I build software for founders, small businesses, and selective private clients, and I own the whole thing end to end: what to build, how it works, and the code that ships it.

iOS apps

An iPhone with the Sonato membership pass in Apple Wallet, held to the reader at a club door

A native app for iPhone and iPad, built the way Apple intends so it feels right at home on the device. The right call when your product earns a place on the home screen: notifications, the camera, offline access, wallet passes. When your app needs a backend, I build that too.

I built Sonato, a 5-star app whose Apple Wallet pass gets members through their club's front door, and Apple has featured apps I've worked on, like the travel journal Bonjournal.

Web apps

mycharity: water's launch counter showing $502,758 raised to date

Software that runs in the browser, so it reaches everyone on any device with nothing to install. A product your customers sign up for, or a tool your own team logs into. I build the whole thing, from the interface your customers see to the API, data model, and infrastructure behind it.

I built mycharity: water, which raised $500,000 in two months, and was Sourcetable's first engineer.

An existing product

Hipmunk's home screen with the chipmunk mascot and search field

An app or site you already have: an agency handoff, a stalled build, a product that's outgrown its first developer, a codebase nobody understands anymore. I pick it up, steady it, and move it forward.

I took over Hipmunk's iOS app years into its life and led its mobile team, and I've built inside big established codebases like Twitch's.

Nothing built yet? Most projects start there. You don’t need to know whether you want an iOS app or a web app; choosing the right platform is part of discovery, and the build turns that plan into your first version. It’s how my own apps Little Memory and Ready Time started.

What I handle

  • Product definition
  • UX design
  • Architecture
  • Agentic engineering
  • APIs and integrations
  • Testing and QA
  • User testing
  • App Store and web releases
  • Infrastructure
  • Analytics and monitoring
  • Security and privacy

How we’ll work together

  1. Hello

    You tell me what you're working on, and we get on a call to talk through what you need, your timeline, budget, and whatever exists already: a team, a codebase, designs, or just the idea.

  2. Discovery

    A fixed-price engagement, a few weeks, that turns your idea into a buildable plan: the product, the technical approach, mock pages, and a roadmap with costs. The plan is yours to act on with any team, and the fee is fully credited toward the build.

  3. Build

    I design, code, and test in short cycles, and you see working software as we go: real builds you can try, at a regular rhythm. No long silences, and no big reveal at the end.

  4. Launch

    I handle the rollout: App Store release or deployment, monitoring, analytics, and fixing whatever breaks. Software needs tending after launch, and I stick around for it, from updates to planning what comes next.

Small, well-defined projects can skip discovery and go straight to an estimate.

A different shape of engagement

Fractional work

Some teams don't need a project delivered. They need someone senior in the room every week: to make the technical calls, build the parts that are hard, and keep the plan honest. I take a small number of fractional clients on a monthly retainer, a set number of hours each week.

  • Ongoing product work
  • The mobile side of your product
  • Embedded senior engineer
  • Hiring your engineers

It skips discovery and starts with the same first call: what you're building, where it hurts, and how many hours a week would actually help. Everything under What I handle is on the table, and the ownership below applies here too.

How a fractional engagement works →

Ownership

Built to outlive the engagement

Everything I build lives in accounts you own: your code repository, your App Store account, your infrastructure. I set them up and run them for you, so owning everything doesn't require you to be technical, and any competent developer can pick the work up after me, whether that's your first hire or another team.

Not sure what you need? Some projects are one of the three above, some are smaller, and some don't need custom software at all. Describe yours and I'll give you a straight answer, even if the right answer is an off-the-shelf tool instead of me.

Everything here is available anywhere; I work from Petaluma, in the North Bay.

Ivan Tse, founder of Nerd Tower

Let's build it

I'm taking on new projects. Tell me what you're working on and I'll tell you how I'd build it.

Get in touch

I read every message myself.