I’m looking for my next project. After many years building, leading, and shipping software, I’m ready to do the thing I love most: get in early with a small team and help turn an idea into something real.

What I’ve been up to

In early 2015 I joined a startup called Lendeavor as its first employee. Over the next seven years it grew into Provide and was acquired by Fifth Third Bank. I was there for the whole arc, from the earliest days through the acquisition, and I’m proud of what we built and the people I built it with. That experience is exactly the kind of journey I’m hoping to start again.

After that I got involved with some non-profit work, most notably with Signum University. I helped build the Signum Collaboratory, a platform that lets content creators collaborate with their audience while getting feedback and financial support. It’s been some of the most rewarding work of my career. That project has shipped, and is doing well. I continue to maintain and enhance The Collaboratory.

A couple of years ago I also started a startup with a co-founder to build out a Student Information System (SIS) for small private schools. I was the founding engineer, and built out the complete system, and managed deploys and monitoring of the system. Unfortunately, we were not able to get the traction we needed to continue, and I am now looking for my next opportunity.

What I’m looking for

I want to join a very early stage startup as a first hire or first engineer. I’d be just as happy as a founding engineer alongside someone who already has a project underway and needs a technical partner to build it out.

The common thread is early. I want to be there when the decisions are still being made, the product is still taking shape, and a single person can have an outsized impact on where things go. That’s the work I find most rewarding.

The Role

I’ve spent most of my career working for startups, which means I’m comfortable wearing many hats. At this stage, that’s the whole point. I can build the product, set up the infrastructure, make the early architectural calls, talk to customers, and help shape the roadmap. In a small team, the line between “engineering” and “everything else” is thin, and I’m happy on both sides of it.

I’m a full-stack developer with my strengths on the backend, from product features through deployment automation and infrastructure. I’m not a designer. I can build a UI that works, but I’m not the one who’ll make it beautiful.

On the technology front, my home base is the standard Rails, Hotwire, and Postgres stack, and I’d be glad to stay there. That said, if you already have something underway on a different foundation, I’m flexible. In particular, I’d happily jump into Elixir if that’s the path you’ve already chosen.

I tend toward a team-lead role. I’m fairly outspoken, but I follow the rule of “strong opinions, loosely held.” I love to mentor less experienced developers and help them level up.

The Company

I prefer a fairly direct line between software shipped and revenue generated. I’m not against other business models, I just work best when I can see the value the product creates and measure whether it’s working.

The Culture

Note that when I say “culture” I mean how a company does its work. Culture is not perks, like free lunches or company values. Perks and values are important. However, how a company does its work is critical to success.

Even at the earliest stage, how a team works together matters. I value transparency, small and frequent changes, and a testing discipline that prioritizes confidence over coverage. I believe software development is about solving problems more than building solutions, and that the best work is defined by the value it creates.

Contact me

If you’re building something early and this sounds like a fit, I’d love to hear from you. You can reach me at [email protected].

A note to recruiters: If you contact an employer regarding me without my explicit permission, I will not work with you.