Sean Falconer

“Sean is a world-class technology talent. Being Sean's co-founder for seven years was a profoundly transformative experience for me. Sean is a top 1% software engineer. He has an ever-evolving technology skill stack that he uses to make products that function well, delight customers, and stand the test of time. But Sean's technical prowess is only the base of his impressive skill set. Over the seven years I worked with Sean, I saw him develop his people skills in remarkable ways. He learned how to hire, how to manage people, how to lead projects, and how to communicate his vision. Proven would not be where it is today without Sean's leadership. Sean also has a unique way to positively influence others. My own work product and processes improved dramatically as a consequence of our relationship. Sean always had a way to distill ideas to find the "20" in the 80/20, meaning he was good at figuring out the 20% that we needed to focus on to get 80% of the positive outcome. This was tremendously helpful to me and the company as we built systems while constantly figuring out what to prioritize. Sean was a great leader of teams, mentoring and coaching people, allowing them to significantly progress their careers in their jobs after Proven. Sean is a constant learner, and no task or subject area was too small or too mundane if it meant that it helped the company move forward. Sean is very loyal, and someone whom I am proud to have shared the trenches of entrepreneurship. Starting a company is very difficult at times, and it requires constant leaps of faith with uncertain outcomes. As uncomfortable as some of those times were, I always knew I could count on Sean to hunker down and work together on the challenge at hand, from building products, to raising money, to hiring and training people, and beyond. It was my honor to work with Sean; I believe that anyone who comes into meaningful contact with him will feel the same way. ”

“I know Sean as his undergraduate university class instructor, and later as a research collaborator. Given Sean is an ACM Programming Contest finalist to state that he is an exceptional coder is about as revealing as it is to claim that the sun is hot; "What a surprise!" you sarcastically exclaim both times. However, what distinguishes him from other exceptional programmers is how unbelievably fast he codes. To illustrate Sean's coding speed, I'll mention a great principle in science/research that helps to evaluate correctness without looking at any of the technical details (such as, e.g., discard proofs of P=NP or classical violations of Bell's inequality). It states "if you can't code it, you do not understand it". It may surprise---at no formal contradiction to the above principle---but I have seen Sean's code work (correctly) before either him or I had an (algorithmic) understanding of why it actually works.”

“I have had the best value for my money with Sean. He accomplished more than what I had imagined and remained supportive of our product even after moving on to other areas and companies. He was a very enthusiastic and competent worker - and managed to work with the rest of my team very effectively. I do wish him well in whatever he does - and anyday he wants to join us we will make a place for him!”

“Sean has consistently been a top performer in his role. He is a highly productive developer that has an output easily equal to many times his peers. His ability to quickly master new technologies, provide creative design solutions to difficult problems, and his production of solid code makes him an extremely valuable addition to any team. Given the chance I would hire Sean again without hesitation.”

“Sean is the best and brightest in the industry. He constantly raises the bar, bringing his A game each and everyday. Sean's desire and intensity helps elevate those around him. In those situations where it counts, Sean will hit the 3 Ball, ignoring those conditions he cannot control and continually giving 110%.”

“Sean is an extremely fast problem solver. His talent and creativity is hard to miss when working on a problem together with him. He has clearly been able to bring his experience gained at the world programming finals to the office. He is easy going with a broad range of interest and is exceedingly enjoyable to work with.”