Hey, I'm CJ. And my journey started anything but clear.

All signs were pointing to success, so we thought.

Back in college, I launched my first startup, Coviser. On paper, we had it all—smart team, early traction, notable advisors, interest from incubators, and my well-designed SaaS concept.


We felt ready. But when it launched, it fell flat.


Momentum faded, costs rose, we lost unity, and no one could explain why. Later, I realized the issue: we lacked focus. We were very productive, but without a brand to align around, it scattered.


Its collapse disheartened me. But that experience revealed a deeper insight: clear team and market communication is not optional—it is foundational.

Core lesson: "With focus, ideas gain influence."

broad Passions that Became a Pattern

My enterprising instinct that fueled me during Coviser has existed since childhood across various interests that my beloved parents encouraged me to explore. They shaped who I am today.

At six years old, I was selling candy door-to-door, asking my mom to drive me blocks away so I could “sell my way back home.” For twenty years, I competed in nine sports where I learned the value of coaching. For six years as a teenager, I designed a dozen move-in-ready virtual estates. I overcame the odds with 10,000+ hours of practice over 13 years to become a top string bassist in California who toured the U.S. and 3 world tours to China and Japan by 17 years old. Later, I found success in the gig economy in two categories, including hosting 90+ guests from 15 countries.


For years, they felt like disconnected pursuits. I finally learned why: I'm driven to decode patterns of success in disconnected disciplines and gain the insight to integrate as a competitive edge.

Core lesson: "Explore your passions broadly while learning how they all strengthen each other. Reveal their common denominator to leverage it."

Rising from grit to growth

With those lessons from life and work, I then dedicated over half a decade as a consultant to serial founders to pioneer their new categories.

This network came to me as I co-led 160+ events over 6 years in Silicon Valley. I joined the company with 7,000 members and, upon my exit in 2020, it had grown to the region's 3rd largest with 21,000+.

I co-led 2 of 2 successful Kickstarter campaigns, rebranded startups' comms frameworks, co-launched 3 startups within larger parent companies, revised decks since 2020 for countless founders as a Mentor for Plug and Play Tech Center, and gained buy-in for pitches with my content from a range of VCs and a handful of billionaires. I was even honored among a few thousand applicants as a Top 100 U.S. Marketer by my 10-year post-grad mark from Pepperdine.

I finally felt ready to co-found my second startup.

Core lesson: "Broad experience that is based on a core competency makes you a great integrator."

Taking the leap as a serial founder

After extensive consideration, I co-launched Chatfully with a valued friend. This time, the mission was more focused with a clearer brand.

It changed everything. Upon launch, its message increasingly intrigued our category of buyers faster, while I wrote its sites that rose to the top of search engines. We co-launched apps, worked with affiliates who exposed us to their users, and onboarded thousands of SMBs in 70+ countries. We pivoted plenty, yet the mission remained clear as it guided our team's work yearly.

Eventually, strategic divergence of prioritizing platform vs promotion was what convinced me to exit from Chatfully on good terms, where it reoriented to its next-gen platform and users.

Core lesson: "Make the market's main issue the main focus and align your team to fulfill it."

Ecosystem-level realization

After Chatfully, I stepped back to consider the eventual legacy I wanted to leave. It turned into an exhaustive exploration over a 3-year journey. I annotated 100+ business books, 5,000+ expert-led podcast interviews, and wrote 5+ million words to codify brand strategy systematically, with a key system of mine being granted a U.S. copyright.

The next mindset shift clicked: I am a polymath (someone who excels in disconnected disciplines) who clarifies. Using first principles, the research revealed how I can offer it through an ecosystem.

This insight reframed my past and focused the future. It became clear that my vision is a world where more teams humanize than not. Together, we can help teams become clearer-minded.

Core lesson: "Curiosity broadens our ambition while clarity deepens our value to others."

Where it All Comes Together

Today, I champion that mission—refined by a lifetime of exploration and over a decade of brand experience—through my System.

Clarify your brand with a Newsletter that guides the category-led mindset, Courses to define your category, Coaching to delegate it, Speaking to reunite your team through it, and more to come.

As your team is increasingly clear about the brand's strategy, they can help it gain adoption in communities worldwide that value it most.

Core lesson: "Create a mental container for your work's ideas that is scalable and sustainable."

A transformation from within

Discover the System that clarifies brands to help companies represent their category.

About me

I'm excited to meet you and share my story so we can better connect and collaborate going forward.

Who I am

After taking eight mainstream credible personality tests over a decade, I have been consistently described as a "shaper". I habitually visualize ambitious objectives, set plans, and push through (while inspiring others to join) until they are fulfilled. You can likely relate to this, which means we can overcome obstacles together in our complementary roles on your team. The market need not understand our vision yet, because we will have them adopt it over time.

My core cause

To be clear, unity is not uniformity. The former includes diversity, while the latter excludes diversity. Only one works well.

In a world with increasing division, my cause reveals itself to help reorient people towards uniting for good.

Unity

My core causes

(1) Align

Clarify correctly.

(2) Empower

Create synergy.

Clarify correctly
Clarify correctly

A growth journey

Gaining a global view

Gaining a global view
Gaining a global view

My life has fused "hard knocks" and academic exploration. Beginning at the spirited age of 6, I sold candy door-to-door. By age 18, I sold coupon books, magazines, and fine cutlery. Never was there a dull moment when doors were shut in my face. Yet, I persevered and improved. Anything I was given, I consistently sold more of than any teammate, music colleague, or schoolmate.

Learning to work

Working to learn

Good fortune has been on my side when I pay attention to details. With the ability to sell, I transitioned into marketing. I still focused on selling, but now had a computer screen in front of me in lieu of a door. With gusto, I learned the ins-and-outs of marketing, advertising, and ancillary topics such as design.

My start was in Silicon Valley when I entered this world in July, 1991. During childhood, my parents exposed me to the world and its culture. By 20 years old, I had toured and lived on 4 continents with people of every conceivable lifestyle. For years, I was known as the quiet ambitious guy who was a unique mix of athlete and academic.

I have always been driven by intellectual exploration. It has manifested through a wide array of passions, pursuits, and projects that are sometimes initially disconnected yet eventually unite on an even greater common cause.

Learning to work
Learning to work
Working to learn
Working to learn
Upleveling daily
Upleveling daily

I catalyze results by basing effort on bold intent that adheres to my principles while rapidly researching what leads to methods that leapfrog trivial tasks. This helps me learn new markets fast and lead using coherency in cultures needing it. Every day is a chance to clarify what compels and aim for this message to spark more momentum.

Upleveling daily

My inspirations

My sources of inspiration come from proficient professionals like you. For a decade (and counting), I have been systematically learning daily from thousands of professionals across dozens of disciplines to understand human motives and how to become our best selves by leveraging it. I extract their insights and integrate them into my broader systems of thinking which I select from and offer as tailored services for your team.

"CJ is fantastic. He has the intelligence, drive, and technical know-how to really get a project starting and moving forward from the ground up. He possesses several traits that not all founders have, which is, strength in planning, development, project-management and execution. He is a leader in his field and clearly a future star."

Rabeh Soofi

CEO & Managing Attorney, Axis Legal Counsel

Ready to build brand equity?