhere to practice the basic human skill of arguing well.
SuperDebate is my attempt to rebuild that room: local clubs, live events, serious opponents, fair formats, and a community where the strongest argument matters more than the loudest voice.