Founding Engineer · Signalyze AI

Seven years shipping code.
Most of them from a town you’ve never heard of.

From freelance projects in Quixeramobim to AI products raising $300k from US investors. That’s what I do.

Currently building at Signalyze AI (Indiana, US) · Available for select projects · 2026

$17K generated in month one — $300K+ raised through MVPs — 7 years shipping production code

Currently Founding Engineer at Signalyze AI. Previously: Lead Developer, Full Stack Developer, Freelance Builder.

01 — About

I didn’t find code. Code found me 200 kilometers from anywhere.

I started writing code in 2018, in a town in the interior of Ceará that most Brazilians don’t even know exists. With no coworking spaces or references nearby, when a system broke, I fixed it, and if I had no idea what to do, I learned. It’s not a story I tell to sound humble (or the opposite), but it’s the reason I ship the way I do today.

In early 2025 I dropped out of Computer Science at UFC to go all-in on a product. First month after that: $17k in revenue and I helped close a $300k round for Signalyze AI, where I’m now Founding Engineer. I don’t see myself as a dev who happens to care about the business side—I’m someone who uses code to do what needs to be done.

“I care about revenue as much as I care about code quality. Most engineers I know don’t see these as separate problems.”
02 — Capabilities

Three things I do that most engineers don’t.

i.

I take products from zero to revenue.

Empty Figma to live Kubernetes. Architecture decisions, frontend, backend, infra, deploy, iteration. No handoffs, no “that’s not my job” — because when I started, there was no one else to hand off to.

ii.

I run distributed systems without hiding behind them.

Kafka, RabbitMQ, Kubernetes, Terraform, Redis, PostgreSQL at scale. Not résumé stuffing — I reach for these tools when the product earns them, and I stay out of them when it doesn’t.

iii.

I ship at the speed founders actually need.

I’ve shipped checkout platforms, marketplaces, SaaS tools, and internal systems for teams that couldn’t afford to wait six months for a roadmap.

03 — Work

A few things I’ve built.

Signalyze AI

Founding Engineer · 2026–present

Built the core product from zero. Architected the stack end-to-end, shipped the MVP that helped raise $300k, and generated $17k in revenue in the first month post-launch.

Next.js · Node.js · Kafka · RabbitMQ · PostgreSQL · Kubernetes

myTickets

Lead Developer · 2024–2026

AI-powered ticket marketplace. Led the microservices transition, built the discovery agent, checkout flow, wallet system, and location-based filtering from the ground up.

Next.js · React Query · Prisma · MongoDB · Framer Motion · Shadcn/ui

PetWalk

Full Stack Developer · 2023

A platform connecting pet owners with local service providers. Worked alongside a team of developers shipping features across the full stack, from scheduling flows to provider management.

Next.js · Firebase · TypeScript · React

Jak’s Barbearia

Solo Build · 2023

Full check-in/checkout, scheduling, inventory, and sales analytics for a local barbershop. Delivered as a desktop-ready web app on Electron. One of the first things I ever shipped for a paying client.

Next.js · Firebase · ElectronJS

04 — Stack

The tools I reach for.

DAILY DRIVERS

TypeScript

Next.js

Node.js

FRONTEND

React

Next.js App Router

Tailwind CSS

Framer Motion

Shadcn/ui

React Query

BACKEND & INFRA

Node.js

PostgreSQL

MongoDB

Firebase

Prisma

Redis

Kafka

RabbitMQ

Kubernetes

Terraform

Stripe

I pick tools based on what the product needs. (Not what’s trending on Twitter)

05 — Principles

Four things I’ve learned from shipping.

i

Revenue is the only real feature.

Everything else is a path to it. When you’re 200 kilometers from the nearest senior dev, you learn this fast.

ii

Ship fast, but ship something you’d sign your name to.

Speed and craft aren’t opposites. Bad engineers make them feel that way because they can’t do both.

iii

Own the whole thing.

The engineers I admire can open any file in the codebase and tell you exactly why it’s there. That’s not seniority — that’s posture.

iv

Business context changes how you write code.

A backend call on the checkout page is not the same as a backend call on the admin panel. Knowing the difference is what separates engineers from builders.

06 — Testimonials
“Kaio is the rare engineer who argues with you about product before he argues with you about code. Three weeks in, he was shipping things we hadn’t even scoped yet.”

— [Co-founder Name], Co-founder, Signalyze AI

07 — Fit

I’m probably a good fit if you’re —

A founder who needs a first engineer.

You need someone who can own the stack, talk to you about market fit, and ship before the seed round runs out. That’s the shape of the problem I like best.

A seed-to-Series-A startup hiring a lead.

You’ve outgrown “just build it.” You need someone who owns architecture decisions, mentors a team, and still writes code daily. I’ve been that person for the last two years.

A team tired of engineers who only code.

If you’ve paid for beautiful features nobody asked for, we should talk. I’d rather ship a boring thing that makes money than a clever thing that doesn’t.

08 — Contact

Let’s build something that makes money.

I take on a limited number of projects and full-time conversations each quarter. If you’re serious, so am I.

Based in Quixeramobim and Fortaleza, Brazil. Working with teams in the US, EU, and LATAM.