At age 30 I was Vice President & Chief Technology Officer of a public software company, four years later I left that security behind to become an entrepreneur and start an Internet company. A year later, after having successfully launched www.kaboodle.com I left for a well deserved vacation to pursue my passion for adventure sports...little did I realize, life was never going to be the same again!

It was on this trip to Colombia, South America, that I lost his left hand after a near-fatal paragliding accident. As I was coming in to land, after a successful cross-country flight on my paraglider, I hadn't spotted power lines running across my path. The next thing I knew I was regaining consciousness on the ground, I'd hit the power lines and my left hand and arm and right leg were badly burnt where I'd shorted across two lines.

It was a miracle to have survived and I spent the next two months in hospital undergoing fifteen surgeries, first in Colombia, then Miami before finally making it back to San Francisco. It was while at Mercy Hospital in Miami that I made the decision to amputate my left hand.

Meanwhile, Kaboodle was in the very capable hands of my business partners and the team we'd built prior to my accident. I was determined not to let the loss of my hand impact my life in any way and within three months of the accident I was back at work full time. But, it was by no means plain sailing for us at that time, by the end of that year we were nearly out of cash and in February of the following year it was only an advance from one of our investors that allowed us to meet payroll that month. From that low, after managing to secure an extension to our existing funding, we hit the ultimate high and barely five months later Kaboodle was acquired by Hearst Corporation.

Since then Kaboodle has grown to be the #1 social shopping site on the web, with over 15 million monthly visitors and is a top 150 Internet property in the US. It continues pioneer and dominate the social shopping arena.

During this time I've continued to live life to the fullest, my disability hasn't stopped me one iota. I still scuba dive, snow board, play guitar, I got a bionic hand and in 2008 started training for and competing in triathlons, my goal being to complete an Ironman triathlon - a grueling 140.6 mile swim, bike & run.

And I enjoy telling my story as a speaker, sharing the insights I've gained both professionally and personally on not just overcoming adversity but thriving the other side of it.