LEV DARUEV — Websites · Apps · AI
Available · 00:00
SEC. 01 · OBJECT
000
Full stack product engineer — websites, web apps & AI products

Websites, apps & AI

Premium websites, SaaS and AI products — built end to end, by one person.
No agency layers. No handoffs. Twelve years, one name on every line of the stack.

Amsterdam — working worldwide One engagement at a time Scroll to explore ↓
§ 02 — Why products fail Read by scrolling

Most digital products fail for one reason: too many hands, not enough *ownership.* A designer hands off to a developer, who hands off to another developer, who hands off to an agency account manager — and somewhere in that chain the idea gets diluted. I remove the chain. One person owns the database, the API and the interface — websites, web apps, AI products — so nothing is lost in *translation.* That is what you're paying for. Not code. *Judgement.*

One person,
beats an agency.

§ 02b — the alternative
no meetings required to believe it
The agency way
  • 6+ people on the account
  • 14 meetings before a line of code
  • Handoffs between design, dev and QA
  • Weeks lost in translation
Working with me
  • One person, one vision
  • Direct line — no account manager
  • Zero handoffs, I own every layer
  • Shipping while others are still scoping
Principle 01 / 04

Clarity
before code.

Nothing is built until it can be explained in one paragraph, to one user, with one verb. Ambiguity survives meetings; it does not survive a type system. The hardest engineering happens before the first file exists.

— kept since 2014, broken twice, regretted twice
Principle 02 / 04

The stack is
one material.

Schema, API, interface — a single surface, carved in one motion. When the same mind owns latency and layout, corners stop being places where quality hides.

— the reason this site exists
Principle 03 / 04

Speed is a feature
of thought.

Fast software comes from fast decisions: fewer dependencies, fewer layers, fewer meetings between an idea and its proof. Ship a working spine in days; spend the saved weeks on details users can feel.

— this page: one file, zero frameworks
Principle 04 / 04

Taste
compounds.

Every unconsidered pixel lowers the bar for the next one. The discipline is boring and daily: name things well, delete more than you add, and never let “temporary” see a release.

— interest is charged on every shortcut

From first call,
to live.

§ 03b — the engagement
no discovery-phase theatre
  1. 01

    The call

    Forty-five minutes. You describe the problem, I map it out loud. You leave with a plan whether or not we work together.

    day 0 — free
  2. 02

    The scope

    A written spec: what ships, in what order, by what date, for what price. Fixed. No hourly billing, no scope drift, no surprises.

    within 3 days
  3. 03

    The build

    Weekly demos on a real URL, not a status report. You watch the product become real and can steer it every single week.

    1–10 weeks
  4. 04

    The handover

    Code, documentation and a system you fully own — no lock-in, no retainer hostage. I stay reachable after the invoice clears.

    launch day, and after

The stack,
layer by layer.

§ 04 — core sample
press a stratum to expand

The stratum users actually touch. Typography, motion and state resolved together — prototyped in code from day one, because a static mockup cannot lie about latency.

React · Next.jsTypeScript Design systemsMotion A11y as a floor

Domain logic that reads like the business it serves. APIs that don’t surprise, contracts that don’t drift, auth that doesn’t leak.

API designNode · Go Domain modellingAuth & contracts

The layer everything above is merely an opinion about. Schemas that read like prose, migrations without fear, queries measured in single digits.

PostgresData modelling MigrationsQuery budgets

Boring on purpose. Deploys that don’t frighten anyone, dashboards that tell the truth at 3 a.m., budgets for performance enforced like budgets for money.

CI/CDIaC ObservabilityPerf budgets

Tools,
in daily rotation.

§ 04b — current stack
updated as the craft moves
Next.js React TypeScript Node.js Go PostgreSQL OpenAI Claude Supabase Docker Vercel AWS
Every release clears — PageSpeed 95+ LCP < 1.5s Core Web Vitals: Pass
§05

Selected work,
not a highlight reel.

Websites, web apps and platforms built end to end. The interesting parts are sealed under NDA, and screenshots flatter everyone — hover an entry to declassify the one line I’m allowed to keep.

01

Meridian

’24 — ’26 · current Lead product engineer Fintech infrastructure
Problem

Settlement queries were timing out under real transaction volume, and every schema change meant a week of cross-team sign-off.

Stack
Next.jsPostgresGo
Result

Settlement latency fell 71%, and the design system built along the way became the org’s second product.

Hover to declassify
02

Halide Systems

’22 — ’24 Founding engineer Developer tooling
Problem

No product, no team, and a market window that wouldn’t hold — the company needed a working tool, not a roadmap.

Stack
TypeScriptNode.jsDocker
Result

First commit to public launch in five months — CLI, API, docs and billing, one person. The design system outlived my tenure.

Hover to declassify
03

Auric

’20 — ’22 Product engineer Commerce
Problem

Checkout and order pipeline were owned by two different teams, and every fix in one broke something in the other.

Stack
ReactPostgresVercel
Result

Rebuilt as one continuous system. Conversion followed the latency down; support tickets halved by the second quarter.

Hover to declassify
04

Earlier years

’14 — ’20 Studios · two startups of my own

Where the four principles were paid for, the expensive way. Both startups taught more than they returned. Worth every unit of both.

Hover to declassify
05

Entry unwritten.

’26 — · reserved

The next line in this ledger is reserved for one engagement. It could describe your product.

Claim the entry

Three ways
to work together.

§ 05b — engagements
fixed price · fixed date · one client at a time
Shape 01 1–2 weeks

Sprint

A site that has to carry weight — launch page, marketing site, investor-facing presence. Designed and built, not templated.

  • Design and build, no handoff
  • Copy structure and messaging pass
  • Deployed, measured, PageSpeed 95+
Starting at€6,000
Start here
Shape 03 monthly

Partner

Ongoing product engineering for one company at a time. I act as the technical half of your founding team, without the headcount.

  • Continuous build and release
  • Architecture and hiring judgement
  • Cancel with 30 days, no lock-in
From€9,000 / mo
Enquire
Every engagement includes — Fixed price Fixed date You own the code Direct line, no PM
0yend to end
0+products shipped
0acquired outcomes
0unfinished releases
Now,
let’s build.
Websites · web apps · AI products — one engagement at a time
lev@daruev.com