Context
Some startups need a technical co-founder. Others need someone who can take a validated idea and turn it into a shipped product. I've done both — owning the full journey from product strategy through architecture to production deployment, under the constraints that define early-stage work: small team, tight runway, real deadlines.
Case Study: ZOLO
ZOLOsayzolo.comAI-powered software helping food suppliers convert WhatsApp, email, and e-commerce orders into ERP records, grow repeat sales, and get paid on day one.
ZOLO was an 
Antlerantler.coThe world's most active early-stage investor, backing exceptional founders from inception across 30+ cities worldwide.Antler-backed startup tackling inefficiencies in Southeast Asia's food supply chain. As co-founder and CTO, I owned the entire technical stack from day one — every line of code, every infrastructure decision, and the technical narrative that carried us through fundraising.
- Defined the product roadmap and technical architecture from a blank slate
- Built the full-stack application: backend APIs, frontend web app, and mobile-responsive interfaces
- Developed ML models for demand forecasting and supply chain optimisation
- Set up cloud infrastructure, CI/CD pipelines, and monitoring from scratch
- Led the investor-facing technical narrative through fundraising
Outcome
- Raised ~US$350K in pre-seed funding from Antlerantler.coThe world's most active early-stage investor, backing exceptional founders from inception across 30+ cities worldwide.Antler
- Shipped a complete product from zero to production
- Walked away with the playbook I now run for every zero-to-one engagement
Stack
Next.jsnextjs.orgReact framework for production web apps — server rendering, routing, and the fastest path from idea to deployed product.Next.jsPythonpython.orgThe lingua franca of data and AI engineering — used here for ML pipelines, voice processing, and backend services.PythonPostgreSQLpostgresql.orgThe world's most advanced open-source relational database — the default choice for production data that has to be correct.PostgreSQLCloud infrastructureCI/CD
What This Demonstrates
- Full-cycle CTO capability: strategy, architecture, hiring, and hands-on building
- Comfort owning every layer — from ML models to investor narrative
- Shipping under early-stage constraints: small team, tight runway, real deadlines