Substack

Hi, I'm Federico. I build user-focused products and care about solving real problems. I've led end-to-end delivery across startups, SMEs, and large enterprises, managing distributed teams, driving execution, and taking products from idea through to launch.

Skills and Expertise

I care about creating products that solve real problems, building teams where people can do their best work, and making sure the work I do has a positive impact on the people who use it.

Over the years, I've learned that good leadership is less about titles and more about how you help people succeed. These are the principles I live by:

  • Hire smart, talented, high-agency engineers with a collaborative mindset
  • Align the team on goals and priorities
  • Promote ownership and autonomy
  • Be proactive, take initiative, set clear goals and go after them
  • Communicate clearly and often
  • Build trust and cultivate personal connections
  • Create an environment where engineers can deliver high-quality work
  • Help engineers find purpose in their work
  • Challenge engineers by setting and upholding high goals and standards
  • Create opportunities to learn and improve
I'm a product person at heart and have spent many years building great products. I wear many hats, balance vision and execution, and solve problems across teams to keep things moving in the right direction.

I work closely with stakeholders to translate business needs into clear technical plans and actionable delivery, balancing user needs, technical constraints, and commercial goals, while managing scope, risks, dependencies, resources, budgets, and delivery metrics across multiple projects.

Over time, I've learned that customer behaviour is the key metric for business success.
I have strong experience across software architecture, programming languages, mobile (iOS and Android), APIs, microservices, commerce, cloud platforms, SaaS, PaaS, video streaming, AI/ML tools, LLMs, CI/CD, and Agile delivery. I'm comfortable getting into the detail when needed, whether that's shaping architecture, integrating third-party services, running feasibility analysis, validating ideas, or building and demoing solutions.

I work closely with engineers to solve problems together, understand technical constraints, and make sensible trade-offs to keep delivery on track. I make decisions based on user behaviour, product data, and real usage patterns, combining input from customers, analytics, and engineering to prioritise what matters.

Over the last few years, I've been working hands-on with AI, delivering AI-powered products and integrating GenAI into real systems using platforms like OpenAI. I also use AI as part of my day-to-day work to support development, testing, and delivery.
I focus on user journeys, interaction patterns, and the small details that make products feel special. I use experimentation and A/B testing to validate hypotheses, and combine usage data with feedback loops to understand what's working and what's not. This helps me iterate quickly and drive continuous product improvement.

One of my favourite quotes from Steve Jobs is, "You've got to start with the customer experience and work back toward the technology, not the other way around."

Most Memorable Projects

I've led end-to-end delivery across startups, SMEs, and large enterprises, taking products from idea through to launch. I built ecommerce platforms for companies like Atari, L'Oreal, Energizer, Nissan, Uniqlo, Johnson & Johnson, Bupa and Links of London, as well as web, mobile and TV apps for Sky, CNN, BBC, Global, Warner Media, HBO, Discovery+, Eurosport, Marie Claire and NME. But some projects, for one reason or another, stay with you. Here are a few I'm especially proud of:

  • 2025 Dysko.ai real-time social networking app
  • 2024 AI-powered Inventory Management for SAP
  • 2020 CNN Website Builder
  • 2019 CNN News Publishing Platform
  • 2018 Eurosport 2018 World Cup Live
  • 2017 Discovery+ Kids Play
  • 2016 BBC text-to-speech voice synthesis
  • 2014 BBC News, Podcasts, iPlayer
  • 2011 Android Video Player with Arxan DRM
  • 2010 Sky Scope, a Social Media News Tracker
  • 2009 Sky Recommendations, built on Hadoop
  • 2009 YourTV app (Sky Now prototype)
  • 2008 Sky Local News
  • 2008 Flying Monsters app with David Attenborough
  • 2007 Atari Online Store
  • 2007 Feelgood Games
  • 2006 Yahoo Partner Ads (YPA)
  • 2005 Energizer's CMS

Latest Side Project

Shinobi is a lean prototype I created as a side project to help TPMs manage multiple projects at once, especially when working with remote contractors. It keeps track of progress, tasks, and key development metrics. It's a clean, single-page app I built over a few weekends, in about a month. The app also supports adapters to pull data from different APIs, making it easier to integrate with more complex agile tools. A big part of the code was written using GPT-4o.

Shinobi 1
Shinobi 2
Shinobi 3
Shinobi 4
Shinobi 5
Shinobi 6

Prototypes give me space to experiment, learn, and stay on top of tech trends. I use them to try new tools, test assumptions, and see if certain workflows actually help teams work better. With AI, you can build and iterate much faster, so it's easier to figure out what works and what doesn't.

Companies I've Started

Sublime Cards

After years of helping clients build product catalogues and ecommerce platforms, I decided to launch a product of my own, Meeting Warm Up, a team-building game designed to improve team dynamics and encourage collaboration. It reached the number one spot on Amazon's office games category for 12 weeks, earned "Best Seller" and "Amazon Recommends" badges, and taught me a lot about product-market fit, pricing, and promotion. It also gave me a first-hand look at the same challenges my clients face when trying to sell their own products.

Meeting Warm Up

Kewnode

I started Kewnode to help small businesses grow online and deliver scalable ecommerce solutions across platforms like Magento, Shopify, and Amazon. I built and led a high-performing team of certified software developers and architects. I also partnered with Adobe and leading ecommerce agencies to integrate new extensions into their existing applications.

Kewnode

Blog Posts

I have a blog on Substack where I share ideas from books, podcasts, and articles, along with my own experience building products and working with technology teams.

Thanks for stopping by.

If you're curious about anything I've worked on or want to chat, feel free to reach out. I'm always happy to connect fedecarg@gmail.com