WeR1.
Crisis to full rebuild in four months, as the last full-time developer standing.
Solo rebuild in 4 months
Event-sourced backend, full infrastructure, and product - built as the only full-time developer.
Kept through layoffs
When the company restructured, I was the one developer they kept on full-time.
Mission won't die
The company ran out of runway. The mission still lives: open-source, or a community that can take it forward.
The first rebuild
I joined WeR1 to rebuild their DJ upload platform in Next.js, GraphQL, and AWS. The existing app was unstable - creators relied on it daily, but the codebase made even small changes risky.
I shipped the full rebuild in 7 weeks instead of the planned 12, then designed and built a web player in 3 weeks. That delivery earned trust - I was asked to take on engineering management, run standups, and guide technical direction.
Layoffs and restructuring
Startups go through hard seasons. WeR1 went through layoffs, and when the dust settled I was the only full-time developer left. Gabriel stayed on as a freelance dev, keeping the existing app live while I focused on what came next.
The company needed more than patches. It needed a fundamentally different architecture - one that could support the product vision without a large team to maintain it.
The solo rebuild
Over 4 months, I rebuilt everything from the ground up. Event-sourced backend, full infrastructure, new product surface. The goal was a system that was correct by design - where every state change was traceable and the platform could evolve without accumulating the kind of fragility that had brought down the original.
Gabriel handled the day-to-day of keeping the live app running for creators while I worked heads-down on the new system. That division of labour was critical - creators never lost access while the rebuild progressed.
What comes next
The company wound down because it ran out of runway. The tech was ready, but the business ran out of time.
The mission still lives. WeR1 was built around a belief that all levels of creators, not just the top 1%, deserve to be rewarded for their work. That conviction has not changed.
I am actively trying to keep it alive: open-sourcing the platform, or finding a community that can take it forward. Some things are worth fighting for. This is one of them.