Everyone Saw an Auto Shop.
I Saw a Platform.
I dropped out of college, taught myself systems thinking from scratch, and built a multi-million dollar business by asking questions nobody in my industry was asking. Then I sold it. Now I bring that same thinking to your business.
The Insight That Started Everything
The auto repair industry had a trust problem, a pricing problem, and an access problem, and nobody was solving any of them because the industry had never once been designed around the customer.
I looked at that and asked a different question: what if repair shop capacity worked like cloud computing? What if instead of selling auto repair service, you offered on-demand infrastructure: compute when you need it, nothing when you don't?
That question became Stew's Garage, an infrastructure platform that happened to be in the auto industry. On-demand bays, serverless pricing, fully managed service tiers. The same abstraction models that power AWS, applied to a physical business.
I didn't learn this in school, I dropped out. I learned it by reading everything I could get my hands on: cloud architecture, behavioral economics, service design, logistics, and connecting ideas that nobody in my industry had thought to connect.
How I Think
When I hit a new domain, I go straight to the foundational texts: the papers, the frameworks, the primary sources. I read until the mental models click, then I apply them. I hold three AWS certifications, including Solutions Architect Professional, not to collect credentials, but because I don't skim a discipline. I learn it deeply enough to pass the real professional exams. That's how I approach every client's problem space too. Deep enough to see the structure underneath.
After 10+ years building one business, I sold it. I could have built another one. But one business means one set of problems. Consulting means a new puzzle every engagement: different industry, different stage, different constraints. That variety is where cross-domain pattern recognition gets sharpest. The thing that made Stew's Garage work wasn't auto repair knowledge, it was seeing that cloud infrastructure principles applied to physical space. That only happens when you're constantly moving between domains.
Outside of work, I'm based in Seattle. I play golf, enjoy driving on nice weather days, and you can find my wife and I at the University of Washington cheering on Husky football, Mens basketball, baseball and softball.
Why People Work with Me
I know what it's like to wear every hat. To make payroll by the skin of your teeth. To build the product, manage the team, close the deals, and still be the one answering customer emails at midnight. I've been that founder.
But I've also been on the other side. I built a scalable onboarding system for Uber capable of processing 600+ drivers per week per location, and partnering with companies like Rivian and Google. Most consultants have experience at one end of that spectrum. I have both.
What I bring isn't a playbook from a business school. It's pattern recognition built from doing the work, across industries, across scales, across every stage of growth.
By the Numbers
Ready to Think Differently About Your Business?
Tell me what's not working. I'll tell you what I see.