In 2004, I joined Kayak when it was barely more than an idea. Paul English invited me to help the tiny engineering team, and soon we were four coders packed into a single room, fueled by ideas and Thai food. Those early days were electric—every line of code felt like it could change the company’s future.
Over the years, I helped build Kayak’s hotel and car search infrastructure, creating internal tools like EHOE (Every Hotel on Earth) and ECOE (Every Car on Earth) to manage massive datasets. These tools became the foundation of search efficiency. Hack weeks were my playground, where I chased ideas for hotel search and Vegas travel features, stretching the product in creative ways—even when not every experiment made it live.
As Kayak grew, so did the challenges. Scaling globally meant rewriting our code for seamless translation and building in accessibility from the ground up. The platform evolved—Java to Velocity to React—each shift demanding new learning curves. We celebrated milestones, most notably the IPO in 2012, a moment as complex as it was rewarding. But what stands out most isn’t the technology or even the IPO—it’s the mission. In the early years, we obsessed over making every user a Kayak advocate. Later, as public ownership shifted priorities, a small group of us fought to keep user experience at the heart of our work. That belief—put the user first—has stayed with me.
Now, in my woodworking business, I carry that same philosophy. At New England Table Company, every table is built to turn a client into an advocate. The feedback is different now—no analytics dashboard, no gradual uptick in engagement. Instead, there are gasps, smiles, and sometimes tears when a client sees their table. That immediate, visceral joy reminds me why I build.
Nineteen years at Kayak taught me that progress isn’t linear, technology evolves, and business priorities can shift—but delighting users (or clients) is timeless.