Business stories, not a portfolio.

The context. Working in an agency, I kept rebuilding the same admin panels, project after project. So I built a tool to make that stop. The first prototypes were Cornel and Viorel — named after Romanian uncles — and then Dick, named for how it looked in the terminal. Funny at the command line; harder to pitch to corporate clients. The fourth attempt got a sensible name and a business model.

What I did. Everything a software business needs: the code, the docs, the pricing, the licensing, the support, the community, the marketing. Open-core model — a genuinely great free core, paid add-ons for the pro conveniences. No funding, no ads, no growth hacks; ten years of word of mouth in the Laravel community.

Where it is now. On autopilot — a design decision, made after it blew up and I learned first-hand what thousands of users and zero systems feels like. Contributors and a small team handle the day-to-day; I steer. It takes a couple of my hours per week — the rest runs on process, documentation and a community that has skin in the game. Also: ten years is a long time to own anything. If you're the kind of company that acquires developer tools with a decade of profit behind them, my inbox is open.

The context. Live events in Romania sell tickets through platforms nobody loves. My co-founder knows the events market cold; I knew we could build something better than what venues and promoters were tolerating.

What I did. The entire platform, zero to one: ticketing, payments, refunds, invoicing, compliance, venue and promoter tools. Built lean, on boring technology, to survive real traffic on real event nights. My co-founder owns go-to-market; I own the product.

The context. Two friends — Andrei Iordache and Eugen Tudorache — had a tiny web shop in Bucharest. It became my first real job; I joined when the whole company fit around one desk.

What I did. Grew from junior dev to senior dev to managing partner, and helped move it from "digital agency" to a proper software product house: the processes, the hiring, the Laravel practice, and the Creative Tim partnership that shipped 30+ products. Today I'm a board member — I bring in clients, advise, and otherwise stay out of the team's way.

The idea. "Your playlist for real life." Every upcoming event in Romania — concerts, theatre, festivals, conferences — pulled from 16 sources, de-duplicated and polished into one live picture of the country's event market. Browse, follow venues, build your list, actually go.

Where it stands. Phase one asked: can you even aggregate a whole country's events? Answer: yes — 10,000+ raw events processed into the cleanest dataset of the Romanian market. Phase two is the real test, happening now: customer interviews to find what's actually missing for event-goers — how going out could make their lives better — and which of those needs people would pay to solve. I'm a heavy event-goer myself, but I refuse to assume everyone shares my problems. Monetization will likely come from organizers or ticketing vendors — we are not becoming another ticketing platform. Piloting in Romania; built to go global fast, if it earns it.

Full disclosure. I wrote code before the problem was clear as day — my own rule, bent again. The interviews are how I pay that debt. It might graduate; it might join the graveyard below. That's the process working, either way.