{"$schema":"https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jsonresume/resume-schema/v1.0.0/schema.json","basics":{"name":"Christopher Chae","label":"Co-Owner","image":"https://saywise-production-profilepicturestoragebucket-kbfooccc.s3.amazonaws.com/profile-pictures/4f8cf147-a23e-4110-8ec0-0883853e5f49/linkedin-1786075208796.jpg","summary":"Once upon a time, I helped create LinkedIn. From 0 users to over 100 million, it was the ride of a lifetime and I feel incredibly lucky to have been a part of it. Then, I shifted gears to be a full-time dad for my three kids. Another amazing experience and, again, I feel insanely fortunate to be able to spend so much time with them. Today, I'm starting a new chapter running a children's bookstore in a charming downtown in the heart of Silicon Valley.","location":{"city":"Palo Alto, CA, United States"},"profiles":[{"network":"LinkedIn","username":"chris","url":"https://linkedin.com/in/chris"}]},"meta":{"canonical":"https://saywise.com/chris","version":"v1.0.0","lastModified":"2026-08-07T04:07:45.904Z"},"x_saywise":{"handle":"chris","pronouns":null,"availability":null,"oneLiner":"Once upon a time, I helped create LinkedIn. From 0 users to over 100 million, it was the ride of a lifetime and I feel incredibly lucky to have been a part of it. Then, I shifted gears to be a full-time dad for my three kids. Another amazing experience and, again, I feel insanely fortunate to be able to spend so much time with them. Today, I'm starting a new chapter running a children's bookstore in a charming downtown in the heart of Silicon Valley.","profileUrl":"https://saywise.com/chris","markdownUrl":"https://saywise.com/chris/profile.md","pdfUrl":"https://saywise.com/chris/resume.pdf","archetype":{"code":"HE-DG","name":"Junction Navigator","url":"https://saywise.com/sca/0a9a3c1071cb","rarity":"One of the first Junction Navigators on Saywise"}},"work":[{"name":"Linden Tree Books","position":"Co-Owner","location":"San Francisco Bay Area","url":"https://lindentreebooks.com","startDate":"2019-09-01","summary":"Linden Tree Books is an independent bookstore specializing in children's books that has been in business in downtown Los Altos for more than 40 years. The store is known far and wide for its carefully curated inventory, knowledgable staff, personalized service, and popular author events. My business partner (and former LinkedIn colleague) Florina Grosskurth and I took over the business in September 2019."},{"name":"The Saccheri Family","position":"Father in Residence (FIR)","startDate":"2011-10-01","endDate":"2019-09-01","summary":"Full-time father of three children. Responsibilities include reading books, leading outings to parks/libraries/zoos, setting limits, making up stories, supervising science projects, volunteering at school, playing accordion/ukulele/banjo, fixing toys, making pancakes and fresh pasta, etc. (Note that I still do all these things, but no longer in a full-time capacity.)"},{"name":"LinkedIn","position":"Director of Web Development","location":"San Francisco Bay Area","url":"https://linkedin.com","startDate":"2002-12-01","endDate":"2011-10-01","summary":"Part of the founding team, I was LinkedIn's original web developer and was responsible for all aspects of front-end development from the company's inception to IPO and beyond. Over the years, my role shifted from individual contributor to manager as I built and managed a team of 30+ world-class front-end developers. LinkedIn was one of the first large-scale websites built using CSS (not tables) for layout from the ground up which, now that I write it, makes me feel really old."},{"name":"Self-Employed","position":"Designer / Developer","startDate":"2002-02-01","endDate":"2010-02-01","summary":"Freelance work ranging from small promotional sites to large-scale web applications. My role was usually \"soup to nuts\" – writing and editing content, designing, developing, hosting and doing everything else in between. Clients included startups, venture capital firms, online marketing agencies, and others. During this time, I also created LetsPolka.com – a site devoted to accordion music, news, and events that I co-write with my wife. I rarely post there these days, but it still hosts the web's best directory of accordion teachers, shops, and clubs."},{"name":"QuinStreet, Inc.","position":"Web Developer","url":"https://quinstreet.com","startDate":"2001-02-01","endDate":"2002-05-01","summary":"Designed and developed dozens of sites from start-to-finish: everything from creating the initial design comps to closing the last HTML tag. During my last few months here, I was also responsible for scheduling and assigning tasks/projects to other members of the web development team."},{"name":"SocialNet.com","position":"Associate Editor","startDate":"2000-01-01","endDate":"2001-02-01","summary":"Managed SocialNet's content production process (writing/editing/building pages). Co-wrote and edited all communications to SocialNet's members, including newsletters, direct emails, help/guide text, and FAQs, and helped build the GUI for new features."}],"education":[{"institution":"Stanford University","studyType":"BA in English","startDate":"1994-01-01","endDate":"1998-01-01"}],"projects":[{"name":"A Brief History of LinkedIn","description":"A Brief History of LinkedIn (apologies to Stephen Hawking) is a visual timeline of LinkedIn's history, dating back to its launch in 2003. I pulled together documents, photos, and videos highlighting key milestones in LinkedIn's journey from living-room startup to multinational juggernaut. I did the research and coding; Josh Fleetwood did the visual design. The project was only accessible internally until May 2013, when it was updated and launched publicly for LinkedIn's 10th anniversary."}],"skills":[{"name":"Accordion"},{"name":"Web Standards"},{"name":"Accessibility"},{"name":"Front-end Development"},{"name":"Editing"},{"name":"DOM"},{"name":"Ukulele"},{"name":"Web Performance"},{"name":"TextMate"},{"name":"Parenting"},{"name":"Front-end"},{"name":"Long Distance Running"},{"name":"Storytelling"},{"name":"BBQ"},{"name":"Web Development"},{"name":"User Experience"},{"name":"User Interface Design"},{"name":"Cross-browser Compatibility"},{"name":"Web Analytics"},{"name":"Web Applications"},{"name":"Writing"},{"name":"HTML"},{"name":"CSS"},{"name":"JavaScript"},{"name":"AJAX"},{"name":"JSP"},{"name":"Ruby on Rails"},{"name":"Ruby"},{"name":"JSON"}],"certificates":[{"name":"Duolingo Italian Fluency: Elementary (Estimated)","date":"2015-09-01","issuer":"Duolingo"}]}