owen coonahan
The longer answer.
24New York / Salt Lake Citygrew up outside of Boston
I try to live a life of curiosity, action, and good company.
Most interested in
- Cancer. This one's personal. My mom and other family members have passed away from it, and I'm prone to it too. I'm especially interested in early detection and all the data that's stuck in silos.
- Infrastructure in developing countries. Clean water, power, and the basics a lot of us get to take for granted.
- The critical technologies that run the world. Mining, energy, manufacturing, supply chain + logistics. Most of us never have to think about them, but our whole life quietly runs on them.
A bit about me
- Impact-focused. I love being helpful and useful. Solving problems is just part of who I am.
- Global lens. My parents worked internationally and I grew up around a lot of international workers. I study geopolitics, history, and what drives countries and their leaders to act.
- Focused on helping developing countries
- Volunteer with NGOs. Recently I helped Doctors Without Borders map remote parts of Chad so their teams can find their way around.
- Rational, first-principles thinker. I like understanding how complex systems interact, figuring out what's actually true, and building from there.
- Deeply introspective. I study myself and human behavior a lot. Knowing myself well helps me perform better and be more useful to the people around me.
- Building things since I was a kid. Hardware, software, and communities. I'll keep doing it for the rest of my life.
- Spent time or lived on every continent except Antarctica
What I care about
I love the intersection of data and the critical technologies that run how we live. Most of us have the privilege of never having to think about them, but they're what keeps the lights on, the water running, and things showing up on shelves. What gets me excited is that a lot of the best answers are already out there, just split across data that's siloed, and they only show up once you bring it together. It's the same reason I think a lot about information asymmetry and coordination: plenty of problems aren't actually that hard, it's just that the right people aren't looking at the same information.
That's what I like building: things with data that solve real problems for actual people. Long term, I want to point that at the big stuff, like cancer, clean water, and infrastructure in developing countries, and do it alongside people who know those fields far better than I do. 2.1 billion people still don't have clean water, and nothing about fixing that is impossible. It just takes time, the right people, and action.
Most of what I know I've taught myself, and it's made me believe most people are capable of a lot more than they get the chance to show. Usually what's missing is exposure, not ability, and more often than not the only thing really holding you back is your own mind.
Optimistic by default.
Ways I can help
What are you most interested in, curious about, or drawn towards right now? And how can I be helpful? I'm happy to jam on pretty much anything, and I love a good coffee chat.
Let's connect:Email meBook a coffee chat