Achievements
- Worked at Microsoft as a Software Development Engineer in 2008
- Co-founded Prepfly to make learning apps smarter and adaptive
- Held engineering and founding roles at startups like Marvina and Circa (Y Combinator S16)
- Senior Software Engineer at Airbnb, boosting conversion rates for millions of users
- Currently a Software Engineer at Alchemy, a top blockchain platform in SF
- Graduated with a BSE in Computer Science from the University of Pennsylvania
Here's Derek Dahmer
Yo, listen up, I gotta tell you about Derek Dahmer. This guy’s the real deal in the startup and tech world. No cap. He’s been grinding for over 12 years, jumping into the deep end of software engineering and entrepreneurship. He’s the kind of dude who’s done it all, from big corps to startups, and now he’s crushing it at Alchemy, a top blockchain platform in SF.
So, how did he get here? Well, he kicked off his career at Microsoft back in ’08. Imagine that, fresh out of college and already working at a tech giant. After that, he dipped into Vistaprint, then co-founded Prepfly, which was all about making learning apps smarter and more adaptive. The dude’s got a thing for building stuff that actually makes a difference.
But he didn’t stop there. He’s been involved with a ton of startups, Marvina, which was all about medical cannabis logistics (yep, that’s a thing now), and Circa, a Y Combinator S16 company that was all about sales enablement and B2B marketing. He also worked at Airbnb as a Senior Software Engineer, where he helped boost conversion rates for millions of users. That’s no small feat. Plus, he’s jumped into Scale AI, another YC alum, working on some of the coolest AI and data stuff out there.
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Talk to herWhat’s crazy is, Derek’s more than just a coder. He’s got a solid background from Penn, BSE in CS, and he’s jumped into Y Combinator, which is basically the startup Olympics. That means he’s not only technical but also knows what it takes to build something that scales.
He’s based in SF now, but his process shows he’s all about solving real problems. Whether it’s healthcare logistics, education, or modern blockchain tech, this guy’s driven by a need to create impact. His story screams one thing: he’s all about building the future, one line of code at a time, and he’s not stopping anytime soon.
In short? Derek’s the kind of guy who’s been through the trenches, learned from the best, and now is pushing the boundaries of what tech can do. If you wanna understand what a true startup grinder looks like, look no further. That’s him.

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