Teddy Schoenfeld
Teddy Schoenfeld

About me

Teddy Schoenfeld

I grew up in Boulder, Colorado, a sunny college town at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. I spent my childhood learning about the world, playing outside, and listening to lots of music. I loved growing up in Boulder but wanted to move to the East Coast for as long as I can remember, which is part of why I chose to come to MIT for college.

I started MIT as purely a neuroscience major because of my fascination with the brain but added computer science soon after I started. Coding made my brain operate in a new, unfamiliar way that I still find useful for solving non-technical problems. I always preferred my classes to be interesting rather than purely pre-professional—choosing my electives involved paging through the entire course catalog for the coolest-looking classes, no matter what department they were in. I took classes in poetry, business, linguistics, economics, and music (ask me about my Beatles class!).

I played baseball for almost my entire life, from kindergarten until my last year of college. I played both for MIT's varsity team and in competitive summer leagues throughout my career, spending days playing all over New England while my friends were working internships. After doing a year of graduate work and playing a final year of baseball, I moved to New York and began working in tech full time.

After a stint doing business operations at a Series C company, I joined a seed-stage AI startup as Chief of Staff, where I'm currently focused on augmenting and preserving what makes humans unique. I'm motivated by interesting, high-ceiling ideas and do my best work with a small, energetic team. I love to eat, play music, read, and meet new people from all kinds of backgrounds. I believe that we've created technology that could spur an age of prosperity for the world, but we're in danger of letting greed, desire, and fear get in the way.

Principles
There's no bigger killer of inspiration and creativity than a cynical outlook. Curiosity and earnestness, on the other hand, catalyze an enjoyable and fulfilling life. The world is fascinating—incredible things show up in the most unexpected places—but you have to believe that the magic is out there, and be excited to look for it.
Most people I know spend too much of their lives doing things they don't enjoy. Not everyone has the luxury of choosing a vocation they love over one that simply provides. But life goes by quickly, and days spent on work that doesn't inspire you are days you don't get back. If you can, find what you love and pursue it.
Voltaire had it right. Don't be afraid to put things into the world before they feel perfect. More often than not, the conviction to share what you've made matters 100x more than the marginal improvement you'd get from polishing the marble over and over.
As AI models continue to improve, the value of specialization erodes. When LLMs have PhD-level knowledge about everything, depth becomes a commodity—and the advantage shifts to generalists who can pattern-match across disciplines. You don't need to master a dozen fields yourself, but you need the breadth to see the connections between them. I highly recommend David Epstein's Range for a more nuanced take on this.
People often use emotional distance as a defense mechanism against being hurt, but doing so deprives them of a very important part of life. Despair, anger, longing, and even guilt are crucial aspects of what it means to be human, so don't think of it as a loss when you find yourself feeling them deeply. And as a bonus, painful emotions make the pleasant ones feel all the better.
How to reach me
End of document