What I do
Fractional CTO
A growing software business keeps running into decisions that need a CTO: technical strategy, architecture, hiring, vendor and infrastructure choices, pricing, and product decisions. I work through them with you, a few days a week. Behind it all sits a roadmap we build together, so everything keeps pointing in one direction.
Hands-on development
I write the code myself. Full-stack work across Next.js, React, React Native, Node.js, and Python: new features, payments and billing, internal tools, APIs and integrations, marketing technology, analytics, and the unglamorous maintenance that keeps a product healthy. That includes the layer underneath the application: databases, cloud infrastructure, deployments, and the monitoring that catches problems before your customers do.
AI in production
Since 2023 I've been building and running AI features for real apps, with paying users: real-time voice conversation, RAG-based lesson assistance, automated content generation, and translation pipelines. The work behind them is the part most teams struggle with: choosing the right models, prompt engineering, evaluation with human review in the loop, and keeping cost and latency under control. If you're trying to figure out where AI genuinely fits your product, that judgment is the useful part of what I've learned.
What working with me looks like
Over the last decade I've worked with US and UK clients (SaaS companies, design studios, and agencies), usually in long retainers, two or three clients at a time. The deepest of these engagements began in 2020: a US-based language-learning platform. What started as development work has grown into responsibility for most of the technical decisions the business makes. Today I look after everything technology touches: architecture, features, AI, marketing technology, ad attribution, analytics, internal tools, and infrastructure.
Before that, I spent a few years as the technical partner behind a product agency, shipping production work across dozens of client projects, among them Comeet, MyHeritage, and Checkmarx.
Most of my client relationships have lasted years, and I prefer it that way.
A builder, not only an advisor
I'm also a founder. I'm currently building Automette, a document automation platform for generating documents, PDFs, and images from templates through a UI and API. Before that, I founded and ran Finance Train, an education platform for finance professionals, for over thirteen years.
Running my own products keeps my advice honest. I feel the consequences of technical decisions the same way my clients do.
What clients say
Learn Kraft is my no. 1 recommendation for any web development work, globally!
I've been working with Manish for over a year now. We are an exclusive design house and had been working with many developers to execute our projects. That was a big challenge for us. Now all our projects are executed just by Learn Kraft.
Background
I started in 2001 in financial e-learning, growing from content developer to running a development center. I then spent two years as Director of Solutions at a data analytics consultancy, leading BI implementations and pre-sales. Since 2015 I've worked independently. Along the way: an MBA in systems and finance, and a habit of ending up responsible for whatever sits between the business and the technology.
Work with me
If you're a SaaS founder who wants a senior technical partner, or you know someone who does, I'm at manish@learnkraft.com, or you can book a call. I work in long engagements and take on two or three clients at a time.