About

I’m Matt. I’ve been building software for twenty-plus years.

I’m an independent technology consultant based in Troy, Illinois — just outside of St. Louis. Over twenty years I’ve gone from freelancing out of a spare bedroom, to building my own products, to leading frontend engineering on one of the world’s largest ecommerce platforms. These days I work with a small number of clients at a time, helping them untangle, modernize, or ship the thing they’ve been stuck on.

LOCATEDTroy, IL · Greater St. Louis

Troy, IL · 2026

“Twenty years in, still enjoying the craft.”

20+

Years shipping software

50+

Clients & employers

Product founded & acquired

Daughters (twins)

The long version

How I got here. Twenty years, give or take.

012000 — 2012
Getting started.
I’ve been building on the web since 2000 — started with HTML and a copy of Notepad, built stuff for fun, picked up small freelance jobs here and there through school. I learned the most important lesson of my career pretty quickly: if you want clients to come back, deliver what you promised, when you promised it, and pick up the phone.
022012 — 2022
theDraftNight — the founder era.
Founded End of Regulation Studios and built theDraftNight — a fantasy football drafting app for web, iOS, and tvOS. Secured $75K+ in investment, managed domestic and overseas dev teams, grew to 300% YoY user growth, and peaked at #22 in the U.S. App Store Sports category. Acquired by The Post Sports Bar & Grill in 2018; I stayed on as Chief Fantasy Sports Officer through 2022. I learned more about product, operations, and my own limits in those years than anywhere else.
032016 — 2022
Agency years — in parallel.
While theDraftNight was still running, I spent six years across three St. Louis agencies — Chadd G Creative, then goBRANDgo!, then Timmermann Group. At goBRANDgo! I was promoted to Technology Lead and delivered a 350% dev-time reduction through a reusable component system. At Timmermann I closed a cross-client tracking gap with the company’s first WordPress plugin and cut dev environment setup by 500%. Shipped dozens of custom sites for mid-market clients across manufacturing, healthcare, and professional services along the way.
042022 — 2026
Under Armour.
Joined Under Armour as a Senior Software Engineer on the e-commerce engineering team. One of the original contributors on the global frontend replatform and one of four engineers on the full PDP redesign. Delivered 4–10× performance gains, a 95/100 Catchpoint score, and contributed to UA earning #2 in the 2025 Digital Experience Benchmark — ahead of Nike and Adidas. Facilitated bi-weekly AI training sessions across engineering and held open office hours on platform architecture. Proudest run of my career.
052026 — now
Independent, by design.
I went back out on my own. The work I love most is helping small-to-midsize businesses use modern web technology and AI in ways that are practical, affordable, and actually useful. One thoughtful client at a time, from Troy, Illinois.

How I work

A few things I believe. They shape every engagement.

Clarity over cleverness.

The best code is the kind the next person can read. Same goes for proposals, estimates, and status updates. If I can’t explain it simply, I don’t understand it well enough yet.

Ship it, then improve it.

Nothing gets better sitting in a branch. I’d rather ship something small and useful this week than a perfect thing next quarter.

Say the honest thing.

If the project doesn’t need what you asked for, I’ll tell you. If the deadline’s unrealistic, I’ll tell you. If I’m the wrong person, I’ll tell you that too — and point you somewhere better.

Own the outcome.

I don’t hand off half-finished work and call it done. If it’s slow, buggy, or confusing — that’s still my problem to solve. The engagement ends when your people can run it without me.

Technology serves the business.

Frameworks come and go. What doesn’t change is whether your business runs better this quarter than it did last. That’s the only metric that matters.

Small numbers, real people.

I take on a few clients at a time so each one gets real attention. No account manager, no handoff, no hiding behind a ticketing system.

Working together

What it's actually like. On retainer.

You talk to me.

No account manager between us. No handoff. The person who shows up on the call is the person doing the work.

A real cadence.

Weekly or biweekly — a standing call where we work through what's changed, what's next, and what I'm on. Not just async messages back and forth.

Three months to find the rhythm, then you decide.

Three-month start so we can actually build momentum. After that, we review and you choose to continue. You're never locked in beyond what we've agreed.

No black box.

You'll always know what I'm working on and why. If priorities need to shift mid-month, I'll tell you before the work changes — not after.

Scope grows when we talk about it.

If you want more, we have that conversation first. No billing surprises. No "I assumed that was included."

Tools of the trade

What I reach for. Most days.

01Languages

TypeScript
JavaScript
Python
SQL
Swift

02Frontend

React
Next.js
Tailwind
Radix
Framer Motion

03Backend

Node
Next.js API routes
Postgres (Neon)
Redis
tRPC

04AI / LLMs

Claude
OpenAI
Anthropic SDK
Vercel AI SDK
Agent SDKs

05Infra

Vercel
Cloudflare
AWS (selectively)
GitHub Actions

06Workflow

VS Code
Cursor
Linear
Figma
Notion

Twins, circa now

Off the keyboard

Life outside the work. Which is most of it.

I live in Troy, Illinois with my wife and our twin daughters. We spend most weekends chasing them around the backyard, at the park, or trying to figure out which one is currently holding the other one’s snack hostage. In whatever time’s left I’m a pretty serious fantasy football commissioner, a middling home cook, and an unapologetic Cardinals fan.

HOMETroy, IL · weekend mornings

That’s the
whole story. More or less.

If any of it resonates — or if you’ve got something you’re stuck on — I’d love to hear about it. Phone, video, or in person — free, no pitch.

Back to home