James Watling

Hello! I'm James, a seasoned technology leader with a robust track record in pioneering startups and driving them towards operational excellence, he brings a wealth of experience in technical innovation, strategic leadership, and team building. His career highlights include his foundational role as the first employee and CTO at EarlyDay, where he led product development and team growth, alongside strategic contributions to KarmaCheck, Hub Token, and GuavaPass, including significant fundraising successes and the development of cutting-edge technology platforms.

With over 12 years as a full stack developer, he has a deep understanding of modern technology stacks and software development practices. His expertise extends across Ruby on Rails, React, and React Native, coupled with a strong proficiency in DevOps practices, including extensive experience with AWS to facilitate agile development and deployment processes.

As a founding CTO and senior technology leader, he has a proven track record of driving product innovation, leading high-performing teams, and executing strategic initiatives. His achievements, such as securing over $4 million in funding at EarlyDay and contributing to a $20 million token sale at Hub Token, underscore his ability to blend technical expertise with strategic business acumen.

His leadership goes beyond technical direction to include comprehensive team building and management, having assembled and nurtured teams that are technically proficient and highly motivated. This experience, along with his hands-on technical skills and strategic contributions, positions him as a valuable asset to startups and established companies alike, passionate about leveraging his extensive technical background and leadership abilities to help organizations achieve their strategic growth objectives.

Services

I specialize in helping startups to hire the best in tech talent, providing a crucial bridge between technical requirements and company vision. Through TechTalentVet, we offer peace of mind by rigorously assessing developer skills to ensure only top-notch professionals join your team. Our process is designed to translate the intricate language of code into tangible results for your business, making your hiring process as seamless and effective as possible.

In addition to talent acquisition, I serve as an advisor to boards, offering strategic insights and guidance to navigate the complex tech landscape. My services also extend to acting as a fractional CTO, where I provide leadership and technical direction to startups looking to scale or refine their technology strategy without the need for a full-time executive, allowing for flexibility and expertise on demand.

Experience

EarlyDay - Founding CTO

Spearheaded the technical/product launch strategy as the inaugural employee, laying the foundational technology and vision for the company. As the founding CTO, I was instrumental in hiring and leading a highly satisfied team of six, crafting the initial product from scratch and scaling the team to foster innovation.

Played a pivotal role in securing over $4 million in funding through strategic presentations to the board, co-leading product development, data analytics, and much more.

Established and managed a fully remote team across Latin America and a wider distributed team in the US, successfully launching our services in three major US metro areas..

Hub - Senior Software Engineer

Mountain View, CA

Collaborated closely with Eric Ly, co-founder of LinkedIn, in a venture aimed at revolutionizing social media through a trust-based international platform.

Contributed to a landmark $20 million token sale, underscoring the project's innovative approach to integrating gamification with reputation-based feeds to foster genuine interactions.

Responsible for developing applications for the Human Trust Protocol utilising blockchain to provide users a standardised way for building their reputation.

Building the Ruby on Rails application to support the Hub web and iOS Apps

KarmaCheck - Senior Software Engineer & Board Advisor

Mountain View, CA

Initiated and developed the MVP as one of the first two developers at this Hub sister company, setting a robust foundation for the product's future development.

Contributed to a successful $15 million Series A funding round, leveraging my technical expertise and strategic insights to guide the company's direction. Returned to Hub with enhanced skills and experience, continuing to advise the board and influence product strategy.

GuavaPass - Senior Developer Team Lead

Singapore

Acquired by ClassPass. Was involved in DD and parts of the M&A process but decided not to join ClassPass post acquisition

Working with business and technology teams to build and deliver business goals in a timely and measurable way. Helping to develop the product roadmap, estimate deadlines/complexity, gather business requirements, turn business goals into actionable developer ready stories, manage business expectations and much more.

Responsible for a team of 5, helping to manage their career objectives, day to day operations, performance reviews, regular one on one catch ups and more

Roomorama - Senior Rails Developer

Singapore

Working at Roomorama exposed me to supporting a website catering to millions of monthly visitors as part of a small team of talented developers. Both the development and wider company consisted of talented people from numerous countries all bringing a unique perspective to the team. Roomorama has a strong scrum focus, with a few customisations with the main focus on delivering clean, well tested/documented code. Some responsibilities included working on building integrations with 3rd party providers to import 10,000s of properties into the Roomorama system, whilst keeping them continuously updated. This included live price and availability integration using various API technologies. Also working on the main website itself to manage the implementation of new features, bug fixes, increasing test coverage, refactoring legacy code and other standard software practices

Awards

Examples of awards and recognition for my work include:

Contact

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