Dan Garraway

Stop fighting your own nervous system.

We do our most important work in whatever state we're in — usually the wrong one. I build the system that puts you in the right state for the work in front of you.

Connect with DanOne seat at a time · from $9k

WIREWAX → Vimeo · BAFTA · 2 Webbys · 2 Clios

The gap

Right work. Wrong state.

Deep work, depleted. Big calls, anxious. Hard conversations, dysregulated. Then we bolt AI on and get faster at the wrong things. Nothing closes the gap between the state you're in and the state the work needs.


What I build

A system that matches your state to the work.

It senses your state, reads what's in front of you, and gets you into the right one for it. Calm for the hard conversation. Sharp for the deep work. Regulated before the big call. The AI is the invisible actuator; your judgment stays yours.

Concretely, where we start: it reads your sleep and recovery, protects your one deep-work block a day, and reschedules the rest to your state — the wrong-state work goes to your agents.

It senses
  • your sleep
  • your body
  • your breath
  • your environment
  • the work in front of you
It matches

The right state to do it well — not another dashboard.


Everyone has the same models now. The difference is the system around them — and the human running it.

The Operator's OS

What you getA system tuned to your state and your work — on your own stack, yours to keep.
How long2–4 weeks. Then it's yours.
What it costsFrom $9k. One client at a time.
How we startConnect with Dan.

Not faster — present. The machine does the rest; you do the part only you can.

Go deeper: a week in Costa Rica — regulated into the body, not just the calendar.

Connect with DanI run it on myself. selfmade.skin is live on it.

Fit

Who this is for

A fit if you…

  • Make decisions that matter
  • Want to make them in the right state
  • Are great at the craft, fried by the load
  • Care about what you're building

Not if you…

  • Need a committee to sign off
  • Want a cheap automation gig
  • Shop for hype
  • Want someone to run your company

Why me

I built WIREWAX, sold it to Vimeo — and got very good at staring at a screen, missing my own life. Now I build founders the system I needed: do the work, still be here for it.

AI is trained on the exhaust of human intelligence — what we wrote down. It never ran the engine. The engine is your nervous system, where judgment and taste come from. As the machines get cheap, the scarce thing is a human in the right state. I build for that.

$5M+
new revenue at Vimeo
300K+
enterprise seats shipped
30K+
creators on WIREWAX
20yrs
feeling → action

The long game: the install here, madeself carrying the method to the many, selfmade live on it. One thesis, built out.


Proof

It isn't a deck

  • Delfín runs my ops — you'll talk to it to reach me.
  • The briefs run my money and my day.
  • selfmade.skin is live on the same system.

See what mine looks like →

Built withDisney·BBC·FX·Nike·Google·Warner·Vimeo

One seat at a time

What are you building that you'd back even if no one else believed in it?

Connect with Dan

1984 → now

How I got here

  1. 1984

    Born

    In the UK. A family of service.

  2. c. 1991

    Grandad's radio equipment

    I'd force my family to listen to my internal radio shows at holiday gatherings. The first instinct, never lost: make people experience something.

  3. mid-90s

    A paper round, a first computer

    Earned my way to a Windows 95 PC and started building — early web places for people to gather, gaming-league communities, a ShoutCast station of my own (talked Demon Internet into free servers).

  4. 2002–05

    Screen Production

    A degree built at the seam of television and internet. Day one, the lecturer: “We're not here to do exams — by year three you'll have built your own company.” I found a talent for camera and experience design.

  5. c. 2003

    Oak Barrel — first company

    Won a contract for a world-first video-dating website. Brought on a technical co-founder; led the experience and the build.

  6. 2006–08

    London, and a camera

    A South Bank studio for brands arriving online — and camera work I loved: Cage Warriors (before it was UFC Europe), Santana at Silverstone, and J&J's Harmonic — flying the world to film first-of-their-kind surgeries.

  7. c. 2008

    Meeting Steve Callanan

    A click-to-learn prototype on a make-up video. Underneath it was the real idea: an intelligence layer for video.

  8. 2010–13

    WIREWAX

    Funded by Passion Capital out of Seedcamp, Berlin. Hired computer-vision engineers from Leeds. We connected a dumb asset into a two-way experience of curiosity, context and action — Nike's first shoppable video; the BBC's first interactive video; easter eggs hidden in Sherlock and Luther.

  9. 2013

    New York, from scratch

    Moved to chase the largest market. Lived in the 41 Wooster office while we built it out. I failed, learned, failed, learned. I was lonely. I had to build my life from scratch. Found a bar called Shade — and a community.

  10. 2017–19

    The award years

    A Webby for Portugal. The Man. A Webby for Disney's Jungle Book. Two Clios for FX. A BAFTA for the BBC. A studio of ~15 in the US, ~60 worldwide — funding the technology underneath.

  11. 2019–20

    A Swiss army knife for video

    Recognising people across scenes, emotional analysis, AI tooling for Warner → HBO Max, and a Google TV pilot — gesture and knowledge-card interaction, before X-ray was a thing.

  12. 2021

    Acquired by Vimeo

    I brokered the deal, ran the pilot to 70% conversion, then built the go-to-market — trained 200+, brought in Salesforce, connected Walmart, hit every target in nine months, not two. Then I left to be with my Dad through his cancer.

  13. 2022–24

    selfmade

    Stephanie's gen-z wellness brand, pivoting into technology — translating psychodermatology into everyday products that help people use the time and money they already spend to regulate emotion. Experiences in LA on Abbot Kinney.

  14. now

    The real-time era

    Using the AI wave to help people evolve past the machine-work — experiences that convert feeling into action in the moment — madeself, my human↔agent interface; agents that quietly do the job; sovereign systems that hand an operator their body and their week back.


Questions

Who is Dan Garraway?

I co-founded WIREWAX — the interactive-video platform Disney, BBC and FX ran on — and sold it to Vimeo in 2021. BAFTA, two Webbys, two Clios. Now I build founders the system that puts them in the right state to do their best work, one at a time.

What do you actually build?

A system that senses your state and surroundings, reads the work in front of you, and gets you into the right state to do it — calm for the hard conversation, sharp for the deep work, regulated before the big call. The AI is the invisible actuator; the win is your judgment, intact. On your own stack, 2–4 weeks, from $9k.

Is this wellness, or productivity?

Neither alone. Wellness optimises generic wellbeing; productivity optimises tasks and ignores the body running them. I wire the two together: the right state for the specific work in front of you. Performance and regulation — non-clinical, with therapeutic advisors as the safety layer.

Who's it for — and not for?

For conviction-driven founder-owners who make decisions that matter and want to make them well. Not for committees, cheap-automation shoppers, hype over change, or anyone wanting someone to run their company.

How do I start?

Connect with Dan — free, the only door. Or email dangarraway@gmail.com. Already warm? An optional paid Signal Call ($750, credited if you go further).