INTRO
I'm Garrett.
Engineer by birth. Tinker by default.
Software now, Aerospace before that.
I'm the cofounder and CTO of Masterfile Co. We build the commerce stack that connects artists, creators, and entertainment brands with their biggest fans. Masterfile powers everything from storefronts and experiences down to the systems that keep them running.
01 — OpenDRM
Masterfile started in 2021 with a question: what would true digital ownership actually look like? Our answer was OpenDRM, a decentralized digital rights management protocol built on threshold cryptography. Creators could distribute independently; fans could keep access without depending on any single platform. The prototype placed top 5 at EthDenver 2021. Building on this momentum, my two cofounders and I raised a seed round and Masterfile Co. was born.
02 — Gonkbonk
By 2023, "crypto" had become a word that closed any doors before they were opened. Two years in the entertainment sector had taught us what IP owners and their biggest fans actually wanted. We rolled those insights into Gonkbonk, an ecommerce platform that bridged digital and physical products for art and entertainment brands. Over the next two years, Gonkbonk powered successful campaigns for partners including Image Comics, BOOM Comics, Godzilla, Spy X Family, and Serial Experiments Lain.
03 — Masterfile stack
Gonkbonk worked. However, it alone wasn't going to scale. So we turned the stack itself into the product. The Masterfile stack puts independent stores, publishers, and creators in control of their own commerce. We handle the data integrations, back-office automation, and marketing operations that make it work.
Before Masterfile, I worked as an aerospace engineer. I earned my Bachelor's and Master's in Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M, often skipping lectures to teach myself more effectively. I picked up coding the same way, in my spare time, and used it to run the analysis for my Master's thesis on fracture mechanics.
Out of school, I went to work for the Navy and then Northrop Grumman, doing structural analysis on F/A-18s and other naval aircraft. Once at Northrop, I started writing software tools to help with my day-to-day analysis work. That grew into a full analysis suite for the department and produced a step change in productivity.
I have always been independently minded and self motivated. This is the drive that pulled me into software and guided me through my journey so far. The best work, engineering or art, comes from people thinking, building, and doing for themselves. Masterfile is the culmination of these driving principles.
Outside of Masterfile, I've done freelance work in the financial sector. I'm also working on a personal research project rebuilding the spreadsheet from the ground up and using it as a playground to explore the latest in AI driven development.
If you want to dig deeper into any of these projects, talk through the journey, or share something you're working on, I'd like to hear about it. Most of these stories have deeper project write-ups, with more on the way.