Out of the Box Development

Technical co-founder for founders

Equity, not hourly. Skin in the game, because I have it.

I partner with early-stage founders who have already validated their idea and are ready to build. I bring decades of software development, design, architecture, and infrastructure experience to your earliest and most critical build phase — in exchange for a meaningful equity stake.

A maximum of 2–3 partners per year. When I commit to you, the commitment is real.

Where are you today?

The founder progression

Founders arrive on a spectrum. This is who I can help, and who I can't. Locate yourself before you go further.

  1. Idea

    Fully employed. Noticed a problem, has a rough concept. Talked to friends about it. No customer conversations, no validation, no commitment beyond enthusiasm.

    Not the right time to talk.

  2. Validation

    Still employed, working the idea in nights and weekends. Real conversations with 10 to 20 potential customers. Can describe the problem precisely because they've heard it reflected back. May have a landing page, a waitlist, or informal letters of intent. No money has changed hands yet.

    Getting closer, but still early. Possible if the validation is unusually strong.

  3. Commitment

    The sweet spot

    Has seen enough signal to start making real sacrifices. May have gone part-time, spent personal savings, or set a hard internal deadline. Running sales conversations in parallel with product thinking. Can name the first ten customers or describe them with sharp specificity. May have someone pre-paying for something that doesn't exist yet.

    This is who I work with.

  4. Early Traction

    Has left the job or is about to. Running the company as their primary focus. Has paying customers or a signed pilot. Knows what needs to be built because customers have said so.

    Possible, but the more you've already proven, the harder it becomes to structure equity that works for both sides.

  5. Growth

    Revenue exists, team forming, possibly raising a seed round. Needed a technical co-founder six months ago.

    Too late for this model. You need to hire.

Stage 3, up close

What it feels like when we should talk

You still have a job you can't quite bring yourself to quit. Your nights have narrowed to a single thing. You've had the conversation — the one where a stranger described your product back to you before you finished the pitch — and something shifted after that. You've spent your own money on this. Not a token amount. Enough that you had to think about it. You know your first ten customers by name. You are selling something that doesn't fully exist yet, and a few people are saying yes anyway.

If that lands, we should talk.

Apply to work together

The application isn't a contact form. It takes real answers to a handful of questions. If you're where you need to be, it will feel worth the time.

Start the application →   Or read who I work with