Dan Coughlin, Brand Profile 2020

1. DAN COUGHLIN
PERSONAL BRAND BRIEF
POSITIONING STATEMENT
I guide start-up CTOs through complex platform decisions and build scalable, market-ready mobile
frameworks.
ELEVATOR PITCH
A mobile architect with deep expertise in platform development and over two decades of experience
in banking and mobile payments, I have remained consciously hands-on with technology while evolving
my leadership scope to bridge the gap between executives and engineers.
TARGET
I am most interested in roles where I can advise start-up CTOs on technical direction, partnering with
them to develop a platform strategy and serving as a trusted advisor to ensure commercial and
operational viability from pilot to scale, all within a sound compliance framework.
BRAND VALUES & SIGNATURE STRENGTHS
I have been at the
forefront of mobile
app development
since 2007.
I often joke that there are developers who have been around since the
beginning of the app store, and then there are developers who have coded in
J2ME on Palm Treos and Razrs. I am the latter.
As solution architect and mobile technical director at Monetise, I was the
technical lead for what was then a revolutionary mobile payments technology
platform, scaling it from launch to over 1,000 employees. I developed the
web services architecture, using RESTful/SOAP APIs tethered to a J2EE/
Linux/Oracle backend, enabling deployment to our largest client, FIS—450
million users running 120 uniquely branded iOS and Android applications.
Device/OS-agnostic, I have broad experience in both iOS (Swift/Objective C)
and Android (Java/Android SDL) and develop in React Native, enabling rapid
deployment across both platforms.
In addition to two personal projects deployed to the app store, I spearheaded
front-end mobile development at Canfield Scientific before transitioning to a
start-up focus for The Athlete Training Club, Kony Pivotus, and Agent IQ.
I build scalable
mobile platforms for
start-ups.
I joined Agent IQ after they raised ~$8M in seed funding from Rubicon and a
few other investors. Within the 1st 3 months, I rewrote their existing Cordova
framework app in React Native, added push notifications and biometric
authentication support for TouchID, FaceID, and Finger Scan, and built out
integrations to support Okta, Ping, and other OAuth providers.
Previously, at Pivotus, I developed the React Native front-end on native iOS
and Android extensions for our innovative banker carousel technology that
restored personal interaction to the community banking experience for
mobile customers. I also coded and configured push notifications and played
a key role in automating iOS/Android deployment via Circle CICD and Hockey
App.

2. I distill complex
platform decisions
into actionable
plans for senior
executives
One of the most common issues I see is that start-ups celebrate too early.
Non-technical CEOs, however brilliant in business, need the eye and guidance
of someone who can temper enthusiasm with careful planning to ensure a
solution is dynamic, the code is normalized, and that platforms are scalable
and flexible.
My experience has instilled me with an innate, almost intuitive understanding
of how to not only build a platform but ensure that it will scale and retain
integrity against the intense scrutiny of audit review.
As CTO for Response Data, a pioneer in credit card payment transfer
processing, I built the tech that was ultimately acquired by FIS and became a
strategic technical business partner to the executive team, advising on
technical capabilities for a growing portfolio of ATM switch network and
interfaces and building out the strategic technical roadmap for our executive
team as they brought deals forward.
I am a highly
technical leader.
An oddity in the programming world in many ways, I have progressed into
more senior team and project leadership roles; however, I remain deeply
engaged with the technology and nearly always the most technical player in
the room. When my career began to progress into pure management, I took a
deliberate break to retrain as a Swift programmer, then created the
Pedometer app, Lifesteps, which can still be found on the app store.
My technical chops enable me to find and hire the right engineers, quickly
identify issues to accelerate time to market, and solve busines problems with
right-fit technology. In addition to hands-on experience, I have gained world-
class technical training at Big Nerd Ranch and Apple’s WWDC.
I am a valued
technical resource
for client-facing
teams.
Frequently called on by executives and other dealmakers as technical
muscle, both at the negotiating table and after the sale, I connect,
communicate, and engage business teams to convey highly technical
concepts into accessible language.
By distilling platform and engineering issues into relevant business insights, I
steward implementation, due diligence, and other critical conversations to a
place that works for both parties, keeping everyone on the same page and
working on a timeline and roll out plan that is realistic and within scope.
I have deep
expertise building
mobile platforms for
disruptive consumer
payments
technology.
At Metavente, I designed a Delphi/SQL server/Wintel credit card balance
transfer system that scaled to process over 2 million transfers annually—$4B
in consumer payments. The technology was ultimately sold to Fidelity
Information Systems and merged with Monetise.
Previously at Kony / Pivotus and now at Agent IQ, we are disrupting the
community banking industry with smart technology that enables bidirectional
communication between banks and their customers.
I believe that Agile
is a mindset before
a methodology and
have been
practicing it for over
2 decades.
I started my career in banking technology while I was still in college,
freelancing for Midland Marine Bank, where we really at the forefront,
writing code at a frenetic pace to replace all their legacy paper-based
systems.
From this foundation, I experienced the evolution and full circle swing to
object-oriented programming and drawn out design specifications, then
back to Agile.
For the past 10 years, I have managed multisite Scrum teams virtually,
championed CI/CD through use of open source tools including Github and
Circle CI/CD, and positioned platform companies for competitive advantage
through leading edge mobile technology.