About
The founder who still writes the code.
I’ve run a company, carried its P&L and written the software it runs on, at the same time. That’s the job I do for other people now: own the commercial problem, decide what to build, and build it.
Background
I’ve been the engineer, the CTO and the CEO on the same business.
Since 2009 I’ve been building and running businesses, and for most of that time writing the software they run on, leading the technology teams and turning commercial problems into working systems.
I read a technical decision and its commercial consequence as one decision, because in a founder-led company that’s what they are.
I work best where the problem is still ambiguous: where someone knows what the business needs to achieve but not yet what should be built. Defining that, and then building it, is the job.
So I’m not learning your problems for the first time. Growth that stalls, a platform that has become the constraint, a number nobody trusts: I’ve had all of those with my own money on the line, which is the difference between advising a founder and having been one.
That includes the money side. I’ve raised equity investment for products I built, won grants, and run R&D tax relief claims for a decade without losing one. Whether a build of yours qualifies is a question for your accountant; what I add is knowing that the claim is decided by how the work was recorded while it happened, which is worth setting up on day one of a build and not at the end of the tax year.
What I bring
- Building software for 13+ years, and running businesses since 2009
- Founder, CTO and CEO experience
- Raised equity investment for products I built, and won multiple grants
- A decade of R&D tax relief claims, with none lost to date
- Built and led engineering and operations teams, and hired for both
- Full-stack engineering across product, API, data and infrastructure
- AI and automation designed for production workflows
- ISO 9001, 14001 and 27001 implemented in a business I owned, 2021
- Product and commercial thinking alongside the engineering
Global winner, Xero Beautiful Business Fund 2024, for the business I run. Innovate UK funded.
Why I’m available
I build things that run without me.
I’m CEO of a coding education business and I’m there a few days a week. It isn’t a small business. The systems, reporting and processes I built mean it doesn’t need me standing over it, which is the proof, and it’s the same job I’d do for you.
Most people you could hire for this have an incentive to become necessary. I’d rather hand the thing over and leave you able to walk away from it. Every engagement ends with a handover that doesn’t depend on me, because that’s what I did in my own company and it’s the part I’m proud of.
Wanting me afterwards is a different thing from needing me. A business that keeps making technical decisions worth getting right is worth having somebody accountable for, and that’s what a retainer buys. It runs month to month on 30 days’ notice, so staying is a judgement you make again every month and never a contract you’re stuck inside. Being easy to leave is what makes it mean something when nobody does.
How I choose what to take on
A small number of engagements, chosen carefully.
I do the work myself. There’s no team to hand it down to, so capacity is an actual number and not a sales tactic. I take on a few engagements at a time. Most of what I’m asked about doesn’t need someone at this level, and saying so on the first call is cheaper for both of us.
Where I add the most
- The problem is still ambiguous and someone senior has to decide what should be built
- The technical decision and the commercial one are the same decision
- It has to reach production and stay there, not stop at a prototype
- AI is involved and the data can’t leave your control
Where I’m the wrong answer
- You want a team, not one person
- You need someone starting next week
- Nobody on your side can make a decision
- The specification is written and you want it typed
How I work
Direct access to the person doing the work.
I work in the first person singular on purpose. There’s no layer between the person who scoped your system and the person who builds it.
It also sets an honest boundary. If a problem doesn’t need what I’m for, you’ll hear it on the first call rather than three months into an invoice.
Fair questions
The ones people ask about me, not the work
Each of these has a full answer on the Partner page, where the engagement they’re about is described.
Work with me
Losing time or money to something you can’t fix?
I reply within one working day to arrange a free 30-minute call.