Nathan Kontny

Yo, you gotta hear about Nathan Kontny. This guy’s the real deal in the startup world. He’s like that friend who jumps into everything and just crushes it, no cap. So, Nathan’s a serial entrepreneur, a legit engineer, and he’s been around the block a couple of times with Y Combinator-twice, actually. He was in YC W06 with Inkling, then came back in S11 with Cityposh. That’s some serious hustle.

His story? It’s all about building stuff that actually matters. Started out in engineering roles at big places like Digital River and Accenture, but he wasn’t about to stay there. Nah, he jumped into startups early on, working as a founding engineer at Census and helping scale it from seed to B-round. That showed he’s got the skills to grow companies from scratch.

But what really makes him stand out? Nathan’s a creator. He co-founded Ninjas and Robots, which made Locomotion-this stop-motion movie tool-that’s some advanced creative tech. Then he co-founded Inkling, a digital publishing platform, which was a big hit in the edtech space. After that, he served as CEO of Highrise HQ, which was spun out from 37signals. That’s a major move-leading a product that was already pretty popular and taking it to the next level.

And here’s the kicker-he’s more than just a tech guy. He’s a true builder of tools that help others build too. Like, he created Draft, an online writing and version control tool. Think about that-he took his own experience with Cityposh and turned it into a product to make writing and collaboration easier. That’s some real founder grit-taking a problem he faced and building a solution others can use.

Plus, he’s got this interesting side gig-worked on marketing and product for Rockstar Coders, and even jumped into politics as a software engineer for Obama’s re-election campaign. That shows he’s got a wide range of skills and a passion for having an effect.

What does all this say about him? Nathan’s all about jumping into the deep end, experimenting, failing fast, and building stuff that actually moves the needle. His process? It’s a story of relentless curiosity, of not being afraid to take risks, and of always looking for the next thing to solve. He’s the guy who’s not just riding the wave but creating the wave itself.

Bottom line: Nathan Kontny is one of those founders who’s been through the trenches, built multiple successful companies, and keeps pushing forward. He’s the real deal-tech-savvy, creative, relentless. If you want to know what a modern startup legend looks like, look no further.