# Oli Nelson

> Product engineer & founder based in Australia · working remotely worldwide. I’ve founded and shipped my own products end-to-end — discovery, design, full stack, deploy — and I bring that same ownership to great teams. Open to technical-cofounder, product-engineer, and freelance work.

Contact: olivernelson@hey.com
Website: https://olinelson.com

## About

Oli Nelson is a product engineer and founder who ships AI-native products end-to-end —
discovery, design, full-stack build, branding, and deploy. He has founded multiple 0→1
products and brings that same ownership to teams. Before software he was a professional
jazz drummer (Bachelor of Jazz Performance, Sydney Conservatorium of Music; James Morrison
Jazz Scholarship). Currently a Product Engineer at Uscreen and founder of Ricordi and
Maestrocast.

**Open to:** technical-cofounder roles, product-engineer roles, and freelance/contract work.
Available remotely worldwide.

## Selected work

- **Ricordi** — Founder · AI-native (https://ricordi.ai): An AI-native platform for music lessons — record a lesson and “Bartók” turns it into a timestamped practice plan automatically.
- **AI Thumbnail Generator** — Uscreen · 0→1: An end-to-end system that turns any video into high-converting, on-brand thumbnails — automatically.
- **Maestrocast** — Founder · live product (https://maestrocast.com): A real-time video platform built specifically for online music teaching — control student cameras, annotate sheet music live, share handouts, and manage lessons in one place. The product whose lessons led to Ricordi.
- **Safety Agent** — Rapid Global · shipped in 2 weeks: A multi-modal AI agent that watches real-time video feeds to detect on-site hazards and accidents, alerting customers the moment something goes wrong.

## Experience

- **Product Engineer, Uscreen** (2025 — Present): Ship net-new product surfaces end-to-end for a creator video platform — Link in Bio, AI Thumbnails, bookable coaching events (Zoom + Google Calendar), a Starter tier, a rebuilt onboarding flow — and lead the team’s adoption of AI-assisted development.
- **Founder, Maestrocast** (2025 — Present): Founded and built a real-time video platform for online music teaching, from product and brand through to infrastructure.
- **Full Stack Developer, Rapid Global** (2023 — 2025): Delivered AI features to production fast — a multi-modal safety agent, real-time AI chat, and a rebuilt site-compliance system — across a diverse set of services and stacks.
- **Full Stack Developer, Nirovision** (2020 — 2023): Architected a modular integrations platform (MYOB, Employment Hero, and more) and an automated Stripe + Xero billing flow that removed manual work for finance.

## Skills

- **Languages & frameworks:** TypeScript · Node.js · Ruby on Rails · Python · Scala · React · Svelte · Vue · Hotwire
- **AI & product:** OpenAI API · GPT vision · AI agent design · AI-assisted dev workflows · activation analytics · A/B testing
- **Infra & services:** AWS Lambda · Kinesis · SQS · PostgreSQL · Redis · Sidekiq · Stripe · Xero · Mux · WebRTC · Zoom API · Google Calendar API

## Writing

- [Human Programmers - a manifesto](https://olinelson.com/words/human-programmers-a-manifesto.html): In a world of abundance, the answer is curation . When the barriers to entry are lowered, the differentiator is taste . When machines are more capable than…
- [The Gift of Abstraction](https://olinelson.com/words/the-gift-of-abstraction.html): When I began taking drum lessons from David Goodman everything changed for me. I had had wonderful drum teachers previously, but there was something about…
- [How did I get here?](https://olinelson.com/words/how-did-i-get-here.html): From age ten my sole goal in life was to be a professional Jazz drummer. I’m not exaggerating. ‘Jazz Drummer’ was effectively my conjoined twin, forcible…
- [Ruby Procs and Lambdas for the Javascript developer](https://olinelson.com/words/ruby-procs-and-lambdas-for-the-javascript-developer.html): If you're like me and are one of the many "Javascript everywhere" developers joining the Ruby on Rails Renaissance you may be a little confused by Blocks,…
- [Build and host your own link-in-bio page](https://olinelson.com/words/build-and-host-your-own-link-in-bio-page.html): This guide is intended for people who have zero or very little exposure to anything related to coding or web development. By the end of this you'll have your…
- [Yes, You Should Learn How To Code](https://olinelson.com/words/yes-you-should-learn-how-to-code.html): The year 2025 is almost upon us. If you listen to certain parts of the internet you would be forgiven for having the impression that all things programming…
- [We Are All Eyeball Hunters Now](https://olinelson.com/words/we-are-all-eyeball-hunters-now.html): I used to think trying to gain a following on social media was an activity for the vain. The superficial Plebeians who lacked any substantive passions so…

## Links

- [GitHub](https://github.com/olinelson)
- [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/oli-nelson/)
- [X](https://x.com/o_j_nelson)
- [Blog](https://olinelson.com/words.html)
- [Music](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/02iL2Vi9ONfgVKVG5DfGYz?si=bd53fa2abd8d4f5a)
- [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/olinelson__)

## Hire

To work with Oli, email olivernelson@hey.com or see https://olinelson.com/hire.html.
Full text of every article is available at https://olinelson.com/llms-full.txt and https://olinelson.com/feed.xml.