The Job I Want Next

The job I want next combines software engineering, business judgment, and responsibility for the outcome, alongside a founder, investor, or business leader.

I want my next job to put me closer to the decisions that determine how a business grows, what it invests in, and what it buys.

Software is the experience I bring to those decisions. But I don’t want my contribution to begin after someone else has chosen the problem and written the technical brief. I want to help work out what matters, then take responsibility for moving it forward.

That could happen alongside a founder, a partner at an investment firm, or someone responsible for improving a portfolio of businesses. I want to help decide what the business should do, then help make it happen.

More responsibility for the business

I want to work with someone building or buying businesses and help answer the questions that shape their decisions.

Some of that work would be understanding a company, its customers, and its market. Some would involve building relationships with founders or working through a decision with a leadership team. Sometimes the most useful thing I could do would be build a tool, test an assumption, or get an initiative moving.

I want responsibility for the business result, with room to choose how to get there.

With Gather Shot, I do all of it: the product, marketing, pricing, and support. I see how those decisions affect one another, and I’m responsible when something needs to change. I want more of that kind of responsibility in my next role.

I also want a stake in the outcome. I want the success of the business and my own progress to be connected. That matters to me alongside the day-to-day work.

What building Gather Shot taught me

I built Gather Shot, a profitable event-photo collection business. I built the software and marketing site, developed the strategy, and handle customer acquisition, pricing, support, and operations.

The opportunity came partly from personal experience. Collecting photos from an event often means chasing people through messages, email, and shared folders. Asking guests to install an app or create an account adds another reason to put it off.

I saw a need across corporate events, conferences, private celebrations, reunions, and community gatherings. These weren’t all weddings, and the product needed to reflect that.

The problem also went beyond collecting files. I wanted to make something that encouraged people to share good photos in the first place. An organizer having somewhere to receive photos doesn’t mean guests will contribute them.

Before the full product was ready, I built the marketing presence. I worked on organic search, visibility in AI-generated answers, and some paid advertising.

That gave me more than traffic to look at. People joined the waitlist, asked about using it for upcoming events, and requested demos or early access. Those responses gave me a reason to keep building. They also meant I was developing a way to reach customers while I developed the product.

By the time the product was ready, people were already finding it and asking to use it.

That experience is a large part of why I want broader business responsibility. I had to consider whether people wanted the product, how they would find it, and what would make them use it. Writing the software was essential, but it was one part of making the business work.

My software engineering background

My background is in software engineering and architecture. I’ve built products from scratch, modernized existing systems, and stayed responsible for them in production.

That gives me a practical understanding of how software businesses work: what takes effort to change, where complexity accumulates, and what it takes to keep a product running.

AI is part of that experience, not the whole of it. I’ve designed, built, and operated customer-facing AI software, drawing on the same engineering foundation.

My developer advocacy roles at IBM and Jack Henry also taught me to work across technical and business teams.

I’ve worked with developers, startups, and financial institutions to understand what they need and explain how technology can help.

That matters when the people making a decision and the people implementing it don’t share the same technical background.

I’ve also helped private equity clients understand companies and technology to inform investment decisions. In another engagement, I helped review a software product’s code and capabilities for a client evaluating a long-term contract.

I want understanding businesses, building relationships, and helping make decisions to take a larger share of my work.

I’ll still build. Sometimes software is the fastest way to test an assumption or move something forward. Other times, the useful work is talking to a customer, evaluating an opportunity, or helping choose a priority.

What would make the next role right

The right role would let me work closely with a founder or partner, contribute to consequential decisions, and take responsibility for the work that follows.

I could see that in private equity, a software acquisition or rollup business, or portfolio value creation. A technical, business-minded Chief of Staff role could fit too. The important question is what I would actually be responsible for.

I want to help choose the priorities, not only deliver against them. A role focused on building internal AI tools wouldn’t give me the business responsibility I’m looking for. I want to help evaluate opportunities, decide what deserves attention, and carry the work through.

I’m taking the time to find the right fit. If you’re a founder, investor, or business leader and this sounds like work we could do together, say hello. If someone comes to mind as you read this, I’d welcome an introduction.