a little shelf in my head
books I like
A few books I recommend.
Consider this a small shelf, with room to grow.
- 01
The Almanack of
Naval Ravikant - 02
Trillion
Dollar
Coach - 03
Antifragile
- 04
Finite &
Infinite
Games
the person attached to the brain
about me
Hi, I’m Ralph.
Leader. Builder. Operator. Advisor. Dad.
I’m based in Calgary. I thrive in the grey space: turning a vision into something a team can act on, and making complicated work feel a little lighter.
I care deeply about how things get built. Building a great business and being a great human aren’t mutually exclusive.
My work has taken me through Uber, Neo Financial, and Shopify. Along the way, I’ve built teams, launched new markets and products, and helped growing companies figure out how to work together.
where I’m most useful
Operations & strategy
Making priorities clear, turning metrics into decisions, and giving people ownership. Enough structure to help a team move.
Growth & expansion
Launching new markets and products, learning what works, and building growth systems that last.
Teams & leadership
Helping people understand the vision, work with autonomy, and build trust as the company grows.
turning the jumble into words
my writing
Mental models. Clearer thinking.
Ideas to carry into everyday life.
I think in stories and systems. Mental Wealth is where I write about the mental models that help us make sense of things and make better decisions.
Mental Wealth
Read the essays, explore the archive, or subscribe.
things worth putting my name on
work I’m proud of
A few things I’ve helped build.
The stories behind them are on their way.
01 / Shopify
Shop
Shopping, discovery, and order tracking.
visit Shop (opens in a new tab)fun fact: AI before it was cool.
I got into the messy details of search: golden queries, manually built datasets to improve search quality, and the moderation work behind it all.
And then there were the policy questions. What kinds of dicks should be allowed? Candles? Pictures? Dildos? Turns out, context matters.
02 / Shopify
~Mastery
Rethinking career growth at Shopify.
read about ~Mastery (opens in a new tab)My part in the story, coming soon.
03 / Uber
Launching in Saskatchewan
Bringing ridesharing to Saskatoon.
read the story on BetaKit (opens in a new tab)My part in the story, coming soon.
04 / Uber
Uber Stampede tent
a little more career context
the thinking behind the doing
work philosophy
How I work, lead, and build teams.
my hot takes
Thoughts I want to unpack. More to come.
getting on a rocketship is not always the right move
equity is an unfairly utilized recruitment tool
your career can always be about discovery, it doesn’t have to be a point in time thing
I want to build teams where truth moves faster than politics, people have room to do good work, and everyone gets a little better each week. These are the principles I try to bring to it.
Be curious, not judgemental.
Start with a real desire to understand and help.
Experimentation over perfection.
Start, learn, iterate. Curiosity compounds faster than certainty. Five percent now beats one hundred percent later.
Be effective, not just efficient.
Focus on what matters. Then make it better.
Grit over grind.
Hard work is ownership when it counts, rather than hours for their own sake.
Start with why.
Make the intent explicit. Clarity is a shortcut to trust.
Make alignment explicit.
Shared understanding is easy to assume. State it, then state it again.
People are the best asset class.
Lead with trust. Be there to support the team and have their backs.
Simplicity scales.
Start with the basics. Think from first principles. Keep peeling away complexity.
Invert, always invert.
Working out what not to do can be the fastest way to see what to do.
See the forest and the trees.
Master the details, and keep the whole system in view.
Focus on what we control.
Put energy into the inputs. Choose execution over excuses and noise.
Share early. Ask early.
Make feedback part of the work while it can still change the outcome. Be willing to hear the truth about yourself.
Think positive-sum.
Most games aren’t zero-sum. Look for ways for people to win together.
Clarity. Trust. Curiosity.
Sleeves rolled up.
a few ways our paths could cross
work with me
Sometimes you need another brain on it.
The messy parts of building are where I’m most useful: getting clear, making decisions, and helping people move things forward. Here are a few ways we could work together.
01 / roll up our sleeves
Fractional leadership
Hands-on operations and strategy support when you need an experienced operator for part of the week. I can help turn priorities into plans, build useful operating habits, and bring teams together around the work.
02 / think it through
Advisory
A thinking partner for founders and leaders working through growth, organizational design, and difficult decisions. Someone to ask useful questions, challenge assumptions, and help find a way forward.
03 / start a conversation
Speaking
Talks, panels, and conversations about mental models, clearer thinking, leadership, and the practical work of building and scaling. Tell me about your audience and what you want them to leave thinking about.
04 / build something worthwhile
Angel investing
I’m open to conversations with early-stage founders. Tell me what you’re building, why it matters, and where another operator’s perspective could be useful.