Most software is built in the wrong order. The code comes first, leaving the crucial thinking about who will use it and how it will serve them until— usually, it’s too late.
My process flips this on its head. I begin with rigorous structural thinking: dissecting the essence of the system, understanding its inherent dynamics, anticipating its points of failure, and — most critically — deeply comprehending the people it serves and their mental models. This is precisely what allows me to bake in the strategy for discovery, adoption, and value from day one, ensuring marketing isn’t an afterthought but an intrinsic part of the product’s DNA.
For me, design is an inseparable part of this same intellectual work. A truly well-designed system is one that recedes into the background, allowing the user to effortlessly accomplish their task without ever having to contend with the software itself. It simply works.
What makes this kind of depth possible — thinking across product, systems, performance, and design simultaneously — is working at a pace that didn’t exist before AI augmentation changed the equation. The thinking is still human: the architecture decisions, the word choices, what goes in and what stays out. But the distance between a decision and its execution has collapsed. What used to require coordinating a team can now be done by one person holding all the directions at once, without sacrificing depth in any of them. The coordination cost is gone. What’s left is the thinking.
01
What I Build.
Systems built around how people think — for the owners who run it and the people who use it.
SaaS & Product Development
Multi-tenant architecture that holds under real usageSubscription & billing — including M-Pesa STK Push, C2B, B2C and reconciliationRole & permission systems that reflect how organisations actually workFrom conversation to working productAPI design that doesn’t punish the next developerBuilding for the owner who is never in the room
Operations & Intelligence
POS systems designed for the actual counter, not the demoInventory that accounts for theft, wastage, and informal supplier creditShift management and staff accountabilityOwner-facing intelligence that answers “is my business okay?” firstAudit trails that protect both owner and staffProducts that earn trust before they ask for behaviour change
AI-Augmented Engineering
Shipping at the pace of a small team using AI toolingKnowing where AI judgment fails and human judgment is irreplaceableAI-assisted code review, test generation and documentationBuilding products that incorporate AI features without depending on themPrompt engineering for product-specific workflowsGraceful degradation — if the AI layer fails, the product still works
Next.js and Laravel at the core. Every other tool chosen deliberately for the job.
Primary
Next.jsNode.jsTypeScriptLaravel
Frontend
TailwindCSSReactAlpine.jsBlade
Data & Infra
PostgreSQLMySQLNginxMulti-tenancy
AI Tooling
Claude CodeCursorClaude API
02
Work.
01
01
Stoka
stoka.co.ke·Live
A multi-tenant shop management system built for boutiques, shoe shops, perfume stores, cosmetics, jewellery, hair products, and every retailer who manages staff and stock.
The client came in asking for a POS system for retail shops. On the surface, it sounded straightforward. But as we talked more, it became clear that what they wanted wasn't just a POS.
Most of these shops were still running on notebooks. Sales were written down manually. Stock was tracked in memory. The systems available in the market felt too generic — mechanical, rigid, and disconnected from how these businesses actually operate.
We didn't want to build another one of those. We wanted to build something that serves the people using it — not just records what they do.
A complete rebuild of PsTally on Next.js 15 — with the GTM layer engineered from the ground up.
PsTally was working on WordPress Multisite. The ceiling was visible: Lighthouse 56, no proper OG images, no public profiles, no SEO structure. The architecture was limiting the product.
A multi-tenant SaaS built on WordPress Multisite for managing gaming lounges — sessions, staff, shifts, credit, and daily operations, all in one place.
Gaming has always been one of my hobbies. At some point I decided to turn that into a business. What started as something I enjoyed turned chaotic — constant arguments over shifts, cash that never balanced, and time spent resolving disputes instead of running the business. There was no software that understood a gaming lounge. So I built it.
I initially came in looking for a developer to build a simple POS system — that’s all I thought I needed, but working with Gabana turned into something completely different. As we went deeper into the project, I started to realise that my idea wasn’t as complete as I thought. Gabana didn’t just take instructions and build — he challenged my thinking, asked the right questions, and helped me see the bigger picture. What we ended up building is far more than a POS; it’s a product that actually solves real problems for the people using it. Beyond the final system, I also learned a lot about how to think about products, which I didn’t expect going in. Gabana genuinely cares about the work and the outcome — not just delivering something that works, but building something that truly matters. I’m really grateful for the process and what this project became, and I can’t thank him enough for bringing it to life the way he did.
I build for people who understand what they’re building — not technically, but essentially.
They know the problem, the user it belongs to, and why solving it matters. They can describe it clearly. The architecture, the edge cases, how it holds under real pressure — that’s where I come in.
I’m drawn to clients who care about how their software embodies their values, not just whether it functions. Thoughtfulness and execution aren’t in tension here — the best work holds both. A system built with real intention runs differently than one built merely to spec.
01 — The Operator
Running a real business
The system holding their operation together is still a person — usually them. They’ve outgrown the manual version and know it. What they need isn’t a generic tool; it’s something shaped to how they actually operate. A POS that fits their floor, an inventory system that matches how they think about stock, a staff tool built around their real workflow. Whatever the business actually needs, built to last.
02 — The Entrepreneur
Building something new
They have an idea for a product — a SaaS, a platform, a multi-tenant system with its own logic and economy. They know the market and the problem it lives in. They can describe it. What they need is someone who will own the full challenge: architecture to interface, first user to scale. Not a feature. The whole thing.
Both come with a real problem and a clear head. That’s the only requirement.
Bring your brief or just the problem. The thinking happens in conversation.
06
Book List.
Reading that shaped how I see problems — systems, product, the people inside both.
01
Obviously Awesome
April Dunford
Product positioning. How to describe what you build so the right person immediately understands it.
Positioning is not what you say — it’s the frame the listener puts your words inside. Change the frame and the same product reads completely differently. This gave me vocabulary for something I was doing badly without knowing it.
02
Co-Intelligence
Ethan Mollick
The most grounded book on working with AI as a thinking partner. Language for explaining an AI-augmented workflow to clients.
Every other AI book is about what AI can do. This one is about how to think with it. The frame — AI as a strange new kind of mind you have to actively collaborate with — is the right one. It stopped me treating it like a search engine.
03
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Robert Pirsig
On Quality — what it is, where it comes from, why some things have it and most do not. Not about motorcycles.
Pirsig doesn’t define Quality. He argues it can’t be defined — it’s what you recognise before you have a word for it. That stayed with me: the thing that makes something good exists before the feature list does.
04
Zero to One
Peter Thiel
On building something genuinely new. The question — what do you know that others do not — is the right question.
The question — what do you know that others don’t — is the one worth asking before you build anything. Not who is the competition, not what is the market. What do you know that gives you the right to build this. It filters a lot.
Every product develops its own inherent direction — a telos. A framework for listening to what your product is trying to become, and working with it rather than against it.
Beyond technical skill — what the ceiling of product engineering actually looks like. On mental models, language, ambiguity, and building for the person, not the user.
BackgroundCS degree. 5+ years defining and shipping products in East Africa and with teams globally.
LocationNairobi. UTC+3 — good overlap with Europe and the Gulf. Remote by default, available internationally.
ThinkingSystems, consciousness, the space where language and technology meet.
Open toFounding engineer and product engineering roles — SaaS builds, operations software, and systems that need to last. Thoughtful building over velocity theatre.
