Tech

Hey there! I'm Joel.


I currently lead the product team at Runway, an applied ML research company pioneering new tools for human imagination, where I was the first product hire.


Things I've enjoyed doing include:


  • launching 0 to 1 devtool products at Sourcegraph
  • web engineering at Figma
  • design, venture prototyping, and leading blockchain exploration teams at IDEO
  • product management at Microsoft and some startups
  • data science at Botnik and various startups
  • writing blockchain tech explainer articles for Lunry
  • building Chrome extensions so I don't have to give up my 263 open tabs
  • general tomfoolery

I studied computer science at Harvard, where I focused on ML. While there, I co-wrote the textbook for Harvard's inaugural blockchain class, and fortunately avoided creating the next Facebook.


If you want to chat about cool projects or career things, you can message me on LinkedIn.

I've been fortunate to work alongside some very talented teammates and we've shipped a lot of awesome products. Here are a few.


Runway

Sourcegraph

IDEO

I give talks about emerging technology, hypergrowth startups, the intersection of creativity and algorithms, and other offbeat subjects. I've had the pleasure of speaking to audiences at the Television Academy, IDEO, Harvard Business School, and a number of startups.


You can contact me about speaking at:

TheRealJoelKwartler@gmail.com


I regret to inform you that I am psychologically unable to deliver a talk lacking jokes.


Comedy

Hey! I'm Joel, a comedian and writer living in LA.

I'm currently with the wild people at Botnik Studios and do standup around LA. I've performed stand up at Boston's The Comedy Studio and Foxborough's Orpheum Theater, opened for Nemr, appeared in a Spotify web series (is that even a thing?), and sold jokes to Funny or Die.

In my youth, I ran the Harvard College Stand Up Comic Society, where I started an annual comedy charity show feat. Harvard Professors. I also finessed college credit for writing-performing-producing my hourlong standup show, Artificially Intelligent.

Here and there, I made trouble with Satire V, wrote for On Harvard Time, emceed an annual drag night, had my one-act play 10,000 Spoons produced in Harvard's Annual Playwrights' Festival, and was mistaken for Mark Zuckerberg zero times.

I've made the Forbes 30 Under 30 List of Best Joel Kwartlers for 5 of the past 8 years. I have no relation to Tom Hanks.

BBC / Botnik
Botnik
Points In Case
Funny or Die
Satire V (Selected)
Harvard Political Review
Lake Oswego Review Humor Columns (Selected)
Videos






Graphics

A collection of things I've created in photoshop (or similar tools).


H sweater mistake skittles Lapp Trapped! Placemat! Julie Andrews! shirt! Mice Week Poster

This is a super secret message hidden on my website! It serves no purpose but whoa cool, right?

In 2018, I created a show with Harvard Professors performing stand up sets – with writing help from student comics – that raised over $2,500 for the Y2Y and Harvard Square homeless shelters.


Since, it's become an annual tradition at Harvard and, starting in 2019, Yale (benefiting the Y2Y New Haven shelter). To date, these shows have raised over $7,000.


If this is something you'd like to do with your college/company/group, I've got a very-long-but-possibly-useful PDF guide to running this kind of show that I'm happy to send you! (For free, duh. This is for charity.)


Press

Harvard Gazette video



Explainer/Show Promo

I am obsessed with email. I will read your email immediately. I will respond so fast. I will comprehend none of it.


TheRealJoelKwartler@gmail.com


Photography

Wouldn't it be funky if the photography section didn't have any photos?


If you are so inclined, you can find some wildlife/landscapes on my instagram.


If for some terrible reason you think you want to hire me to take photos for ya, I'm happy to send you portfolios and have experience shooting portraits, headshots, and events.