Hi, I'm DJ!
I've spent 30 years building software, usally at the earliest stage, before there's a roadmap or a playbook. These days I'm focused on a problem that matters: how do you verify age online without creating a surveillance system? I founded Cardless ID to answer that question, and I serve as Technical Advisor to a bipartisan coalition of state Attorneys General on child online safety.
About me
I'm a full-stack developer, digital strategist, and real estate investor who excels at solving problems with code. I have multiple eight-figure exits and tons of learning experiences along the way. I love to work and expect to never stop building things.
- Location:Oklahoma City, OK
- Age:57
- Nationality:USA
- Interests:Writing, Music, Social Sciences
- Study:Northwestern University
- Employment:Entrepreneur
Work
Technical Advisor, Partnership for Youth Online Safety
Advise a bipartisan coalition of state Attorneys General and industry leaders on child online safety, with a focus on decentralized identity (DID) for age verification and flagging AI-generated deepfakes.
Freelance Senior Software Engineer (Product)
- Cardless ID — A nonprofit age verification platform to age-gate websites in compliance with local laws. The website uses React Router V7 and Firebase, while the backend leverages the Algorand blockchain for decentralized identity. The mobile app in development is built on Expo with a custom Algorand wallet providing verifiable credentials without centralized identity storage.
- Claude Architect Course — A hands-on course teaching developers how to build production-grade applications with Claude AI, covering prompt engineering, tool use, and agentic workflows.
- Claude Code for the Humanities — Monthly course on making AI tools accessible to non-engineers.
- did-resolver-agent — A chain-agnostic MCP server that lets humans issue cryptographically signed Verifiable Credentials to AI agents, scoping their permissions without relying on a central authority.
- Blockchain Rangers — A full-stack blockchain scam detection system with multi-factor risk scoring and real-time smart contract analysis across EtherScan, SolScan, Helius, and TON Center APIs. Vanilla JavaScript front end with Flask backend. Uses DeepSeek LLM to analyze scraped token/project data and generate structured risk assessments. Also features a comprehensive llms.txt interface to take advantage of LLMs and x402 payments.
- TRYBE — A full-stack PWA in React/Remix with Prisma/Supabase as the backend and Fly.io for deployment. Currently in alpha testing, serving more than a thousand paying customers and tens of thousands free users.
- Penelope Trunk — Built a new email marketing platform and migrated her blog from WP Engine to a VPS on DigitalOcean. Migrated off Hubspot to a custom version of Mailster, lowering cost from $25,000/year to less than $1,500. Rewrote the Mailster automation component to scale to 200,000 messages/day via Amazon SES.
- Automated Penetration Testing Reporting System — Built an entirely new React/Vite/Tailwind front end for an outdated Python app, now serving more than 2,000 security professionals.
- Nikozi Music (FWB/Worldcoin hackathon) — A Worldcoin mini-app providing Spotify-style music functions integrated with the Worldcoin proof-of-humanity Mini App ecosystem.
Managing Partner & Technology Lead
Led the purchase, management and sale of 330 multifamily apartments while personally building and maintaining a turnkey investor communication platform. Raised $5 million in equity capital, delivered 7% annual cash flow, and architected the full technology stack for investor reporting and deal management.
Chief Technology Officer
Led all technical development — frontend, backend, infrastructure, and API integrations — of a SaaS providing custom analytics integrated with third-party reporting tools such as Google Analytics, Stripe, Mailchimp, and more than 30 others. Core technology included Ruby on Rails, MySQL, jQuery, Highcharts, and 30+ web APIs.
Senior Software Engineer
Joined as employee number five and third technical employee. Helped convert a PHP app running on a single server into a Zend Framework app running on clusters on two continents, serving customers in 80 countries as the company scaled to 50+ employees. Built integrations with Salesforce and ExactTarget, supported the API, and rebuilt the payment system to support complex billing for enterprise customers.
Chief Technology Officer
Stepped in to rescue a stalled influencer marketplace after two prior CTOs failed. Rather than discarding the existing codebase, salvaged the Node-based API and built an entirely new front end encompassing multiple market-driven changes. Successfully launched within five months, serving more than ten thousand users. Node and PostgreSQL backend with Mithril/CoffeeScript front end, deployed on Heroku.
Technical Lead
Stepped in to rescue a stalled project for a US client by rebuilding the agile process and managing remote developers in South America and Europe. Translated complex requirements across language and timezone barriers to deliver a working product. Primary tech stack was Ruby on Rails with MySQL and PostgreSQL backends.
Chief Technology Officer
Led a complex technical conversion from on-premises software to a multi-tenant SaaS architecture compliant with HIPAA and related regulations for medical environments. Underlying technology included Ruby on Rails, PostgreSQL, Cisco IP Phones, and Twilio.
Chief Privacy Officer
Devised and enforced spam-prevention policies for one of the first email marketing companies. Led a PR and marketing initiative to highlight the company's thought leadership in permission marketing, winning major enterprise accounts such as Cisco Systems and Dell Computer.
CEO & Co-Founder
Created the industry's first email customer service platform, landing major clients such as Consumer Reports and the Chicago Board Options Exchange. The company was acquired by MessageMedia, providing a 700% return to investors in two years.
Skills
25 years of experience with software development in high-pressure, resource-constrained startups
Education
Bachelor of Science, Music Education
I decided by my senior year that I didn't want to teach, but NU is expensive so I took the degree and became one of those classic liberal arts major who had no idea what he wanted to do. Luckily I discovered I have an entrepreneurial instinct and a knack for computers.
Submarine Sales Methodology
Innovative sales method that trained me to, above all, not act like a salesman. See this post on my blog about one key concept, the Up Front Contract.