Building a scalable, dev-friendly blockchain at Near Protocol. Ironman, outdoorsman, motorcyclist. Realistic optimist. Founder of Viking Education, The Odin Project. My name is Erik Trautman and I’m a challenge-addicted entrepreneur who is fascinated by the intersection of business strategy and product development with technology and markets. I'm also a multi-purpose nerd and model-builder with a penchant for engineering, designing and playing with data. Too much time spent playing poker at Penn led me from the labs of engineering to the halls of Wharton and onto Wall Street. I spent half a decade building analytics infrastructure and trading on commodities desks from New York to Houston before shifting gears to build businesses. In 2013 I started The Odin Project, an open-source web development community with almost 100,000 members. In 2014 I founded Viking Education, a fully online software engineering program where students don't have to pay until they get a job. Both were acquired in 2017. I've also ridden through each of the lower 48 states on a motorcycle, most during one epic trip in 2012, and a number of other countries as well during another great trip in early 2018. I ran my first triathlon in 2016 and completed a full Ironman a year later in Santa Rosa, California. I can typically be found exploring new mountains or dancing like a maniac to whatever's playing. I'm driven to impact the world through the creation of high leverage businesses while living meaningfully and well. Come along for the ride.