My name is Patrick McKenzie. I’m a recovering Japanese salaryman who ran a succession of small software companies. I worked for Stripe for a few years. I currently advise at Stripe and am taking some time to find the next adventure.

My email address is patrick@kalzumeus.com . I’m happy to get email from you—can’t promise a reply but I do my best. See my Standing Invitation for more details.

Who are you, anyway? A great question! I write well and prolifically, generally on the intersection of marketing and engineering. I’m not the best marketer or engineer in the world, but I’m a better engineer than almost all marketers and a better marketer than almost all engineers. Tactically abusing this combination prints money in a very intellectually interesting way. I’ve since broadened my horizons a bit. You can read my brief bio for the highlights.

What is this Kalzumeus thing? Why the dragon logo? Kalzumeus Software is named after a dragon in a long-forgotten RPG campaign from high school. I wanted a .com for this site and it was the first thing that popped into my head which was available, and have felt insufficient desire to change, even though I really should just bite the bullet and make this patio11.com.

Hiya security researchers! I appreciate the work you do. If you’d like to tell me anything sensitive, drop me an email at patrick@kalzumeus.com — you’ll have my full attention.

I no longer use PGP, for reasons described here. As that essay predicts, I have had mostly negative experiences with encrypted emails, including receiving 5+ private keys of security researchers.

If you need encrypted transport to talk to me, email me and ask me for my number on Signal.