About Me
I'm John, a product designer turned builder. For the last decade, I've designed products at every stage, from scrappy startups to enterprise scale. I was the founding designer at Protect AI, where I helped grow the company from 20 to 110 people before it was acquired by Palo Alto Networks.
Then AI changed what I was capable of shipping. I stopped handing off specs and started building the thing. iOS apps, Empire Fish, production APIs, autonomous AI agents, data platforms. I don't fit into a single box anymore, and I've stopped trying to.
I think in systems. I design with intent. I build fast and iterate in public. I want to work with people who ship fast, learn faster, and believe the best version of the product is always the next one.
Away From my Desk
I'm a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. It's the thing that keeps me sharp in ways that have nothing to do with tech. Jiu-jitsu teaches you to stay calm when things aren't going your way, to read what's happening in real time, and to commit to a move without hesitating. There's no faking it on the mat. You either adapted or you didn't.
That mindset shows up in how I work. I don't overthink the plan. I move, I adjust, I keep going. Some of my best product decisions have come from the same instinct jiu-jitsu trained into me: feel the resistance, find the opening, flow.
How I work
My tools are organized around how I think about building, from research to design to shipping.
Research & Documentation
Where context lives. AI-powered research tools to go deep on domains quickly.
arXivOpen-access research paper archive
Google DriveCloud storage and collaboration
JiraAgile project tracking
NotionAll-in-one workspace for notes and docs
PerplexityAI-powered research assistant
Stack OverflowDeveloper Q&A communityUX Focused
Where problems get defined. User needs, flows, and validation before code.
ExcalidrawHand-drawn style whiteboarding
FigmaCollaborative interface design
MermaidDiagrams as code
MiroVisual collaboration board
xyflowReact flow diagram libraryCore Development
Where the building happens. Code, AI tools, and shipping across stack.
AstroContent-focused web framework
ClaudeAI assistant for code and analysis
CursorAI-first code editor
DockerContainer platform
ExpoReact Native development platform
FirebaseBackend-as-a-service platform
GitVersion control system
GitHubCode hosting and collaboration
GitHub CopilotAI pair programmer
Google GeminiMultimodal AI model
Hugging FaceML model hub
MapboxCustom maps and location
MCPModel Context Protocol
Next.jsReact framework for production
Phosphor IconsFlexible icon family
PostgreSQLRelational database
PythonGeneral-purpose programming
RailwayCloud deployment platform
ReactUI component library
ResendDeveloper-first email API
shadcn/uiRe-usable component library
SQLiteEmbedded database engine
SupabaseOpen source Firebase alternative
SwiftApple platform development
Tailwind CSSUtility-first CSS
TypeScriptTyped JavaScript
v0AI UI generation
VercelFrontend deployment platformInsights & Analytics
Where assumptions get tested. Data to understand what's working.
Google AnalyticsWeb traffic analytics
HotjarBehavior analytics and feedback
PostHogProduct analytics platformMarketing
Where the work meets the world. Building in public and distribution.
RedditCommunity discussion platform
XSocial media platformWeb Design
Where the craft shows up. Animation, interaction, visual polish.
FramerInteractive design tool
StackblitzBrowser-based IDE
WebflowVisual web development