I build systems to address business needs, with software that is straightforward to maintain and extend.
Simplicity & YAGNI
I build the smallest, complete system you need now. It's easier to customize a smaller codebase, and more appropriate for young companies who may hire and/or pivot.
Team involvement & education
You should understand how to maintain and extend what I've built for you. I build independently, but include you in important decisions whose outcomes may affect you later.
Open source
I recommend open source libraries and open-standard services over proprietary ones, so you're not reliant on another company's decisions (or their continued existence!). Plus, participation in open source related to your business can be a way to find potential partners, clients, and job applicants.
Of course, pragmatism is key here; at the end of the day, you have a business to run, and ease of maintenance is more important.
Appropriate AI use
LLMs are helpful, but do not solve all problems. I use them only according to their ability, with appropriate guardrails, fallbacks, and transparency. For coding, they are an effective tool to prototype and and generate first drafts, but I believe close human oversight is still necessary.
More of my thoughts on AI use.
Qualifications
1 year with startups
I prototyped AI business ideas for Enzian Labs and built a full-stack web & Outlook add-in experience for Lobby AI.
10 years at Google
I developed full-stack file previews for Gmail & Google Drive, built a music licensing storefront for YouTube, and rewrote the machine learning harness for Google Lens.
Spare time enthusiast
I've built and run several servers at home, replete with 25Gb fiber networking on a virtualized router.