Tom Smykowski

For founders

Product engineering partner for founders who need execution, not slides.

I’m a staff-level full-stack engineer (Angular, Node, mobile-facing products) with a track record on design systems, complex SaaS, and shipping under business pressure. I weigh trade-offs the way you would if revenue and runway were on the line — because I also build and sell products myself.

Who this is for

  • Early-stage founders with a product in market or a serious MVP path
  • Small teams missing senior frontend / full-stack leadership
  • Teams stuck between “move fast” and “don’t collapse the architecture”

Problems I help untangle

Slow or fragile delivery

Unclear ownership, rework, and tech debt that drains the roadmap over time.

Frontend & design-system debt

Inconsistent UI, hard reviews, scaling pain — common after growth or rebrands.

Architecture fog

What to build now vs later, what to buy, and how to keep options open.

Ways we can work together

FormatBest when…
Advisory / sparringYou need sharp technical judgment on decisions, hires, or vendor trade-offs.
Hands-on executionYou need a senior IC who can ship features and improve the system while doing it.
Mentoring & trainingYour team needs leveling up on Angular, TS, or pragmatic engineering practice.

How engagements usually start

  1. Intro call — context, constraints, and honesty about fit.
  2. Diagnose — where time is lost and what risks matter most.
  3. Plan — short horizon you can ship, with explicit trade-offs.
  4. Execute — code, reviews, docs, and handoff your team can own.

Out of scope (so expectations stay clean)

  • I’m not a substitute for product strategy if nobody owns the product direction.
  • I don’t promise outcomes that depend on market luck or your distribution.
  • I won’t optimize for vanity metrics over sustainable engineering.