Press Kit — Master Joe Phillips (English)
For journalists, editors, podcast producers, and event coordinators.
Headline / Tagline
Executive leadership in the era of artificial intelligence.
Master Joe Phillips is a tech entrepreneur, author of two books, and keynote speaker. His central thesis: AI won't replace leaders — it will replace the leaders who don't learn to use it well.
Bios
Short bio (~50 words)
Master Joe Phillips is a tech entrepreneur, author of two books, and keynote speaker. A Costa Rican by birth and citizen of the world by choice, he founded Trifecta Software (2011) and Spearhead Technologies (2016), and sold Zumo Imagination to Huli Health in 2018. He's served 1,000+ clients and studied Machine Learning in 2021, before the GenAI boom.
Medium bio (~155 words)
Master Joe Phillips is a tech entrepreneur, author, and keynote speaker. Born in San José, Costa Rica and shaped as a citizen of the world, he has spent more than two decades building software.
He founded Trifecta Software in 2011 (CostaRicaCRM.com and custom software development for U.S.-based companies) and Spearhead Technologies in 2016 (Facturero.com). In 2014 he co-founded Zumo Imagination as CTO — a health-tech startup that scaled across Latin America and was acquired by Huli Health in 2018. His career has served 1,000+ clients across SaaS and custom development. In January 2021, before the GenAI boom, he completed a Machine Learning specialization at PROMIDAT.
That experience grounds his work as an author. Cinturón Negro de la IA (AI Black Belt: Fundamentals Before the Prompt) lays out a progressive path for non-technical executives to go from AI anxiety to AI mastery. His second book, Empleado IA (August 2026, Spanish), moves from adoption to governance: it develops the Hybrid Workforce Standard, the open standard he published at hybridwf.com, covering who is accountable when a system decides, what it may never decide alone, and how autonomy is earned.
He writes a column for Primera Línea and made his international speaking debut on August 2, 2026 at the Escala Next Level Summit by Ismael Cala at Cala Center in Miami.
Long bio (~440 words)
Master Joe Phillips is a tech entrepreneur, author, and keynote speaker. His work rests on an operational conviction: AI won't displace leaders — it will displace the leaders who don't learn to use it well.
Born in San José, Costa Rica and shaped as a citizen of the world, he has spent more than two decades building software. His entrepreneurial path began with Trifecta Software (founded in 2011), where he launched CostaRicaCRM.com as a regional SaaS and has built — to this day — custom software projects for companies in the United States. In 2014 he co-founded Zumo Imagination as CTO and software architect, giving rise to Zumo Medical, a digital health-record platform that scaled across Latin America and was acquired by Huli Health in 2018. In 2016 he founded Spearhead Technologies (Facturero.com). This three-front practice — regional SaaS, healthtech with a successful exit, and custom dev for U.S. clients under NDA — gave him an unusually layered view of modern management across cultural contexts. He has served 1,000+ clients across SaaS and custom development.
His training combines accounting, computer systems engineering, and a professional Master's in Project Management accredited by the PMI's Global Accreditation Center. In January 2021, before the GenAI boom, he completed Expert in Machine Learning with Python at PROMIDAT. That sequence — numbers, code, management, AI — lets him hold a room with CFOs, CTOs, and CEOs at the same table.
The book's metaphor isn't borrowed either. Joe is a Sabeomnim of Hapkido (certified master instructor) since 2022, at the Cheong Kyum Kwan — in direct line from the late Founder Lee, Seung-Woo (Hapkido Cheong Kyum World Federation · CKWF), through Grand Master Choi, Suk-Hwan and his direct teacher Grand Master William Rayo. He has trained for decades in a discipline where mastery is earned one belt at a time. That lived practice underpins the progressive pedagogy of AI Black Belt: Fundamentals Before the Prompt, published on Amazon (Legacy Publishers, May 2026) — Spanish edition available now, English edition in final author review. The book maps a path — from white belt to black — for non-technical executives moving from fear to fluency with AI.
In 2025 he co-directed the intensive Business Essentials program in San José alongside Dr. Esteban Bonilla. He's the regular columnist on leadership and AI for Primera Línea, and made his international speaking debut at the Escala Next Level Summit by Ismael Cala (Cala Center · Miami, August 2, 2026) with the keynote The 95% Are Failing: The Truth About AI No One Is Telling You. In November he speaks at Blockchain Jungle Costa Rica with Empleado IA (AI Employee), on who is accountable when software holds a role.
His voice combines the technical rigor of someone who actually built software for two decades, a verifiable exit on the record, real authority on discipline as practice — and a firm refusal to sell hype.
Metrics & track record
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Years building software | 24+ years (since 2000) |
| Companies founded | 3 (Trifecta Software, Zumo Imagination, Spearhead Technologies) |
| Active companies | 2 (Trifecta, Spearhead) |
| Exits | 1 verifiable (Zumo Imagination → Huli Health, 2018) |
| Clients served | 1,000+ (across SaaS + custom dev) |
| Markets | U.S. (custom dev) · Costa Rica/LATAM (SaaS) |
| Languages | English & Spanish (professional fluency) |
| Academic credentials | 4 (Accounting · Computer Systems Engineering · Master's in Project Mgmt — PMI GAC accredited · ML with Python — PROMIDAT, 2021) |
| Instagram followers | 7,000 |
The book's method — frameworks with proper names
Unlike AI books that ship opinions, AI Black Belt ships named tools the reader applies to a real process inside their company. Each belt adds one framework:
| Framework | Belt | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| AMARTE | White | Reformulates goals with Love, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Timed and Especific. SMART in Spanish, with the ingredient most leaders skip: love for what you build. |
| Hwa · Won · Ryu | Yellow | The three Hapkido principles applied to operations: harmony to read the energy, circle to convert experience into learning, flow to advance without wasting force. |
| Tumanov Filter | Green | Measure four times before cutting once: exact problem, expected outcome, validation KPI, cost of cutting wrong. Antidote to impulsive automation. |
| Green Matrix | Green | Every process lands in one of five lanes: automate, improve first, eliminate, assist with AI, or keep human with technological support. AI isn't a hammer for every nail. |
| PAF + PMP Triangle | Brown | Prepare the boundary, Aim with the Smart System Triangle (Purpose · Metric · Promise), Fire to document, delegate and automate. |
| Master Map of AI Systematization | Black | The 8 steps that integrate the entire book onto a real process. The prompt appears at the end, as a consequence of a well-designed system. |
Recurring central thesis: The prompt is merely the visible part of an invisible process.
Topics he speaks on (5-7 themes)
-
The 95% are failing: why most AI projects don't work — Diagnosis, structural causes (not technical), what executives can do about it.
-
Fundamentals before the prompt: how managers who master AI actually operate — The book's thesis. For CEOs, CTOs, managers, and founders.
-
From automation to discipline: why AI amplifies what you already have — AI doesn't fix chaos — it amplifies it. A contrarian argument for executive audiences.
-
AI applied to leadership: executive decisions, feedback, and team development — Practical use cases for the manager's role.
-
The modern manager's black belt: learn, unlearn, relearn — Discipline as competitive advantage in the age of automation.
-
Building software for U.S. clients from Latin America: lessons from 24 years — For founders, SaaS operators, and remote-first companies.
-
From dojo to boardroom: why martial arts teach more leadership than an MBA — Autobiographical, grounded in real Hapkido practice.
Corporate client logos
Out of confidentiality (NDAs), we don't list specific clients. When evidence is needed:
- "24+ years building software for companies in the United States and Costa Rica."
- "1,000+ accumulated clients across regional SaaS and U.S.-facing custom development."
Awards & recognition
- Empty at launch. Post-launch strategy underway.
Where to buy the book
- Kindle (eBook, USD $11.11) — https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H2SZ7MZB
- Paperback (USD $22.22) — https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0H2SXMLNL/
- Publisher: Legacy Publishers · Kindle ASIN: B0H2SZ7MZB · Paperback ASIN: B0H2SXMLNL
- Note: links above are the Spanish edition (available now). The English edition is in final author review and launches soon.
Press coverage
- Freeduhm (US, August 23, 2026) — "25 Modes AI Strengthened Startup Competitive Advantage" · read · On response speed as a structural edge: "We cannot out-staff anyone. We can out-respond almost everyone."
- Freeduhm (US, August 19, 2026) — "25 Challenges Of Implementing AI Technology In Startups" · read · First of 25 founders. On trust: a bad draft that reads well is more dangerous than an obvious error. "Confidence is a feeling. Checkable reasoning is a feature."
- Freeduhm (US, August 17, 2026) — "25 Systems To Integrate AI Into Startups' Operations Or Product" · read · First of 25 founders featured. On the system that triages his inbound press: scores each request against defined criteria and drafts a reply for human approval, cutting triage from two hours a day to ten minutes. His point: writing the criteria was worth more than the automation.
- Nearshore Americas (industry trade, US, August 13, 2026) — "Engineers Spend Days Fixing AI Code Created in Hours" by Narayan Ammachchi · read · Lead source: "AI and low-code tools don't reduce the need for engineering judgment; they raise the cost of not having it." On US nearshore demand shifting from junior coders to senior engineers who supervise AI output.
- Revista SUMMA (Central America & the Caribbean, June 9, 2026) — "La inteligencia artificial puede multiplicar la productividad… o el caos" · read · Editorial coverage citing the book and reproducing the PMP Triangle thesis (purpose · metric · promise).
- Primera Línea (Costa Rica, 2026 — active column) — Regular columnist on leadership and AI · author page
- May 19, 2026 — "La IA pasó de herramienta a colaborador" · read
- La República (Costa Rica, April 27, 2017) — "Zumo Medical lanzó expediente digital" · link
- El Financiero (Costa Rica, April 27, 2017) — "Emprendedores crean app para facilitar labores administrativas de profesionales de la salud" · link
Visual assets
Available in high-resolution by request to info@masterjoephillips.com:
- Portrait photos (square + vertical, white background and contextual)
- Speaker photos from the Escala Next Level Summit (Cala Center, Miami, August 2, 2026) — keynote on stage and book signing
- AI Black Belt cover (in production)
- Personal signature SVG (white for dark backgrounds)
How to cite
- Professional name: Master Joe Phillips
- Legal name: Joseph Mauricio Phillips Arguedas
- Titles: Tech entrepreneur · Author · Keynote speaker · Founder, Trifecta Software · Founder, Spearhead Technologies · Co-founder & former CTO, Zumo Imagination
- Pronouns: He/him
Contact
- Email: info@masterjoephillips.com
- WhatsApp: +506 8842 9603
- Calendly: https://calendly.com/masterjoephillips
- Website: https://masterjoephillips.com
- Linktree: https://linktr.ee/masterjoephillips
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/masterjoephillips/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/MasterJoePhillips/
Response time: 24-48 business hours.
Last updated: 2026-05-14