Meet our Founders

Creating successful leaders through skills-based management

Payam Moghaddam

Co-Founder

I enjoy building systems that help people do their best work. As VP of R&D at Galvanize, I spent seven years leading large engineering teams; not through rigid hierarchy, but by creating environments where people had genuine autonomy with clear direction.

Great teams are not built by layering on more process and complex technology. They're built by giving people the right skills and guidance and then letting them own the outcome. This philosophy, that everything is a skill, drives how we operate at Admire.

I'm a technical builder with a bias toward simplicity. At Admire, I'm focusing that into an operational platform that makes AI-native skill management practical and accessible.

Keith Cerny

Co-Founder

My background is a mix of the technical and the organizational. After serving as both a CTO and a Chief People Officer, I realized that most company "bugs" aren't in the code, they're in how people work together and gaps in skill sets.

Through my work at Galvanize, then after the exit to Fresh Founders, and as an angel investor, I've seen dozens of brilliant people struggle when they transition from "doing the work" to "leading the team." It's an incredibly hard shift to make alone.

I am helping build Admire because I remember how hard it was to figure out management without a playbook. I want every leader to have clarity on what great looks like, and a system to get there.

Our Story is Your Story

We remember the first time we were promoted to management. The jolt of excitement for being recognized. The sense of growth and empowerment. The bigger salary. We floated home that day on a dopamine cloud.

Then reality hit. We arrived at work the next day terrified. We felt like an imposter. We thought "any minute now they will figure out that we have no clue what we're doing and take away this promotion" ... you know what we mean.

So we struggled. We sometimes found a breadcrumb of guidance or mentorship or some incomplete tool here or there. We jumped at the latest management fad or book. We read them all. Most were superficial or just plain wrong.

What was missing was clarity on how to do the job. Not just to have skills, but feel confident in our skills. There wasn't a clear process to acquire our own management skills nor help our team members get the skills they needed. We desperately wanted both a mentor and an assistant manager at the same time. We looked for a solution. We found nothing.

So we built Admire. The technology has finally caught up to our ambitions. However, our vision for Admire is so much more than technology. We are focused on making the job of leadership easier. Whether you are managing people, AI agents, or a team of consultants, we are building Admire to always be in your corner supporting you.

We know that leaders who develop people get more people to develop. When you genuinely invest in people they never forget it. You help create the foundation they build on for the rest of their career.

In the future, someone who worked on your team will tell their friends at a dinner that you were the best boss they ever had. If we can play a small part in helping that day happen, we are fulfilled.

Ready to Boss Better?

We'll map your team's skills live and show you a clear path forward.

A personalized skill map for your team
A prioritized action plan you can start using today