Raising Builders
The newsletter and the movement, for parents who suspect the default path isn't the only one and want a smarter one. The philosophy, the frameworks, and the people figuring it out together.
Explore Raising Builders →My story
A founder's lens on parenting, education, and entrepreneurship.
Hi, I'm Christi
I didn't set out to build companies. I set out to understand people.
For most of my career my job was to figure out why some people thrive and others stall. I did it inside fast-growing tech companies, leading training and enablement, and then went to INSEAD for an MBA to understand it at the level of whole organizations.
The pattern was always the same. The people who win are curious, adaptive, and willing to act without a script. Almost none of it showed up on a report card.
So I stopped studying it and started building. I left the corporate world, bought my first company, founded my own, and learned that ownership teaches you things a salary never will.
Then I had kids, and the question I'd been asking about adults for years got personal.
What kind of education actually grows a person like that?
The world my kids inherit will hand them answers on demand. What it won't hand them is judgment, nerve, and the will to build. That part is on us.
Currently...
I'm raising two tiny humans, writing Raising Builders, building Wonderkeep, and running DealBuff, usually in that order and rarely in a straight line. Somewhere in there I train for long races, because apparently I like things that hurt in instructive ways.
What I'm building
Two companies. One stubborn idea.
Wonderkeep
The operating system for personalized education. It starts with the part nobody warns you about, homeschool compliance and paperwork, and grows into a real record of how your kid learns and grows.
Explore Wonderkeep →A look back
20112026
Becoming who I am took more than a decade. Here's the short version.
-
2011
- Lived and worked at McMurdo Station, Antarctica
- Learned I do my best work in hard, unfamiliar places
- Came home and rooted in Denver
the bottom of the earth -
2013
- Joined Ping Identity, later public on the NYSE
- Started in HR, learned how high-growth companies run
front-row seat -
2015
- Promoted into sales enablement
- Built the systems that turned new hires into top performers
-
2019
- Left as Director of Training and Enablement, team of 13
- Started my MBA at INSEAD
-
2020
- Joined Chainalysis, a leader in crypto compliance
- Led enablement through hypergrowth
-
2021
- Led sales operations and enablement at SecZetta
- Married Alex, my favorite person to build with
best decision ever -
2021
- Trained for and finished my first ultramarathon
- The work that matters is mostly refusing to stop
type two fun -
2021
- Earned my MBA from INSEAD
- Two years on how organizations and people actually work
INSEAD, done -
2022
- Left the corporate world to start my own consulting group
- First time the upside and the risk were mine
-
2023
- Bought Revenue Accelerator, a lead gen agency, with Alex
- Through our holding company, Heritage Oaks Holdings
- Featured on the Nasdaq tower in Times Square
on the Nasdaq tower -
2024
- Welcomed our son
- The education question got personal in a hurry
the why behind all of it -
2025
- Founded DealBuff, a platform for buying and growing real businesses
- Turned years of acquiring and operating into a playbook for others
-
2026
- Welcomed our daughter
- Started Raising Builders and began building Wonderkeep
- The same instinct, now aimed at the next generation
Let's raise builders, together.
A weekly letter for parents who take this seriously and still want to enjoy the ride. Ideas, frameworks, and the occasional strong opinion. Free, always.