Lateef Who?

I started my journey to becoming a builder, principal engineer, tech executive, and an angel investor when I enrolled in the engineering program at UNC Charlotte in 1995. I originally wanted to study mechanical engineering, but quickly realized that I enjoyed spending more time in the computer lab helping my fellow engineering students with their programming assignments. I decided to switch to computer science, but there was a catch: I wasn’t officially in the engineering department. I had to request admittance from the dean of the engineering department, and I wasn’t an A student. After almost three years of requesting entrance, the dean, possibly sick of me asking, finally let me in. 4.5 years after starting college, I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in science and a specialization in mathematics.

Getting my degree was a big challenge, but hard work and grit were enough to set me on the path that I’m still on today. My first job ended during the dot-com crash, but I got my second job the same day I was laid off. I spent the next four years building web software for a non-profit startup that listed affordable housing online. It was a very innovative project at the time, and it was a great learning experience. I even hired a couple of my mentors to help me lead the technical work. This experience hooked me on working at software startups, and I’m proud to say that millions of people have found safe, decent, and affordable housing because of my work.

After a few years of consulting and working at a (eventually) failed advertising startup , I started trying to give back to the community. I helped to start the Python User Group in Charlotte, NC and gave regular talks. This is how I met two individuals who had started a company. I shared my experiences, provided server hosting, and eventually led their angel investment round. This is how I became an angel investor, and it also started a lifelong relationship with two individuals who are still some of my closest friends. That experience inspires me to this day to stay active in the angel community.

When my wife and I were expecting our first child, we decided to move to Portland, Oregon. Luckily, I was a software engineer, so I was able to find a job at New Relic. This was my first successfully venture-backed startup job, and it was a dream come true. I really appreciate all the people I worked with from 2014 to 2020, and I continue to interact with many of them professionally and personally to this day. It was a unique opportunity to build large-scale systems that impacted hundreds of thousands of people’s lives. I grew so much as an engineer and coworker during those years.

One of the co-founders of my first angel investment called me to ask my opinion about starting a Medicare advantage health plan. I told him he was crazy, but I also asked how I could help. This led me to investing a pile of capital and becoming a technical advisor. After eight months of advising, I became the CTO of Troy Medicare. This role has required me to balance strategic work with tackling the problems in front of me. It’s been great to overcome challenges ranging from series A and B fundraising and diligence, to delivering on product OKRs, to creating a company-wide performance management plan.

Over the past two decades, I’ve been very fortunate to work with great people at great companies building great products. I’m excited to see what the next two decades bring!

Contact me on linkedin!