# Teddy Kihiu

> Product-minded software engineer, technical leader, and co-founder of Inflection Studio. This is Teddy's personal portfolio, with project case studies, engineering writing, and contact information for consulting engagements and new roles.

Teddy works with founders and teams on product direction, architecture, backend engineering, cloud, project leadership, and client management. The project pages describe his specific role and contributions; they should not be read as claims that he built every part of a product alone.

## Key pages

- [Home](https://tngeene.com/): Introduction and selected work.
- [About Teddy](https://tngeene.com/about/): Background, product perspective, and engineering experience.
- [Work](https://tngeene.com/work/): Published project case studies and contributions.
- [Writing](https://tngeene.com/notes/): Articles on software engineering, systems, and technical leadership.
- [Contact](https://tngeene.com/contact/): Consulting, engineering roles, technical leadership, and collaborations. Email: ngeene@inflectionstudio.io.

## Project case studies

- [Neal Street Technologies](https://tngeene.com/work/neal-street-technologies/): Backend engineering for a platform powering multiple branded coffee apps.
- [Click Tenders Africa](https://tngeene.com/work/click-tenders-africa/): Helping businesses discover construction tenders and access the documents they need.
- [PAYO Group Realtors](https://tngeene.com/work/payo-group-realtors/): Connecting property seekers, agents, and service professionals in one marketplace.
- [Sands of the East](https://tngeene.com/work/sands-of-the-east/): Bringing curated stays, destinations, and travel experiences into one digital offering.
- [Grays Stays](https://tngeene.com/work/grays-stays/): Helping travellers explore stays, experiences, and the services around their trip.
- [Tophic Properties](https://tngeene.com/work/tophic-properties/): Connecting stays and experiences with a broader property services business.
- [Eleven Motors](https://tngeene.com/work/eleven-motors/): Helping vehicle buyers explore stock and take the next step towards an enquiry.
- [Teya](https://tngeene.com/work/teya/): Acquiring and settlement systems for merchant payments.
- [Yoyo](https://tngeene.com/work/yoyo/): Making loyalty rewards easier for customers and merchants.
- [Kai & Karo](https://tngeene.com/work/kai-and-karo/): Helping a dealership bring vehicle sales and marketplace listings online.
- [Mr. Green Africa](https://tngeene.com/work/mr-green-africa/): Connecting plastic recycling with rewards people could use locally.
- [Mayfair Capital](https://tngeene.com/work/mayfair-capital/): Bringing fragmented portfolio data into a consolidated view.
- [Inflection Studio](https://tngeene.com/work/inflection-studio/): Co-founding an engineering studio that connects product direction with architecture and delivery.

## Writing

- [The Tools That Survived Three Rewrites.](https://tngeene.com/notes/the-tools-that-survived-three-rewrites/): Tooling; 2024-08-15.
- [Writing Code You Can Delete.](https://tngeene.com/notes/writing-code-you-can-delete/): Engineering; 2024-08-01.
- [The Studio Model vs. the Agency Model.](https://tngeene.com/notes/the-studio-model-vs-the-agency-model/): Culture; 2024-07-15.
- [Why Payments Teams Move Slow, on Purpose.](https://tngeene.com/notes/why-payments-teams-move-slow-on-purpose/): Fintech; 2024-07-01.
- [Reconciliation Is the Real Product.](https://tngeene.com/notes/reconciliation-is-the-real-product/): Fintech; 2024-06-15.
- [The Cost of a Slow Decision.](https://tngeene.com/notes/the-cost-of-a-slow-decision/): Leadership; 2024-06-01.
- [Hiring for Judgment, Not Résumés.](https://tngeene.com/notes/hiring-for-judgment-not-resumes/): Leadership; 2024-05-15.
- [Systems at Scale, Part 3: Conway's Law Is Not a Suggestion.](https://tngeene.com/notes/systems-at-scale-the-org-chart/): System Design; 2024-05-01.
- [Systems at Scale, Part 2: The Data Layer Always Wins.](https://tngeene.com/notes/systems-at-scale-the-data-layer/): System Design; 2024-04-15.
- [Systems at Scale, Part 1: The Boundary Problem.](https://tngeene.com/notes/systems-at-scale-the-boundary-problem/): System Design; 2024-04-01.
- [Distributed Monoliths: A Cautionary Tale of Premature Scaling.](https://tngeene.com/notes/distributed-monoliths/): System Design; 2024-03-01.
- [Why the best Fintech UIs are invisible.](https://tngeene.com/notes/invisible-fintech-uis/): Product; 2024-02-01.
- [The Engineering Cofounder's First 90 Days.](https://tngeene.com/notes/engineering-cofounder-first-90-days/): Leadership; 2024-01-01.

## Optional

- [Life outside work](https://tngeene.com/trail/): Personal interests, routines, and adventures.
- [Lewis and Ted: Same Great Taste, Subtle Differences](https://tngeene.com/press/coke-zero-campaign/): A profile of my twin brother Lewis and me in KamiLimu’s WHOLE magazine, exploring our paths into technology, learning from each other, and mentoring the next generation of software engineers.
- [In conversation on K24’s Friday Live](https://tngeene.com/press/k24-friday-live/): My television interview on K24’s Friday Live with Remmy Majala. Watch the conversation here.
- [Building technology that solves real business problems](https://tngeene.com/press/emobilis-tech-talk/): At eMobilis’s Annual Tech Talk 2025, I spoke about solving real business problems through technology, and why planning, communication, visibility, and continuous learning matter alongside code.

## Machine-readable resources

- [Sitemap](https://tngeene.com/sitemap-index.xml): Index of automatically generated sitemaps for public pages.
- [Robots](https://tngeene.com/robots.txt): Crawler access rules and sitemap location.