DBL Systems

DBL Systems is my software and technology consultancy. I’ve spent more than 20 years building software and businesses, and today I work selectively with companies where I can be useful across product, engineering, AI, and business problems.

The thing that makes this work different from hiring a typical development shop is that I’m an operator. We run hospitality businesses, real estate projects, and a software company. When I take on a technology engagement, I’m not translating requirements. I can walk into the business, understand the actual problem in operational terms, figure out where technology genuinely helps, and usually build the solution myself.

What the work looks like

Custom software, AI integrations, automation, internal tools, APIs, modernizing existing systems, product and technical strategy, prototyping, and embedded technical leadership. Lately a lot of the interesting work involves putting LLMs and agents to work inside real businesses. Not demos, but systems that handle actual operations.

DBL has existed since 2002 and still supports a small number of long-term clients, which is why it has stayed active through everything else I’ve built. Engagements are usually straightforward: project work, retainers, or ongoing consulting. For the right situation I’m open to hybrid and equity structures.

Selected work

Convene: The clearest example of how I work. After a decade of operating Fresh Markets, I built Convene, a full marketplace platform handling applications, bookings, payments, and communication for market organizers. Operator-built software for a problem I lived with daily.

Hospitality operating systems: The properties at Inplace Hospitality run on systems I’ve built and integrated myself: booking and channel management, payments, guest communication, and automation that lets a small team operate several properties well.

SoundFly: Worked with the founder and team of this online music school to re-architect their platform around a SaaS subscription model. A business-model problem solved through engineering, which changed the company’s revenue trajectory.

Viply: Designed and built the backend, API, and admin platform for a mobile app that digitized beach-badge access for New Jersey towns, payments, seasonal surge traffic, and municipal customers included.

If you’re wrestling with a technology or product problem, let’s talk about it.