Build with me / Founding 01

A product worth owning.
A system built to last.

I am selectively open to joining the right early-stage product as a technical cofounder or founding engineer. The fit is a specific problem with evidence behind it, a founder who owns the market side, and a product where architecture and execution both matter.

Start a founding conversationSee evidence first
Role
Technical cofounder or founding engineer
Stage
Validated problem through early traction
Mode
Hands-on architecture, code, team, and production
Location
Warsaw / remote collaboration

01 / The fit

You own the problem and the market. I own the technical system with you.

  • A real problem, not a feature list.You can name the user, the painful workflow, the existing alternatives, and why the timing matters.
  • Evidence beyond enthusiasm.Customer conversations, paid work, usage, distribution, or domain access show that the problem deserves a product.
  • Complementary founder ownership.You lead customers, market, and commercial decisions. We share product direction and company-level tradeoffs.
  • A system with consequential edges.Backend, AI, realtime workflows, integrations, data, connected products, or operational trust are central to the product.

02 / What I bring

Architecture without distance from implementation.

  1. 01
    Product and system framing

    Translate the product promise into boundaries, workflows, tradeoffs, validation needs, and a sequence the company can afford.

  2. 02
    Hands-on founding engineering

    Build the critical path, integrations, delivery foundation, observability, and the first patterns future engineers can extend.

  3. 03
    Production ownership

    Stay responsible for how the product behaves under failure, load, change, support pressure, and real customer use.

  4. 04
    Team and technical judgment

    Hire deliberately, make decisions legible, and keep architecture connected to delivery rather than turning it into a separate ceremony.

03 / Before equity

We test the working relationship before making it permanent.

Step 1

Context

You send the problem, evidence, current stage, your role, and why a technical cofounder is the right next move.

Step 2

Fit

We test founder alignment, decision rights, availability, risk, economics, and what each person must own.

Step 3

Work

We run a defined piece of real product work together. Usually this starts as a paid, fixed-scope decision sprint.

Step 4

Commit

Only then do we discuss a longer operating role, equity, vesting, compensation, and company structure.

Why paid work before equity protects you too

The sprint is fixed in scope, fixed in duration, and priced before it starts, so it cannot quietly grow into a retainer. The deliverable is yours whether or not we continue: a decision record and plan you can hand to any other engineer. If either of us walks away after it, you have paid for a defined piece of work and received it, not funded an open-ended discovery phase. And you see how I actually work under real constraints before any equity conversation, instead of negotiating a cofounder agreement on the strength of a website.

04 / Not a fit

Clarity here protects both founders.

  • An idea offered in exchange for all execution.I am looking for complementary ownership, not an unpaid agency relationship described as equity.
  • No access to users or market.A large market slide is not evidence that we can reach the people with the problem.
  • A title without operating commitment.A founding relationship requires time, decision authority, transparency, and shared downside.
  • A generic build request.If the need is scoped architecture or production work, one of my fixed engagements is a clearer place to start.

One boundary that protects everyone: when I work inside another company's client engagement, such as an agency or consultancy that brings me in, I do not pursue founding or equity roles with that partner's clients. Founding conversations start here, in the open, or not at all.

05 / Decide the relationship

Advisor, architect,
or cofounder?

The right role depends on the uncertainty, stage, and ownership gap. I wrote a practical guide to choosing between an architecture engagement, a founding engineer, and a technical cofounder.

Read the decision guide

06 / Conversation

Bring the problem,
not the pitch deck.

Send the user problem, evidence of demand, current product state, the role you will own, and why you think we are complementary. I will reply with fit, no-fit, and the most useful next step.

Start a founding conversation