You have an AI product idea but no path to first users.
Shape the wedge, first build, data path, and model boundaries into a launch scope narrow enough to put in front of real customers and measure.
CTO at FirstPlanIt.com · Google for Startups Accelerator 2023
Startup advisor for technical founders building from zero to real usage.
I help founders decide what belongs in v1, what to defer, and which moves actually compound into users. Now that AI has made building cheap, the advantage moves to choosing the right things and getting them in front of real customers fast. My work combines 15 years at Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Qualcomm with current startup operating experience across B2B and B2C AI products.
How I help
You need a sharper path from what you built to who is using it.
I work best with founders who need a practical operator in the room: someone who can understand the product, challenge the technical plan, and hold both halves of the job at once — shipping the right thing, and turning it into usage that keeps coming back.
Your prototype works, but the architecture will not scale.
Find what to simplify, harden, replace, or defer — LLM, retrieval, database, API, and cloud choices that fit this stage instead of a future company.
You need CTO-level review before hiring, fundraising, or rebuilding.
A practical read on the plan, risks, team shape, execution sequence, and whether traction is being earned by usefulness or only by spend.
You are a student or early builder choosing what to build next.
Pick projects that teach useful skills, demonstrate real product judgment, and build confidence through work that ships.
Track record
Builder credibility from consumer products to cloud infrastructure.
B2B and B2C AI products
Built LLM-powered product workflows, retrieval-backed experiences, schemas, and launch-ready UX with direct ownership from technical design through working product.
Google and Microsoft Azure
Led and shipped systems across Gmail Trust and Safety, Cloud NetZero, Azure Web Application Firewall, ExpressRoute, and Bing Ads pipelines.
Amazon Fresh Pilot in Seattle
Built logistics and warehouse operations systems for an early, startup-paced Amazon Fresh pilot, alongside earlier wireless, Android, and augmented reality work at Qualcomm R&D.
Open source and operator tools
Contributor to public projects including microsoft-modsecurity and promptfoo, plus focused one-off tools for a gym trainer and a pottery teacher — small enough that the user, workflow, and business problem stay immediately visible.
What you actually get
The advisor traits founders care about, and where each one came from.
I move at your speed, not a consultant's.
Advisory only helps if it lands inside your cycle. You get answers in days, not a deck in three weeks.
“… uses her diverse skills to get things done quickly and effectively. I hope to work with her again in the future!”
I find the question your team stopped asking.
The costly problem is usually the assumption everyone has stopped noticing. Walking into a stack cold and locating it is the job.
“… she dug into the existing software stack and asked the hard and important questions that we needed to improve it… helped us grow the business.”
I cut scope to what actually matters.
The same instinct behind deciding what earns a place in v1 and what can wait until it hurts.
“… ensure all ideas had been evaluated to arrive at the best solutions… sees the big picture in order to know what to focus on.”
I work with your team, not around it.
An advisor your engineers resent is worse than no advisor. The plan has to survive contact with the people building it.
“Strong developer… in complex cloud service dev and devops. Great at partner team interactions. A pleasure to work with.”
Recommendations from colleagues and managers, viewable in full on LinkedIn.
Where I add the most leverage
Most MVPs are late because of what got built, not how fast it got built.
The expensive mistakes are almost always scope, not speed: auth systems built before there are users, abstractions added for a scale that never arrives, a model choice locked in before anyone knows what accuracy the product actually needs. I help you decide what earns a place in v1, what waits, and what you can fake convincingly until it matters.
I work customer-led, which matters more now that writing the code is no longer the constraint. AI will cheerfully build you anything, so the discipline moves upstream: what do real users need next, and what are we adding only because it is now cheap to add? The teams pulling ahead in this era are not the ones shipping the most — they are the ones whose shipping speed is pointed at something customers keep coming back to. Getting to a convincing MVP and getting to something reliable enough to grow on are two different problems that need different work at different times. Most advisors are useful for one of them. I work on both.
LLM extraction and retrieval
Postgres and Supabase schemas
React and TypeScript product UX
Cloud, security, and data governance
Scalable product platform architecture
First users, activation, and repeat use
Search visibility and organic growth
Mentorship
Direct support for founders, students, and early technical leaders.
Most of the people I work with are deciding what to build next and how much to bet on it. My style is hands-on and specific: I ask the questions that expose the real constraint, name the tradeoff you are actually making, and leave you with a next step you can start on Monday.
- Validate startup ideas and define a credible first build.
- Review architecture before it becomes expensive to change.
- Prepare technical founders for investor, partner, and hiring conversations.
- Coach students on projects that demonstrate real product judgment.
Working together
Three ways founders usually bring me in.
Every engagement starts with a free 30-minute call so we can both check the problem is one I can actually move. If it is not, I will say so and point you at someone better suited.
A focused read of your system and roadmap, ending in a written summary of what to simplify, harden, replace, or defer. Best before a rebuild, a fundraise, or your first senior engineering hire.
A standing monthly or biweekly slot for the decisions that keep recurring: scope, sequencing, hiring, and the tradeoffs that are expensive to reverse. Typically cash, equity, or a mix.
A single session for students and early builders working through what to build next, how to scope it, and what it should demonstrate. Free for students.
Not sure which fits? Email me a paragraph on what you are building and the decision in front of you, and I will tell you whether I am the right person.
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