Alexander Kern
Software Engineer at Figma
San Francisco, California
Overview
Work Experience
Software Engineer
2024 - Current
Figma is a collaborative design tool that enables teams to create, prototype, and test digital products on one platform.
Raised $748,624,736.00 from Thrive Capital, XN, Andreessen Horowitz, Alkeon Capital, Kleiner Perkins, Coatue, Goanna Capital, Eddy Cue, Sequoia Capital and SurgoCap.
Technical Advisor, Angel Investor
2019
🧪 Developing open source productivity tools, AI / ML dev tools, and crypto 🎬 Technical Advisor on HBO's Silicon Valley Season 6 👼 Angel investor; select co-investors include Floodgate, Accel, The House Fund, Backend Capital, Founders Fund, Polychain Capital, Coinbase Ventures and Y Combinator.
Founder & CEO
2021 - 2024
Dynaboard reimagines web application development and extends it beyond the text editor. With real-time code collaboration tools, optimized UI/UX components, database & app integrations, and built-in performance & security best practices, we've unlocked application development for everyone on your team.
Dynaboard turns web app development into a fun, multiplayer experience. Code and design in real-time with teammates.
Raised $6,600,000.00 from MANTIS Venture Capital, General Catalyst, Swift Ventures, Terrence Rohan, XYZ Venture Capital, The House Fund, Abstract, The General Partnership and Floodgate.
Cofounder & CTO
2019 - 2021
Helping the largest F500 brands and market research firms reach, research, and retain Gen Z customers through digital communities.
Software Engineer
2018 - 2019
Rearchitected Coinbase's core cryptocurrency payments architecture to support all blockchains. Built a unified cryptocurrency stack that added billions of dollars in assets under custody to the Coinbase platform across all business units. Designed and implemented core aspects of Coinbase Staking's highly available validator, now the largest Tezos validator.
Coinbase Ventures is an investment arm of Coinbase that aims to invest in seed-stage cryptocurrency and blockchain startups.
Cofounder & CTO
2015 - 2018
Infrastructure and experiences for decentralized applications.
Distributed Systems is a digital identity startup and a full-stack machine intelligence.
Raised $1,700,000.00 from The House Fund, Floodgate, Rough Draft Ventures, The House Fund and Dorm Room Fund.
Founder
2014 - 2015
Led the team formation, organization, fundraising, marketing, and community engagement for the first major collegiate hackathon in the Bay Area. Over 1,500 hackers participated in the inaugural event. Now a core student group in the UC Berkeley ecosystem, Cal Hacks has grown to be the world's largest collegiate hackathon over the past 5 years and runs other affiliate programs such as CubStart.
Cal Hacks is a group of UC Berkeley students that organize hackathon & other educational computer science related events.
Associate
2013 - 2014
Sought out new investment opportunities for the firm by connecting entrepreneurs to each other and the greater entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Alsop Louie Partners is a risk-oriented technology venture capital firm that offers financial services to early stage companies.
Applied Machine Learning Intern
2013 - 2013
Apple is a corporation that designs, manufactures, and markets consumer electronics, personal computers, and software.
Raised $1,170,230,000.00 from KB Securities, Berkshire Hathaway and Microsoft.
Software Engineering Intern
2010 - 2011
Worked on the motor controller of the Curiosity Mars Rover by automating verification workflows. Developed highly-available durable cloud storage for satellites and Mars rovers. Coauthored an IEEE paper and gave presentations at JPL on my work.
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory is a federally funded research and development center managed for NASA.
Education
BA
2012 - 2016