Silicon Valley and this Blog

Back in 2010 I started this blog as a way to keep notes of my new journey in Silicon Valley. Instead of burying those notes in a notepad where only I would have access to, I decided to make them public. And so here we are few years later. A blog full of stuff that may help you when you get to Silicon Valley. I also share thoughts & interesting articles on Twitter, follow me or connect with me on LinkedIn.

Who is Ernest Semerda

I am an Aussie currently based in Silicon Valley. Mountain View to be precise. I left the beautiful Wollstonecraft in Sydney for Silicon Valley back in March 2009; during a US financial crisis and H1N1 pandemic. What a time to move hey. There really is no time like now so don’t wait for the perfect moment. Purpleblue Pty Ltd, building websites for small businesses when Netscape 1 was the browser of choice. To help with sales and to better understand the customer, I launched my first ever SaaS product; WebAnt Analytics (way back before google analytics existed).

Post graduation, I did an enterprise stint at AMP Ltd in Australia & NZ; getting corporate experience and an MBA to better understand business dynamics. With all that new found knowledge, I shifted gears into the startup space as CTO of Couponstar helping grow that business internationally with a mission to help people save money. The success of this venture landed me in Silicon Valley (March 2009) when Coupons, Inc. acquired Couponstar. amazon ankle brace

The famous Baby Freeze!

In 2012, instead of heading back home, I got the Silicon Valley startup bug and with a burning desire for disruption I shifted gears for a new chapter in my life; a new mission, to help save lives at Medlert. My 1st venture backed startup.

Then in 2017 I started Veryfi to build the world’s most experienced construction bookkeeping automation expert! The success of this new business venture took us through Y Combinator. Today Veryfi is a profitable company serving both the small business market and corporate enterprises with its industry leading APIs for data extraction.

It’s been a wild ride! And there’s more to come. Reach out if you have questions about startups, YCombinator or just want to say g’day.

Popular Articles I’ve posted here

Moving to Silicon Valley

Stuff to do in Silicon Valley

Software Engineering

Getting Things Done