Technical leadership
Setting direction for architecture and engineering, and making the trade-offs a business can live with.
- Architecture
- Tech strategy
- Build vs buy
- Code quality
- Technical due diligence
Tommie Lagerroos
CTO and technical founder. I build products, the teams behind them and the companies around them.
- NowCTO at Aourly, Stockholm (opens in a new tab)
- BeforeCo-founder and CTO, techlove dev (opens in a new tab)
- FounderRunning my own companies since 2015
- MemberYoung Entrepreneurs of Sweden (opens in a new tab)
Competences
Eleven years of shipping software for clients and for my own companies, on my own and with the teams I've led. Technology is the tool. The job is making it work for the business.
Product ownership
Owning the product as much as the platform. From discovery and scope to roadmap and release.
- Discovery
- Roadmaps
- Prioritisation
- MVPs
- Stakeholder alignment
People and teams
Hiring, onboarding and growing developers, designers and project managers. Building teams that own their work.
- Recruitment
- 1:1s and feedback
- Team structure
- Agile delivery
- Culture
Infrastructure and operations
Production platforms in Terraform on AWS, a self-hosted CI fleet and deploys nobody has to fear.
- DevOps
- CI/CD
- Containers
- Observability
- Incident handling
Security
Security as a default, not a phase. Especially in fintech, insurtech and anything touching personal data.
- Secure by design
- Access control
- GDPR
- BankID and strong auth
- Audits
Scale and cost
Systems that grow with the business, and a cloud bill that doesn't grow faster. I measure before I cut.
- Performance
- Scalability
- Cloud cost control
- Capacity planning
- Vendor choice
Company building
I've founded companies, built a team from zero and sold businesses. I've negotiated the contracts, sold the projects, run the payroll and done the books, so I know what technology costs and what it has to earn.
- Founding
- Scaling teams
- Negotiation
- Sales and pre-sales
- Contracts
- Budgets and P&L
- ERP and finance
- Divestment
Applied AI
From APIs and MCP servers to fine-tuned models. I'm most interested in how teams work safely when agents make real decisions.
- LLM integration
- RAG
- Agentic workflows
- MCP
- Evals
- Fine-tuning
- AI governance
Toolbox
From boardroom to bare metal. I choose the stack for the problem, not the other way around. The language is rarely the interesting part.
Leadership
- Tech strategy
- Org design
- Hiring
- Onboarding
- Coaching
- Performance reviews
- Change management
- Stakeholder management
Product
- Product ownership
- Discovery
- MVPs
- Roadmaps
- Prioritisation
- UX
- Analytics
- Go-to-market
Business
- Negotiation
- Sales and pre-sales
- Contracts
- Pricing models
- Budgeting
- P&L
- Vendor management
- Board work
Backend
- Laravel
- PHP
- Node.js
- Python
- REST
- OpenAPI
- PostgreSQL
- MySQL
- Redis
- Typesense
Frontend
- TypeScript
- React
- Next.js
- Vue
- Inertia
- Tailwind
- Vite
Mobile
- React Native
- Expo
- EAS
- Swift
- iOS widgets
- Live Activities
- App Store
- Google Play
Cloud and infra
- AWS
- GCP
- Azure
- Terraform
- Docker
- ECS
- GitHub Actions
- Self-hosted CI
- Observability
Security
- BankID
- OAuth 2
- OpenID Connect
- JWT
- WAF
- KMS
- GDPR
- EU data residency
- Security audits
AI
- LLM integration
- RAG
- Agentic workflows
- MCP
- Evals
- Guardrails
- Fine-tuning
- Claude
- OpenAI
- Amazon Bedrock
Architecture and practices
- TDD
- DDD
- Clean architecture
- Event-driven architecture
- Modular monolith
- API-first
- Infrastructure as code
- Continuous delivery
Experience
The roles I've held and the companies I've started since 2015. Some I sold, and every one taught me something. Open a row for the details.
AourlyCTO, 2026–
Aourly handles the admin for consultants who run their own company: time tracking, invoicing, expenses, salary and bookkeeping in one flow. I own the technology and much of the product.
- A team of three building the startup
- Laravel API and Filament back office, Expo app for iOS, Android and web
- A dozen in-house integration packages: BankID, Skatteverket, Fortnox, Visma Spiris, Bokio, open banking, e-signing and Peppol
- AWS platform in Terraform, with WAF, encryption and keyless deploys from CI
- Self-hosted CI fleet on Hetzner, Scaleway bare metal and macOS VMs, sized on the basis of cost reviews
- Engineering with parallel AI agents working under written rules, with tests first and a security and correctness review on every PR
- EU-hosted AI features and an MCP server so the product works inside Claude, ChatGPT and Copilot
techlove devCo-founder and CTOBuilt from zero, 2021–2026
Built the product delivery arm of the techlove group from scratch into a team of developers, designers and project managers, shipping complete products, apps and APIs for startups and enterprises. First as DevOps tech lead, then as CTO.
- Line manager for 10 developers, designers and project managers
- Fintech, proptech, insurtech, booking, animal health and music
- Clients from solo artists to enterprises
- Responsible for pre-sales, estimates and delivery
Tommie Lagerroos ABFounder, consultantMy first company, 2015–
My own consultancy since 2015. Developer, tech lead and CTO for clients, and for periods an agency with my own employees.
- Clients include iQuest and Nordomatic
- Websites, e-commerce and custom systems for smaller businesses
Earlier venturesFounder and co-founder, 2016–2024
Companies I started alongside the consultancy.
- Altitude Events: ski trips for students to the Nordic mountains, co-founded with three friends. When Covid stopped Swedish insurers from issuing travel guarantees, we secured one through a Danish company.
- Glasspojkarna: party and event equipment rental in Stockholm. I built the booking and the stock and packing systems behind it.
- alltiallo: a mobile app for ordering from local shops with home delivery, where I was managing director.
Leadership
What the people I work with can count on.
Clear goals, no guesswork
Everyone knows the goal, what good looks like and who owns what. Most friction in a team starts where one of those is missing.
Raise the hard things early
I look for whatever is bothering the team before it starts to cost us. A five-minute conversation today saves a five-week problem later.
Close to the work, sleeves rolled up
Remote or in the same room, I stay close to the work. I roll up my sleeves and take on the hard problems with the team rather than managing from a distance, and I still love a good whiteboard session.
In their words
From some of the people I've worked with.
He is comfortable working at a strategic level, but is equally willing to roll up his sleeves and get things done. … On a personal level, Tommie is straightforward and an excellent communicator.
Read the full reference
I am providing this reference based on my experience as Chair of the Board of Techlove and Techlove Dev between 2021 and 2024, during which Tommie was involved in the board's work for most of that period.
My impression of Tommie is that he is highly ambitious, solution-oriented, responsible and curious. These qualities enable him to quickly embrace new approaches and technologies and put them into practice, both within his own organisation and in his work with clients. He is comfortable working at a strategic level, but is equally willing to roll up his sleeves and get things done.
On a personal level, Tommie is straightforward and an excellent communicator. His outgoing nature is a real asset. He is well-liked by both colleagues and clients, not least because he always brings warmth, positivity and a good sense of humour to his interactions.
Anita RollBoardroom pro. Chaired the board Tommie worked with, 2021–2024He combines deep technical knowledge with strategic thinking and a remarkable ability to turn ideas into action. … As a leader, Tommie is clear, confident and genuinely warm.
Read the full reference
What impresses me most about Tommie is the extraordinary breadth and depth of his expertise. He combines deep technical knowledge with strategic thinking and a remarkable ability to turn ideas into action.
As a leader, Tommie is clear, confident and genuinely warm. He brings energy, determination and a strong sense of purpose to everything he does, inspiring the people around him while making sure things actually get done.
Tommie doesn't just see opportunities – he makes them happen.
Jennie Hagman (opens in a new tab)Product owner. Colleague in the techlove management teamEvents & talks
I like a full room. Hosting, speaking and getting people together.
“Recruiting from the UK took us nine long months, and we would rather hire at home. What concrete proposals would help companies like ours keep growing?”
Stills: TV4, Duellen 2022. Asking the question, and Ulf Kristersson answering it.
- Community
I organise Laravel Meetup Stockholm (opens in a new tab) and helped found the Swedish Laravel Association (opens in a new tab), where I sit on the board.
- On stage
I host, give talks and represent the community, most recently at Laravel Live Denmark (opens in a new tab) in Copenhagen.
- Bigger rooms
I've put a question to the candidates for prime minister live on TV4, and organised Sweden's first LAN party at Stockholmsmässan.
Contact
Let's talk.The best ideas start over a fika. I'll bring the cinnamon buns.