Consulting
I'm Justin Kruger. Twenty years building software at every layer of the stack — embedded systems, full-stack applications, n-tier architectures, microservices APIs, pixel-perfect frontends, and open standards — from two-person startups to enterprises managing $10 trillion in assets. San Francisco.
I've been the technical layer that VPs, CTOs, and investors rely on since the mid-2000s. Whatever your team is building, I've shipped something like it — and I've debugged something worse.
I consult for funded companies, investors, and enterprise engineering teams on technical strategy, architecture, due diligence, and AI-accelerated development. I keep my client list short so I can stay deep in the work.
What I Do
Technical Due Diligence Independent technical assessment before you commit capital — acquisition, investment, or partnership. I evaluate architecture, team capability, technical debt, and scalability risk. I know what good looks like because I've built it at every scale, and I know what's being hidden because I've inherited those systems too.
Fractional CTO Senior technical leadership, 10-30 hours per week, without a full-time executive hire. Architecture direction, engineering standards, hiring process design, delivery systems. Everything I install is built to survive after I leave.
Architecture & Scalability Your system is accumulating debt faster than your team can pay it down. I do design reviews, refactors, and scalability planning — including the hard conversation about what to rewrite, what to leave alone, and what order to do it in.
Technical Validation You have funding but no CTO. I'll build a pitch-ready prototype, pressure-test your technical assumptions, and deliver the architecture plan your first engineering hire needs on day one. Not production code — a working demo and a real blueprint.
AI-Accelerated Engineering I don't vibe code. I build systems that build systems.
Most engineers use AI as a search engine or let it generate code they can't evaluate. I architect layered toolchains where each layer produces the next — harness engineering: the scaffolding, workflows, and feedback loops that make AI reliable in production. My internal toolkit Protostar was built by a machine that was built by a machine that I built.
AI can write code fast, but it does so without context or experience. Twenty years of shipping gives me both — I know what works, what doesn't, and where the bugs will happen before they do.
How I Work
- Retainers — weekly or monthly, for ongoing technical leadership
- Sprint engagements — 2-6 week high-intensity blocks to clear a critical path
- Assessments — scoped evaluations: due diligence, architecture review, technical audit
Selected Work
Advent Platforms — FinTech, $10T AUM. Principal Software Consultant. Architecture, technical leadership, debugging complex systems at enterprise scale.
BioKey — Medical devices. Re-engineered a smart bandage microcontroller from 2-day battery life to 180 days. 90x improvement.
Discovery+ — Discovery Channel's streaming platform. Built the web application and content management system.
Addvocate — First employee. Helped raise $2.2M seed round. Full-stack development.
Kabam — Mobile gaming. Shipped a social game running 60fps+ in JavaScript on iPhone and Android.
Telly / Twitvid — Social video (pre-TikTok era). Tech lead. Built the video playback framework.
MySpace — API & Developer Relations. Built APIs for n-tier architecture. Developed Open Standards.
Unity Technologies — Sole maintainer of the Unity website and web store.
Cooper Power Systems — Firmware for high-voltage electrical equipment deployed on utility poles.
Equity & Advisory
I charge for my time. If there's an equity or advisory component, I'm open to discussing it — but I don't work for equity alone.
Something Else?
I don't sell ad placements or guaranteed coverage on the Astro Atomica YouTube channel. I'm open to collaborations, events, and sponsored content that aligns with our editorial voice.
All sponsored content complies with our Ethics Policy and is always in our voice.
Get in touch: hello@astroatomica.com
