Hi, I’m Jake. I split time between San Francisco and Lake Tahoe, with frequent detours across the East Coast and wherever curiosity takes me next.
I’m married to Julia Murzy, my partner in crime and an inspiring engineering leader at Netflix. We push each other a lot, in the best way.
I’ve spent ~17 years building things at the intersection of code, design and product. Founder life shaped most of that. I’ve learned the most from experiments that broke, bent, or surprised me. I like problems that fight back, and I’m happiest when I can turn ambiguity into something real. You’ll always find me asking for feedback, usually through high-fidelity prototypes I build early. I think in prototypes rather than ideas because, as the Japanese saying goes, hearing something a hundred times isn’t as good as seeing it once — 百聞は一見にしかず.
I still code. A lot.
Empowering teams and asking good questions is one of the highest leverage uses of my time, but I enjoy writing code just as much. I think it matters even more to stay close to the craft before AI fully reshapes it.
JavaScript remains my home base. It’s flexible, expressive, and honest about its compromises. TypeScript is essential for real systems, as long as you don’t blindly import object oriented dogma along with the types. I’m pragmatic about purity. Escape hatches are features.
I’m also a long time open source contributor and occasional writer[1][2], usually about UI architecture, interaction design, and the sharp edges you only find by shipping.
My writing sometimes sounds academic because I like holding multiple opposing ideas in my head at once. That tension is usually the point. I’m not trying to sound clever. I’m trying to get to something solid. Exploring competing perspectives is how I pressure test ideas before committing to one.
Most of my current energy goes into researching human-centered AI and turning those ideas into real, testable products. I’m using FlightDouble to put ideas into practice, building and testing cockpit workflows that explore how multimodal models, new interfaces, and LLMs can make a real difference for pilots in high-pressure situations. My focus is on rapid experimentation, strong UX, and translating cutting-edge AI into intuitive, human-friendly tools.
I’m also looking for a co-founder who cares deeply about craft, judgment, and building things the right way. If someone comes to mind, I’d love an intro.
I care a lot about taste. Great products are built through a series of small, compounding decisions. I’m drawn to teams that aim high, sweat details, and aren’t afraid to challenge conventions when it serves a real goal.
I’ve led products from rough sketches to enterprise scale, and I’m especially energized when design, engineering, and product thinking are truly integrated.
I’m not a designer by title, but I’m obsessive about design quality. I’ve built and maintained design systems, UI component libraries, and interaction patterns across web and mobile. I pay attention to how things feel, not just how they look. Motion, affordances, and tiny interaction details matter.
I shamelessly borrow from designers who share their thinking publicly, and I try to pass that generosity forward.
Mentorship has been a constant through my career.
I’ve helped engineers grow from IC to senior to leadership roles, and coached career transitions from non-technical backgrounds into senior engineering and management positions. I tend to highlight what seems obvious to me, without assuming others see it too, because that's often where the biggest leverage is for someone learning.
I’m always looking for new mentors too. Learning compounds fastest when you stay uncomfortable.
I occasionally invest small checks in early stage startups, usually pre-seed or seed. I’m most interested in teams with strong taste, clear judgment, and the potential to define a category. I expect to do one to three of these a year.
Julia and I are slowly working toward a long term goal of seeing the whole world together. Koh Yao Yai is our current favorite escape. Quiet, off the grid, and a good reminder to zoom out and recalibrate before jumping back in.
Winter 2026 (tbd): Milan 🇮🇹, Dolomites 🇮🇹🏂, Helsinki 🇫🇮, Stockholm 🇸🇪, Oslo 🇳🇴, Copenhagen 🇩🇰, Dublin 🇮🇪, London 🇬🇧
Let me know if our paths might cross!
Winter 2025: Hong Kong 🇭🇰, Shenzhen 🇨🇳, Zhuhai 🇨🇳, Seoul 🇰🇷, Niseko 🇯🇵🏂, Tokyo 🇯🇵
Fall 2025: NYC 🇺🇸
Summer 2025: Barcelona 🇪🇸, Madrid 🇪🇸, Rome 🇮🇹, Venice 🇮🇹, Warsaw 🇵🇱, Zurich 🇨🇭, Athens 🇬🇷
Spring 2025:NYC 🇺🇸
Winter 2024: Abu Dhabi 🇦🇪, Dubai 🇦🇪, Cappadocia 🇹🇷, Istanbul 🇹🇷, Lisbon 🇵🇹, Porto 🇵🇹,
Summer 2024: Frankfurt 🇩🇪, Berlin 🇩🇪, Prague 🇨🇿, Vienna 🇦🇹, Budapest 🇭🇺
Winter 2023: Hong Kong 🇭🇰, Hanoi 🇻🇳, Singapore 🇸🇬, Taipei 🇹🇼
Summer 2023: Cabo San Lucas 🇲🇽, London 🇬🇧, Paris 🇫🇷, Brussels 🇧🇪, Amsterdam 🇳🇱
When I’m not working, I’m usually outside. Winter is my season. Snowboarding has been my reset button for years, and I recently picked up skiing too. Summers pull me toward the ocean, and surfing has become the perfect counterbalance. Moving through nature clears my head better than anything else.
At the end of the day, I care about the work, the people I do it with, and the impact of what we build.
I thrive on craft, clear judgment, and constant learning. The best problems challenge your taste and make the work feel worth it.
If any of that resonates, we’ll probably get along.
Fin.