I've always been a builder. As a kid I built planes, rockets and catapults.
The spark
At C4DI, Hull's tech community, I was working with so many entrepreneurs and startups, and engineers building really interesting things. I made a Pixel robot and did the NASA hackathon, and that really sparked my love for startups and software engineering.
Startups
I ran a health tech company and co-founded Sumrise. That's where I really developed my startup process and skills.
A turning point
Being diagnosed autistic was a huge change in my life. It gave me real perspective on how I want to apply my strengths, and how I want to build.
If my dyslexic ADHD brain gives me creativity, my autistic brain gives me rigour and depth.
Engineering focus
That, and building Sumrise's first prototype myself, moved me into engineering. I retrained over several years: Codecademy, my own projects, and building lots of things.
Now
I run a software engineering and product consultancy. I help people get their ideas off the ground, and work with small teams on tools shaped around the way they work.
A great product delights the people who use it, does something important for you, and fits your budget, your business and your constraints.
Many lenses
Engineering is always at the heart of what I do. Equally important, I think about what I build, and work with you, through different lenses.
What your business needs, how it delights the people who use it, how it fits your product, your users, accessibility, the right time to scale, and when to pare it down to the smallest thing.
Startup thinking
Founding startups teaches you to keep things lean. Y Combinator's Startup School taught me to ship the smallest thing, to find out what's actually most important. Overbuilding early adds cost and makes it really difficult to get good data. Cambridge Judge Business School refined my thinking about business. How I break a build into slices
Honesty
I care about honesty. I tell you what I can and can't build.
Have a need and a shape for it, but don't quite know how to pull it together
Are early, and ready to take that big step
Think lean and entrepreneurial
Value depth and rigour, and care who you work with
Want an engineer with a broad range, who can contribute to the whole thing
Want to build something really cool together
I'm probably not the right fit if you
Want the cheapest build possible, or too muchI don't want to overpromise and underdeliver. I'd rather quote and spec minimally, take a careful approach and build more than I said, than the other way around.
Are very set on what and how, and don't want an engineer and partner shaping the buildIt can lead to painful decisions or a poor product, and I don't want to build something you'll regret.
Don't care about quality
How I communicate
I'm direct, and I appreciate it when you're direct with me too. I'm not always great at reading between the lines.
If you have your own ways of communicating or working, let me know. I'll fit how we work to you and your process.
Dileepa is an exceptional thinker in terms of product development. In my time working with him he demonstrated a superior grasp of developing an idea into an MVP.
Bob SpenceFractional Sales Director, Get Spence Ltd
Dileepa is extremely conscientious, a considered strategist and a deep thinker. No detail is too much and no stone left unturned when he is on a mission.
Elliot RichBusiness Coach and Adviser, The Alternative Board
Dileepa was great to work for. He took the time to understand me on a personal level …
Steve BormanPrincipal .NET Developer, 6B
Due to his capability with the work involved and also his problem solving mind-set, you always knew the job would get done successfully.
Joshua Kitson-SmithPrincipal Project Manager, Kent
He is excellent at motivating and recruiting deep knowledge around him to make informed strategic decisions …
Anne Marieke EzendamCo-founder and CEO, SigniGene
… always professional, articulate and genuinely passionate about the projects we work on.
She's a little trooper: we adopted her, and she's survived cancer twice.
A proud dad.I like photography.MoreLess
This is an elephant I photographed in Sri Lanka.
That's me, on a tripod and timer.MoreLess
In one of my favourite woodlands, with one of my first cameras: a point-and-shoot I got for my birthday. The lens was scratched, so I polished it with toothpaste first.
Some more photography.
Other things I love
Guitar
Skiing
Coffee nerd
Audiophile
Things I make
I build things outside code, too.
When I got arthritis in my hip, I built my own floor desk.MoreLess
Alice Hargreaves, CEO of SIC
Dr Antonio Malfense Fierro, lecturer in business
