micah berman
I build products and grow teams that apply frontier technology to solve real-world problems.
Today, I'm building the modern benefit for frontline workers at Ezra. Previously, I looked after platform-wide safety product for Android, so your phone is there when you need it most. I've run product and technical teams at Google.org, and started my career working on Google Search ranking. I also teach graduate product management seminars at Columbia University's Graduate School of Engineering.
I believe technology can make life better - but not by default. Success, in tech and in life, means sweating the big picture and the details in equal measure. It's as much about what we do as how we do it.
When I'm not building something, I can't resist an adventure - riding a motorcycle through a Kathmandu monsoon, pedaling a half-planned route through the Chinese jungle, cross-country skiing between huts in Iceland, or a long run along the Bay. I love nurturing a family of friends, flying airplanes, and hot springs. My aim is to leave this place a bit better than I found it.
What about you?
Teaching
Publications
Patents
Selected projects
Built travel tools I'd always wanted.
One factory tour each month, for a year.
A 14-person houseboat cruise on Lake Don Pedro, complete with boat flag, boarding passes, interactive website, and lots of swag.
At first an unpaid side hustle, most of my project energy was focused here.
Installed a hot tub and landscape lighting (digging trenches, mostly).
Went to 14 in one summer, so counting it as a project.
Bought two old houses on one lot, set them up to live with ~6 friends supernuclearly, with numerous subprojects from wall modifications to painting.
Hand-collected 200+ donated tablets, supplied with accessories and stands, delivered to physicians to power patient+family connections.
Organized friends to hand-write 2,000 GOTV postcards in parks over 3 weekends.
An antique New Hampshire farmhouse window and many pounds of preserved moss to open a windowless bathroom.
Adjustable sit/stand desk finished from a remaindered walnut slab, with large walnut bowtie inlay.
Finding the cheapest meeting place for people from multiple origins and turning meetings into adventures. A new version is available via wrld.li above.
Collected redwood scraps, reworked into moss-laden table lamps, gifted to friends and family.
Closed community travel recommendation site where password access rewards good deeds. A new version is available via wrld.li above.
Self-guided group excursions including houseboating, river tubing, scavenger hunts, and desert hot spring trips.
Spent a year making small containers. Still have some left to give away, just ask.
Created a framework for hard decisions.
Custom rental property CMS and application processing portal.
Gap year working at a Habitat for Humanity affiliate in northwest Mississippi.
Complete course scheduling system used by a 300+ person school.
First paid job - building a simple website for my elementary school.
Certifications
- FAA Private Pilot2024
- PPG1 Power Paragliding2021
- SCUBA Open Water Diver2015
- Wilderness First Responder2013–now
Writing
Coming soon.
Topics in the queue:
Get in touch
Drop me a line.