• Grew up in: Santa Barbara, CA
• Currently in: Still Santa Barbara, CA
• Star Sign: Cancer
• What was your favorite band when you were a teenager?: Classic Rock always. 99.9 is the radio station I’ve listened to my whole life with my dad. Every Saturday was the ‘Breakfast with Bob Marley’ block from 7am to noon. We’d listen and make breakfast to it every Saturday.
• If you could go to the Olympics for any sport, what would it be?: I think what’s special about the Olympics is the team unity and I’d like to be part of a team that competes – so a swimming relay would be really special.
• What is the most used app on your phone? Normally it would be a tide chart that I check every single day, but our dog is going through a training program and he has a ‘doggie fitbit collar’ and part of his training routine is that he has to hit a certain amount of physical activity every day, so I’m constantly checking that app to see where he’s at.

• I got into sales through my grandfather who ran sales for a couple large multinational corporations. In his era that required a lot of travel, he would talk to me about his business trips and that got me interested in sales.
• Right out of college one of my best friends’ fathers got me my first sales job out of school and continued to mentor me for a number of years – that helped me grow from an account executive to pursuing sales leadership

• Going from sales leader to running a business was a transition I don’t think I was fully prepared for because of my lack of knowledge of the R&D space – I had partnered with them before, but I didn’t have the deep knowledge of how high functioning R&D orgs operate and how to scale them. That was my biggest challenge as a leader and why I pushed so hard to bring in a high caliber CTO in Damon Valenzona to help cover that blind spot
• The background of sales that’s suited me well is my comfort in getting in front of customers, supporting our sales org, shaping a buyer persona, the value props we bring to the market – I think this background has allowed us to grow an efficient sales org that can support the kind of growth we’ve had with a lean team.

• I think it’s rare in today’s world that vendors truly are looked at as partners and when someone is evaluating a new vendor that they really want to understand what that individual and company looks like and feels like to work with. Much of sales has moved to a transactional process and that’s not the case in Ag
• We go onsite with almost every new customer, getting to know them as people and as a business. This means our sales cycle lengths can be a bit longer, but that plays into the high retention that we see because customers see a partnership there rather than feeling like we’re just a software provider. It brings much more value to the work that we do everyday.

• That I am an avid traveler. I’ve been fortunate to travel pretty extensively and have visited over 50 countries around the world.
• Before joining PickTrace, my wife Maddie and I spent a whole year going around the world

• I’m a sucker for remote island locations and remote destinations in general.
• The top couple trips that come to mind would be an island 1000 miles off the coast of Australia called Lord Howe Island – that’s a special place to my family. Quantas flies one flight  a week so once you’re out there you’re truly out there and there’s only 20 or 30 other people on there at a time
• The Komodo islands are a super memorable place. Maddie, and I chartered a fishing boat and spent a week diving some of the most untouched reefs in the world.
• Before it closed down, Myanmar was one of the coolest land adventures I’ve been on. Bagan is one of the most impressive ruin networks I’ve ever explored in my life. There aren’t paths, it’s not guarded, you’re just climbing through these temples with unrestricted access.
• I also love East Africa – the first time I went, I was immediately fascinated by the culture, the people, the vast land where you can be in a Jeep for 14 hours and not see another car – you’re coming across the most incredible landscape and crazy animal encounters.
• Next up is Japan!

• It’s changed, before having our son, Bennett, I spent a lot of time diving, surfing, playing golf and hiking
• Post-Bennet it’s a lot of time with him, whether it’s at the zoo, the sea center, or the beach. Definitely a lot less time diving and golfing

• Coconut – I’m a sucker for tropical islands and as a coconut you get to hang out on a tropical beach every day.

 RAPID FIRE:

• Grew Up In: Lausanne, Switzerland – the French side of the country
• Currently in: San Diego, CA – I was born Swiss but I’m Californian in my heart
• Star Sign: Virgo
• If you could see one movie again for the first time, what would it be and why?: Inception with Leonardo Dicaprio – I’m someone who really likes the psychological element of it. I’m passionate about understanding how the brain works
• Do you prefer savory or sweet snacks?: I’m not really a snacks guy, but if I have to choose, I prefer salty snacks 
• Pick one: Mountains, Beaches, Cities: A city with beaches nearby, like San Diego. I left Switzerland to be away from the mountains, but I do miss cycling them.

DIGGING DEEPER

Data analytics is a career change for you – what drew you to the field?

• I used to work in the commercial industry for 10 years managing clients
• My role was largely soft skills – and I wanted to do something with more problem solving and that requires me to use more of my brain
• I discovered data and data analysis and made the shift

   

What is your dream project/client/industry?

• I would love to gain some more experience first, but eventually I’d love to open my own consultancy to help small and medium companies leverage data in their own organizations

What’s the best advice you have ever received?

•  “They say you only live once- but that’s not true – you only die once and you live every day”
• For me this means every day is a new day and everything that I have lived is part of my experience to do something better the next day

How do you like to spend your time outside of work? 

• I like cycling –  you discover new places when you cycle. You go on an adventure and get to see landscapes, get fresh air, and when you’ve gone a long distance you feel you’ve accomplished something.
  It’s very difficult. You’ll be cycling up a mountain and you have to distract yourself to forget the pain of it, but when you get to the top you don’t even think about how hard it was to get there.  
• I started cycling when I was younger and got to watch the Tour de France. I liked how fast they could go just with their bikes. I then learned that my grandfather had been a cyclist and felt connected to him through the sport.
• For a while I was trying to go professional, but I didn’t like the vibe of the competitions and ultimately the sacrifices to make it a career were not worth it

   

• I was a DJ in Switzerland and in my free time I like to go to shows and see electronic music – not just at clubs, but also outdoors or in unconventional venues. I’m into house music and minimal music. 
• I really like the vibe of electronic music – what I listen to electronic music it’s something you don’t hear everywhere else it allows me to escape and go somewhere new and the community around the music is really fun

If you could switch lives with any one person for the day, who would it be and why?

• I would love to switch lives with an astronaut. I am a man of experience and love traveling, it’s one of my passions. Going to space and having a different perspective on our world would be breathtaking. I am sure this is one of the only experiences that could change me as a human being. If I could do it, I would definitely do it. Top of my bucket list

What’s something most people don’t know about you? 

• I learned how to hypnotize people when I was a teenager. I was interested in psychology, but I didn’t believe in hypnosis so I tried to learn it to see for myself if it was real and I was successful
• I got some media coverage when I was young and for a few years I was a hypnotist performer

If you were a kind of produce, what would you be and why?

• I would be an orange – it grows under the sun and I’m someone who follows the sun. I try to only go to nice, tropical places where the sun is. I can grow myself when the sun is near. This is part of why I left Europe

RAPID FIRE:

• Grew Up In: Los Angeles, CA

• Currently in: Orange County, CA

• Star Sign: Libra

• Who is the most listened to artist in your Spotify/Apple Music/ etc?: My kids are really into Miley Cyrus’s Plastic Hearts album lately

• If you could have any super power, what would it be?: Invincibility. Basically not having to worry about getting hurt or having insurance would be great

• What is your favorite ice cream flavor?: Chocolate chip – it’s simple and easy to find

  DIGGING DEEPER:

• How did you get started as an engineer?
  I was actually in school to be a galley artist – I went to CalArts and was doing a lot of performance art. While I was there, I took a game making class and my teacher hired me afterwards
  The first game I made was similar to Geometry Dash – it was neon shapes bouncing around guided through an obstacle course

• Besides the interesting work you get to do with PickTrace 😉 – what is the most interesting- or unusual – job you’ve ever had?
  I worked in a music store in Pasadena as a teenager and there was a boxing ring in the store that bands would play in – sometimes the staff would dress up as animals and box in it. I didn’t like being in the suit – it was hot and stiff.

   

• How do you like to spend your time outside of work?
  I have three really young kids, so mostly spending time with them and on the house
  We have a lot of plants, four cats and a dog. It’s very folksy here
  We’ve been taking the kids roller skating. They’re pretty good at it, but they haven’t quite figured out how to stop when they’re going fast…

• Describe your dream vacation:
  I’d want to go to someplace really naturally beautiful, like Antarctica or the Dead Sea. Somewhere where I could do more hiking and nature-based activities

• What’s something most people don’t know about you?
  I didn’t learn to drive until I was 27/28 – I was (and am) very pro-bike and public transit. I think Los Angeles is actually pretty bikeable and the public transit could be better, but it’s still pretty good.

• If you were a kind of produce, what would you be and why?
  I want it to be grapes because they’re my favorite, but I’m gonna go with a potato. I’m very boring, but also delicious, and I come in a variety of shades. You can survive a long time on just potatoes – I don’t know what that means for me though… When left in a dry dark place, potatoes can get very shrivelly and tendrilly

RAPID FIRE:

• Grew Up In: In Tulare CA and I just moved back!
• Star Sign: Virgo
• What was your favorite movie/TV show when you were a child?: I used to love iCarly a lot
• If you had access to a time machine, would you go forwards or backwards?: I think I’d go back to ancient Egypt. I’d love to see how they built the pyramids
• What are your three most used emojis?: 😂 🍓 💕

DEEP DIVES

PickTrace isn’t your first Ag-related job- what drew you to the agriculture industry?

• My father worked in table grapes, so I grew up around the  agriculture industry.
• He would take me to work with him and I’ve always loved the environment, the workflow, the connections with people, it always was a great time
• I love that there’s so much to learn – everything is different, there’s always new things  coming up in Ag which always makes it exciting to work in

What’s the most interesting thing you’ve learned at Picktrace so far?

• How big of an impact software can have within agriculture.
• From past roles, I’ve seen how hard things can be on the office side of the industry and I’m amazed seeing how much easier things can be when an organization transitions from paper to software 

What has been your favorite part of PickTrace so far?

• Going onsite with clients and seeing how various crops are grown and how different companies manage their farms
• I like thinking creatively and working with the customers to come up with new ideas and insights to help them get the most out of PickTrace 

How do you like to spend your time outside of work? 

• I like working out, and I live close to Yosemite so I also like going on hikes
• Spending time with friends and family and my dog, Milo
• I’m starting to get into traveling more. I would love to travel to Europe – especially Andalucia, where my dad’s family is from. 

If you could have any animal as a pet, what would it be and why?

• A horse! My dream horse would be a Friesian – they’re used in dressage. They’re the big black horses with really curly hair. 
• I started riding when I was 10 and have loved it ever since!

What’s something most people don’t know about you? 

• I’m a very open book, but something most people don’t know about me is I really like coming up with new smoothie recipes
• Lately I’ve been into a green smoothie with kale, spinach, turmeric, collagen, frozen mango and pineapple, and lemon juice.

If you were a kind of produce, what would you be and why?

• I’d say a grape – red grape specifically.  I’m very simple, very sweet, and I’m very adaptable, similar to how grapes can be used in many ways (juice, raisins, jams, wine…)

RAPID FIRE QUESTIONS:

• Grew Up In: Guadalajara, Mexico: born and raised and still live here! I went to college, and met my wife here – it’s a great place to envision the next few decades!
• Star Sign: Libra
• Who is your favorite superhero?: Spider Man!
• What is your favorite food?: Swiss enchiladas (Enchiladas, but grated with cheese on top) 
• Do you have a favorite color?: For things like gadgets and clothes I prefer black, but technically it’s not a color, so dark blue!

DEEP DIVES

You’re newer to the Agriculture space, what has been the most interesting thing you’ve learned so far?

• I had a general  idea, but I’d never really considered how much of what we eat is handpicked and how much work goes into that: there’s so much work, technology and so many people and processes involved in getting us fresh produce. The supply chain is so long sometimes spanning multiple countries, just so you can enjoy the most perfect avocado at home. 

What do you most enjoy about being an SDR?

• I think helping people is the part I enjoy the most. Since being sold to is something people are resistant to (if they smell your ‘commission breath’ they’re going to show resistance right away), I try to empathize with people and do my best to understand their daily pain-points and show them how we can make their lives easier. Talking to new people everyday has its charm too!

   

How do you like to spend your time outside of work? 

• I really like movies, especially SciFi and horror films. I’m a huge fan of the Alien and Blade Runner sagas. Also, both retro and modern video games – especially competitive online games! I also really like cycling and bicycles in general! 
• I’m currently hooked on the latest Call of Duty – the competition online is so stiff: it’s not only incredibly fun, but a life lesson too: you’re always going to find someone that’s better than you at most things, you’ve got to find a way to learn from them! 

What’s something most people don’t know about you? 

• My wife and I are part of a local association that rescues animals from the streets. We have two dogs and five cats of our own (and one kitten up for adoption, let me know if someone in the GDL area is interested!). We get cats and dogs off the street, vaccinate, neuter and rehabilitate them, then we take them to adoption events where people go to adopt a new pet. That’s currently our Sunday routine- We go to the adoption events to promote responsible pet ownership and help people adopt a new friend. It’s really heart warming and you also meet a lot of extremely nice people.

   

Do you have any guiding principles or quotes that you live by?

• If I have to live by a saying it’s definitely “never give up” People that know me well know that I don’t give up easily – I’m borderline stubborn
• If I don’t get something the first time, I can be very persistent, but I definitely do know when to give up. 

If you were a kind of produce, what would you be and why?

• I think I’d be an avocado: It’s weird on the surface level, but so rich in the middle, and with the stone inside that’s like a really resilient core

RAPID FIRE QUESTIONS:

• Grew Up In: I grew up in Santa Cruz, but I was born in Nogales, Mexico
• Currently Lives In: Santa Cruz, CA (Aptos specifically)
• Star Sign: Cancer 
• What is your favorite snack food?: Anything with chocolate – I’m well known for always having chocolate in my purse or desk drawers. My favorite right now is the Tony Chocolonely’s Everything Bar.
• What song/album/musician is on repeat for you right now?: Hozier – I’m going to see him in September at the Shoreline. He sounds even better live!
• Do you prefer Mountains, Cities, or the Beach?: Beach, obviously!
  

EXTENDED EDITIONS:

In 25 words or less, how would you describe yourself?

• I love to laugh, learn and experience the world. I’m here for a good time, not a long time!

   

This isn’t your first experience working in agriculture – what was your first job in this  industry?

• I worked for a farm called Tomatero for 6-ish years, managing farmers markets and doing deliveries around the Bay Area. It was a great time and I got to learn the ins and outs of the farmers market business. 

What do you most enjoy about working in agriculture?

• The people – not only my coworkers (I’ve met some of my best friends through my jobs in Ag), but the farmers as well!

How do you like to spend your time outside of work? 

• I throw a lot of pottery, walk dogs (not my own yet, but hopefully I’ll be adopting one soon!), like to do beach walks in the morning and try to learn one new thing every year (last year was wine tasting). 
• Favorite wine – I like a nice pinot noir, but also a riesling, and I enjoy a nice fizzy natural wine

What’s something most people don’t know about you? 

• I guess I’m still new here so people don’t know much yet! But I do have a motorcycle license which I only use to ride my little red Vespa. I’ve never ridden on an actual motorcycle…

   

Do you have any guiding principles or quotes that you live by?

• There’s nothing I really repeat to myself but I do think life is all about learning and staying curious so probably that! My dad always says to never stop learning!

If you were a kind of produce, what would you be and why?

• A persimmon – probably a fuyu because you can eat them like an apple and don’t have to wait for them to ripen! Maybe that’s like me because I’m always ready to go! They also remind me of fall and I love the fall. 
• They’re just a fun fruit that you don’t see very often and are sweet.

• RAPID FIRE QUESTIONS:

• Grew Up In: Arizona – Gilbert, in the Phoenix area
• Currently Lives In: Yakima, WA
• Star Sign: Aquarius
• What is your favorite thing to eat?: My wife makes a Mediterranean lamb dish that is amazing! Anything Mediterranean. I just love food, I’ll eat anything – I love it all.
• What is the first CD you ever owned?: I think my first one was N’Sync’s 1997 self-titled, but I also had a ton of Elvis Presley and Jerry Lewis.
• What is your favorite recent purchase?: I bought a 15 foot trampoline for our backyard that we love jumping on after dinner. Also, this is a total dad answer – I bought fake grass for our front and back yard. It’s been a total game changer. I love it. It’s easy maintenance and my water use is cut in half. The kids want to play outside even more.

• How did you get your start in the agriculture industry?
• While I was in tech in San Jose, I started realizing that ever since I was a kid I wanted to be in agriculture.
• I started emailing farmers at random – I was trying to spend the day at their farm and work for free, but no one was getting back to me.
• I was at a golf tournament and I sat next to Bob Price at the event – we started talking and I found out he’s a Washington apple farmer – but I assumed it was a small hobby farm. 
• He invited me out to see the farm and when I went out what I thought was a hobby farm was 2500+ acres. A month later they asked If I wanted a job to help them evaluate tech and they’d teach me farming. 

What do you most enjoy about working in agriculture?

• To sum it up – it’s that no day is the same. I love that. It’s great to have all these varying seasons – workload-wise. One day I am talking with agtech companies and other days I am walking blocks to decide when to pick. It breaks up the monotony of the typical 8-5.

What is the most interesting project you’ve worked on while at PickTrace? 

• Pulse. What I loved about that project was thinking through not just “what is cool/nice to have ”, but the applicability of it. We were able to bring a solution that allowed users to make operational changes with their data.
• One of my other favorites was working with our engineering team as they were making the initial plans for the insights app. I enjoyed working with them and hearing their questions as they were asking me about the information they needed to show.
• When I first got hired, we had a client who needed to do a lot of process improvements to get stable. I enjoyed getting to work with them on improving their own processes, not just those related to PickTrace.

What are your hobbies and passions outside of work? 

• If I’ve got time, golf is #1
• I really like home improvement projects, landscaping, and gardening. Right now I’m finishing up some landscaping irrigation, planting ornamentals, and laying out the next garden project by the chicken coop.

Do you have any guiding principles or quotes that you live by?

• God, family, friends, work – that’s my hierarchy and how I prioritize things. 
• I am a big believer in asking “Why?”, not just for learning, but keeping myself in check with goals and ambitions ensuring that my time is spent on worthwhile things. A lot easier said than done.

If you were a fruit or vegetable what would you be and why?

• Pineapple because they tell it as it is. It is the oxymoron of fruit. Pineapples are bright, sour, and sweet all at the same time. They show the negatives (spikes, rough outside), but also show positive potential (color change, smell). They are surprising, contradicting themselves (some taste amazing while others are mediocre), yet somehow consistent.

• Star Sign: Gemini
• What’s the best food you have ever eaten?: Pho Bo – Vietnamese soup. 
• Do you have a favorite song?: Not really, I usually listen to the radio – pop music… It’s always just in the background. 
• Which do you prefer: city, mountains, or beach?: Beach. When we go to the beach we usually go to the Black Sea. It takes three or four days to drive there from St. Petersburg.

Before PickTrace, what was your most interesting or unusual work experience?

• Actually I’ve never done anything else besides being an engineer. I started as a developer right out of university
• At the beginning of my career I tried to switch from engineering to database administration. After I tried it for six months, I was a bit bored so I switched back to being a regular developer

What is the most interesting project you’ve worked on while at PickTrace? 

• The most interesting was when I just joined – it was a lot of work, we had a new team, we had all just started. 
• At that time we all did everything – and we were developing everything from scratch. We had a legacy product and we needed to build out a new architecture – we had to decide each approach. A lot of learning and investigation
• I enjoyed the tempo – it was really challenging. We had to really work together as a small team.

What are your hobbies and passions outside of work? 

• I have kids and of course I spend time with them – it’s great
• Personally I’m trying to review the math I learned in university as a refresher. And some physics. It’s all very interesting. I saw a video of a lecture explaining physics in a different manner than I was taught in school and that reignited my interest.
• A lot of physics investigates incredible things – like how do mirrors reflect what we see? I love to learn about things like this.

Do you have any guiding principles or quotes that you live by?

• There is a Pushkin poem that I really like
  “To praise and to disdain be absolutely cold,
  And never argue with a fool”
• It’s a reminder for me to try to stay cool and calm and not be distracted by either positive or negative things that can sway me. Helps me to stay neutral.

If you were a fruit or vegetable what would you be and why?

• Sweet cherry. In Russia we have both cherries and sweet cherries. The sweet cherry is sweet and nice outside, and has a strong internal core. I hope I would be a sweet cherry.

• Grew Up In:Toluca, MX, a little town near Mexico City
• Currently Lives In: Queretaro, MX – I’ve been here for 8 years now
• Star Sign: Gemini
• What’s your favorite board game: Right now, my favorite board game is Catan. Actually, I explained the rules of Catan as part of my interview process, so I say Catan helped get me this job.
• If you could travel anywhere for a month, where would you go?: I don’t think anywhere specific, I’d just like to go to a forest – to be separated from technology and all that. I like traveling but I can’t think of somewhere I could stay for a month besides a forest.
• What’s your favorite book?: The last book I really enjoyed was called El Nombre De La Rosa by Umberto Ecco. It’s a detective story in a monastery. I like books where I can try to piece together clues

• I think the most interesting was when I worked for the Marriott Hotels in Toluca – I was attending to group bookings. The hotel I worked at would host visiting soccer teams so I got to be the contact for those groups.
• There was a time when I was the hotel’s contact for visiting South American teams. I was managing their bookings, working with chefs to attend to their very specific and regimented dietary requirements, and managing their schedule within the hotel.
• I had good relationships with the team managers and I would get tickets to go to matches and some team swag

• What has been interesting for me is learning about the challenges people have in working in agriculture. It’s really stuck with me that tech can be the last of their worries because they have so many other factors that they’re managing.
• Sometimes in tech you feel in control of things, but in ag you have to have respect for nature. Even though PickTrace is part of what they do, the whole picture is much bigger

• My month here has been pretty good. I’ve met most of the team already. In the first week when I was still having really intensive trainings, I started dreaming about those sessions and about agriculture.
• Working here has been something totally new for me. It has helped me grow in an intellectual way – now I know something that I didn’t know before.

• I’m very much a stay at home guy – that’s why I like board games, I can have people come over and play or go to a friend’s house and play
• When we’re not working, my girlfriend and I like going to the movies, taking a walk downtown, taking a walk with our dog, Willy
• My girlfriend’s parents have a husky, Luna, and I enjoy dog-sitting for her and playing with her. Willy doesn’t really like to play

• It’s not a mantra, but my father used to say ‘everything requires an effort’
• So maybe you don’t feel like you want to do something, or something is too difficult, but everything requires effort. Even if you try to take a shortcut, steal, or cheat, that requires effort.
• I keep this in mind when I find something difficult. Maybe this is the effort he was talking about, don’t give up too easily.

• Maybe an orange. You can’t eat an orange in its current state, you have to do something to enjoy it. I identify with that. I feel like I get along well with people, but it takes some time for me to open up and be more outgoing.