I help non-technical founders decide what to build, manage developers and check the work is done properly. You stay involved in the decisions that matter without having to manage every detail.
WHAT CLIENTS SAY
Trusted by founders.
“Having James involved gave me confidence that our platform was in good hands. He managed our development agency, checked their work and explained technical decisions in plain English.”
Freddie Stretch
Co-founder of Root
“James combines strong technical knowledge with a practical, startup-minded approach. His hands-on support has been invaluable and has given us real confidence in our product.”
Matt McCabe
Founder of SUBU Connect
“His technical knowledge has been extremely valuable to us. His understanding of startup businesses has also helped us shape the product that we are launching.”
Alex Okolidoh
Founder of Frugals
“James’s technical expertise and leadership played an important role in shaping the proof of concept and initial technology as the company launched.”
Mark Donaldson
Founder of Roveel
WHERE I CAN HELP
Too much is landing back on you.
Work LOAD
"Everything depends on me"
Questions, requirements, testing and chasing progress all keep finding their way back to your desk.
CHOICES
"What should we improve next?"
Ideas, bugs and customer requests compete for limited time and money. It’s not always obvious what matters most.
CONFIDENCE
"Can I trust the work being done?"
Technical advice, estimates and quality are hard to judge when you’re not the person writing the software.
REAL RESULTS
What I've helped founders achieve.
back to the founder by taking product and development off their plate.
development costs by finding a higher-quality agency at a lower cost.
signup conversion improved through user research, analytics and experimentation.
ABOUT ME
How I approach things.
I started out as a developer, but I don’t write code these days. After building enough features that nobody used, I realised deciding what to build was often more important than the code itself.
Now I spend my time understanding the business, the users and what will have the biggest impact. Sometimes that means a new feature. Sometimes it’s simply removing friction from a couple of screens.
I hate jargon and unnecessary process. My job is to cut through the noise, make sensible decisions and take product and development off the founder’s plate.
HOW I CAN HELP
Get the level of support you need.
01 / FREE 30-MIN CALL
Intro Call
An informal conversation about what’s going on. We’ll see if I can help and whether working together makes sense. No pitch, no pressure.
02 / FRESH PERSPECTIVE
Review
I look at how your product and development are working today, identify what’s getting in the way and give you clear, practical actions to make things run more smoothly.
03 / FOCUSED WORK
Project
We tackle a defined problem or opportunity, work out what needs to change and see it through to a clear outcome.
04 / ONGOING SUPPORT
Ongoing Partner
I work alongside you part-time, helping set priorities, manage developers and check the work, so less of it lands back on you.
PRACTICAL GUIDES
Things I’ve learned along the way.
Founder Workload
“I Hired Developers. Why Am I Still Doing So Much?”
Hiring developers often adds to a founder’s workload. Here’s why that happens and what you can do to get your time back.
Read article
Customer Retention
“People Sign Up. Why Don't They Come Back?”
People signed up, then vanished. Find out what’s getting in their way and how to give them a reason to return.
Read article
Development Speed
“Are My Developers Taking Too Long?”
How to tell whether development is taking a reasonable amount of time, what to ask your developers and when building less could help.
Read article
GET IN TOUCH
Got something you want to talk through?
Tell me what you’re trying to improve, decide or get sorted.
A few details to get started
No pitch, no pressure. Just a conversation to see if I can help.