who i am
my first name is danilo. it means "only god is my judge." if god is a geometric point within a coordinate system and the highest god is simply an observation of the vastness of it all, that feels about right. my last name is vicioso, which means imperfect and wild. also feels right.
i grew up homeschooled in the dominican republic, where people either flew private or survived on $300 a month. the capital in the hunger games. from an early age, i was drawn to projects that helped people advance—organizing information to help society progress.
work & exploration
out of college, i did a few things:
- worked in ai venture capital.
- joined a high-growth tech startup.
- served as an entrepreneur in residence at prehype.
- started mainstreet—a shopify-inspired platform to help people start home painting businesses. built a team of 70, raised $25m from greylock, khosla, yc, and tim ferriss, and helped people across the country take their shot at the american dream. it was a great learning experience.
when i left mainstreet, i took some money, lost my phone, and went exploring and produced the equivalent to a phd in general intelligence. the thesis is.
life as both a status and attribute, is a function of ashby’s law of requisite variety. to the extent that a system lacks the requisite variety of regulators to integrate information, is the extent to which a system lacks life.
life experiences
i’ve had a rich and varied life:
- had my first exit in college
- dropped out of school to start and sell a celebrity autograph business.
- played competitive scrabble.
- crashed the golden globes (multiple times).
- served as an adjunct professor (econ).
- hacked american airlines. got caught. became an informant.
i’ve lived in brooklyn, harlem, cape town, la, spain, colombia, vietnam, peru, mexico city, woodstock, and bali—but i consider the internet my real hometown.
what i love
i’m a minimalist. almost all of my favorite things are free:
- fundamentals: math, nature, words.
- the ocean (i wanted to be a marine biologist).
- ceviche bowls. mezcal & lime juice. heat & water.
- contrast therapy. basketball. ping pong. steam rooms.
- loud speakers. beet juice. ice plunges.
- living outdoors (14+ hours/day, lush green; see sound-swim).
- good questions. clarity of thought.
how i work / think
- im mostly anti-anything—diversity and inclusion is my model (as per ashby’s law).
- people connect to the life in me—my authenticity and aggressive vulnerability.
- best at ideas. love nothing more than thinking and writing at midnight on a saturday.
- i share a lot of values with past generations but feel grateful to live in this one.
- identify as a composer, structuralist, logician, architect, system-of-systems theorist—but mostly, i’m just a person.
values & identity
- raised free—homeschooled, autodidactic, no real employment, lots of time away from tech.
- identify with middle-class virtues but upper-class conversations.
- emerson said: only that soul can be my friend which i encounter on the line of my own march. this resonates.
- enjoy being with groups of men and groups of women, but mixed groups feel off.
- appreciate fearless, full-of-life people who hold me to higher standards.
- i prefer “see you when i see you” relationships over chit-chat.