Bio, photos, and contact information for journalists, conference organizers, and podcast hosts.
Short bio (~50 words)
Shawn Yeager is founder of Upshift, AI commercialization for professional services firms. He’s spent 30 years on the commercial side of technology the market hasn’t caught up to yet, starting on Microsoft’s first browser team, with more than $300M in revenue along the way. He writes at shawnyeager.com about the business of being early—and what breaks when the user isn’t human.
Extended bio (~150 words)
Shawn Yeager is founder of Upshift, AI commercialization for professional services firms. He’s spent three decades on the commercial side of technology the market hasn’t caught up to yet, starting on Microsoft’s first browser team. Since then he’s worked on early hosting infrastructure at Exodus, IoT hardware into big-box retail, personal data sovereignty, and Bitcoin payments at Bottlepay, NYDIG, and Amboss. Along the way he’s generated more than $300M in revenue. He writes at shawnyeager.com about the business of being early—and what breaks when the user isn’t human. He also advises founders and holds board seats with startups building at the frontier.
Professional photo
High-resolution headshot available for download:
Contact
Current focus
- Upshift—AI commercialization for professional services firms
- Writing about go-to-market strategy and agent-era infrastructure at shawnyeager.com and Sideband
- Go-to-market advisory for frontier tech founders
- Board seats with startups building at the frontier
Topics I speak & write about
- AI commercialization for professional services firms
- How new technology changes sales, pricing, and competitive dynamics
- Go-to-market strategy for frontier tech
- Agent-era infrastructure and what breaks when the user isn’t human
- Bitcoin, Lightning, and decentralized infrastructure
Recent speaking
Imagine IF Conference—Panel with Derek Ross and Matt O’Dell on broken incentives in digital platforms and how open protocols like Nostr give users ownership and control.
Where Does the Yield Come From?—Panel with Max Kei, Myles Snider, and Jesse Schrader on where yield actually originates in Bitcoin-backed lending and investment products.