Thoughts

Lessons from building startups, leading engineering teams, and teaching at Harbour.Space. Written when the ideas are ready, not on a schedule.

April 2025

Architecture Decisions You Can't Undo

Some technical choices compound for years. From Cantoo's distributed voice infrastructure to OneRagtime's data pipeline: lessons on the decisions that define a product's trajectory.

Why Telecom Engineers Make Great CTOs

Distributed systems, real-time constraints, regulatory compliance, and protocols that predate the web. The telecom background that shaped how I think about building products at scale.

Teaching Engineers to Think Like Founders

Most engineering programs stop at the code. At Harbour.Space, I push students to think about markets, strategy, and sustainability. The "Developer to CTO" module, distilled.

The Technical Due Diligence Nobody Prepares For

After auditing dozens of startups for VCs, I've seen the same patterns. What investors actually look for, and the red flags that kill deals before the term sheet.

Building a Profitable Startup Without VC Money

How Cantoo went from idea to €400k annual revenue and acquisition in under two years, without raising a round. The decisions that mattered and the ones that turned out to be noise.

From Developer to CTO: What Nobody Tells You

The jump from writing code to leading a team requires a completely different set of skills. What I teach my students at Harbour.Space about making that transition, and the mistakes I made along the way.