Zachary Cohn

Increasing the amount of awesome in the world. zaccohn@gmail.com

Entrepreneur, consultant, community organizer, maker, civil servant.

And occasionally I jump on things.

About

Zac lives in Seattle and likes to start things. Sometimes it's companies, and sometimes it's trouble.

He's sold one company, given away another, and shut down many more. He's consulted for companies and governments, organized community events, and backflipped across the world.

Consulting

18F

The Federal Government

Joined 18F as federal employee for a 2 year term. Served as an Innovation Specialist, Project Manager, Product Manager, Acting Director of Strategy, and Chief of Staff to the Director of Procurement. Major projects:

  • Helped the Environmental Protection Agency save $200 million dollars while developing and delivering a minimum viable product for the e-Manifest program.
  • Advised C-suite leadership at the Census Bureau on strategy for the technical build out for the front end of the 2020 Census.
  • Worked with the Department of Health and Human Services and the Mississippi's Department of Child Protective Services to replace Mississippi's aging child welfare case management system. Steered Misssippi toward a modular procurement strategy and jumpstarted the project, which had been stalled for over a decade.
June 2015 - June 2017

Wonful Consulting

Founder

Founded Wonful Consulting to teach the clients modern practices of working together and connecting with their customers. We taught and employed practices from Lean Startup, Agile, Customer Development, Design Thinking, and Liberating Structures. Worked with state governments and startup accelerators through a combination of workshops and on-going embedded engagements.

Government clients include:

  • Washington Office of the Chief Information Officer
  • Washington Department of Retirement Systems
  • Results Washington
  • Tacoma-Pierce County Department of Health

Accelerators and Bootcamps:

  • TechStars
  • 9 Mile Labs
  • General Assembly
April 2014 - Present

LIFFFT

Partner

Worked with Nordstrom on various efforts in and around their Innovation Lab. Signed a lot of NDAs about the work we did.

Jan 2013 - Feb 2014

Startups

Current Startup Project

Stealth Mode

Currently exploring a new idea. Still in the proto-company stage. More details later.

November 2017 - Present

Testyourwaterforlead.com

Shut down

How safe is your water? Life is complicated. Testing your water for lead shouldn't be. Testyourwaterforlead.com acted as middleman between consumers and water testing laboratories to facilitate a more consumer friendly experience.

May 2017 - October 2017

Amazing Airfare

Sold

Insane curated flight deals, sent straight to you. 50% off or more international airfare. Amazing Airfare will email or text you amazing deals on airfare so you never miss out on a life changing trip.

Wrote extensively about MVPs and the creation of this company.

January 2015 - September 2015

Community

Ignite Seattle

Organizer

Ignite Seattle: 14 speakers get five minutes on stage with 20 slides that auto-advance every 15 seconds... with or without them. Enlighten us, but make it quick! After 35 events over 12 years, we regularly sell out our shows at Town Hall and The Egyptian Theatre.

Organizer responsibilities include recruiting and choosing speakers, speaker coaching, collecting and ensuring compliance of slide decks, and managing the presentations the night of the event.

June 2010 - Present

Parkour Visions

Vice Chair, Member of the Board

Parkour Visions is a women lead 501(c)3 non-profit organization committed to sharing the benefits of parkour and natural movement with all ages through educational programming, design, and community development.

We hold general classes at our facility and in public places throughout the city, run special programs to create an inclusive environment for women, children, and those with silver hair, and are building outreach programs for homeless and at-risk youth.

June 2010 - Present

Hacker News Seattle Meetup

Founder

The largest generalist monthly tech meetup in Seattle at the time. Maxed out 200 person capacity at most events. Provided high quality (non-pizza) food, beer, and networking opportunities at startup and tech company offices around Seattle.

Featured a wide range of speakers, from Justin Kan talking about YCombinator and Justin.tv to Chris Lewicki talking about asteroid mining.

August 2011 - October 2013

Everything Else

Public Speaking
Physical Activities
Other things
Other hobbies and interests