Hi, I'm Nick.
I'm the CTO at Direct Commerce, and I also run a small consulting practice for CTOs navigating AI transformation.
The short version
My day job is building and running the engineering org at Direct Commerce. On the side, I take on a small number of consulting engagements — hands-on work with technology leaders who want a trusted peer to help them think through the hardest problem of the decade: how to lead an engineering organization through the AI shift without losing the things that made it good in the first place.
I write about what I call Software 2.0 — the shift from writing code line-by-line to directing AI agents that write it for us. The bottleneck has moved. It isn't the code anymore; it's the leader. Evaluating, directing, designing task pipelines, deciding what to ship. That's the new craft, and most of us are figuring it out in real time.
To keep myself honest, I build in the open. FitApp is my proving ground — an open-source fitness app in Flutter and Firebase with AI and MCP integration baked in. It's licensed AGPL-3.0 and I'm exploring a DAO model for decentralized contribution. If I'm going to advise anyone on AI-assisted development, I want to be doing it every day myself.
What I focus on
AI Strategy
Helping CTOs navigate the shift from experimentation to durable, production-grade AI systems — with clear frameworks for where to bet and where to wait.
Software 2.0
The move from writing code to directing AI agents. Engineering is becoming evaluation, orchestration, and task design. I help leaders adapt their teams to that reality.
Cloud Architecture
Pragmatic cloud systems that scale without getting in the way — built on the platforms your team already knows, with room to grow into what comes next.
Open Source
A long-running belief that the best technology gets built in the open. I ship real projects under open licenses and contribute to the communities I learn from.
Outside of tech
On the water
Avid fly fisherman and unapologetic outdoor enthusiast. Chattanooga is a pretty good spot for both. Time on a river is how I think through hard problems — and occasionally, how I don't think about them at all, which turns out to be just as useful.
At home
I live in Chattanooga with my wife and our two kids, who keep me delightfully busy and good at context-switching. The outdoors and family are what keep me grounded when the tech cycle tries to convince me everything is urgent.
Working on something hard? Let's talk.
If any of this resonates — whether you're sizing up an AI bet, rethinking your architecture, or just want a peer to pressure-test an idea — I'd love to hear about it.