Harley Ferguson

CEO

Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa8 yrs 4 mos experience
Most Likely To SwitchHighly Stable

Key Highlights

  • Tech lead and founder with proven success.
  • Built platforms used by millions.
  • Expert in fast execution and product thinking.
Stackforce AI infers this person is a SaaS and Fintech expert with strong leadership and software development skills.

Contact

Skills

Core Skills

LeadershipSoftware DevelopmentBusiness Strategy

Other Skills

Azure App ServicesAzure Function AppsBusiness DevelopmentCQRSClient RelationsEvent SourcingFirebaseFlutterIonic 3ReactReact NativeTeam Management

About

In 2016, I got fired from my first dev job. By 2021, I became a tech lead, founder, and built platforms used by millions. I didn’t start my career as a “natural.” I struggled to code fast enough. I didn’t understand how to work with clients. Most people told me I wasn’t cut out for this. They were wrong. Instead, I built a new system, mindset, and skillset - based on how top developers and product teams actually succeed in the real world. Fast forward: → Led dozens of product teams to successful delivery → Architected and built software now used by millions of users → Advised and backed multiple startups through multiple raises → Built Origen - a product development partner for founders who need to launch fast, ship clean, and scale confidently Today, I help startups go from idea to traction by combining deep technical experience with fast execution and clear product thinking. If you're a founder trying to build something real, and you're tired of slow dev cycles and broken promises, follow along. I share what works, what doesn't, and how to build smarter.

Experience

Startup club za

Advisor & Partner

May 2023Present · 2 yrs 10 mos · Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa · Hybrid

  • I am very proud to be an advisor and committee member for the Startup Club ZA. As a startup fanatic and enthusiast, this club is something truly special and something that South Africa has needed.
  • The club is the country's fastest growing tech startup community, fostering connection and opportunity between founders, investors, operators and enables.
  • My role is to help guide the club forward, ensuring growth and providing constant value to our community and partners. From networking, to panels, to startup showcases and everything in between. The SCZA does it all.
LeadershipBusiness Strategy

Origen software

Co-Founder & CEO

Oct 2021Present · 4 yrs 5 mos · Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa

  • As the Co-Founder and CEO of our Origen Software, I bring a wealth of experience from my time in the startup scene to help clients and partners succeed.
  • At Origen, we partner closely with founders and startups to bring your vision to life through custom-built platforms. With our team of experts, we design, develop, and launch applications that are both fast and scalable, ensuring your product reaches 1000s of users every day.
  • Our cutting-edge technology, including Flutter, React, React Native, and Firebase, gives you the competitive edge you need to succeed. Let's work together to help you secure market share and reach new heights.
LeadershipClient RelationsTeam ManagementBusiness StrategyBusiness DevelopmentSoftware Development

Haefele software

4 roles

Frontend & Mobile Practice Lead

Mar 2021Oct 2021 · 7 mos

  • I'm was one of the Practice Leads at Haefele Software. That does not mean that I am practicing leadership but rather that I am a lead developer of a specific practice (so maybe I am practicing leadership). That practice being Frontend and Mobile development.
  • Did you say React? Someone mention Flutter? Did I hear a React Native in the back? Was that a whisper of Svelte? Have you heard about Vue or Angular? The answer is if it's frontend or mobile related, you'll see me in the front row.
  • My role is an interesting and challenging one. I need to remain at the top of my game technically, I need to be able to provide high performance to multiple clients, I need to be able to mentor others daily, I need to be able to build proof of concepts in a matter of days, I need to be able to design standards, I need to develop tools and templates for internal use, I need help those around me grow as effectively as possible, I need to be able to document and share my knowledge and at some point I need to help host a podcast.
LeadershipBusiness StrategySoftware Development

Senior Software Developer

Promoted

Jul 2020Mar 2021 · 8 mos

  • Despite the massive shift to remote work in 2020, I persevered and moved into a senior software developer position.
  • My wide variety of experience with various frontend frameworks coupled with my ability to very rapidly gain a deep understanding of each framework has allowed me to make a real impact on the projects that I'm on. More recently, my focus has moved into sharing as much of this knowledge as possible so that other developers aren't tasked with paying the same school fees I've had to pay.
  • My time has adjusted to being spread across more projects so that I can maximise my impact. Working on multiple projects can be tough but it allows me to be more involved with teams, continuously mentor other developers and ensure the highest quality of code throughout our company.
Software Development

Intermediate Software Developer

Promoted

Nov 2018Jul 2020 · 1 yr 8 mos

  • As I moved into an intermediate position, I moved into a new project - Axsess Today. Axsess Today is an Australian based FinTech company with development teams all over the world. I moved onto a team which taught me a lot about the agile process and being a cog in the machine. This project introduced me to CQRS, event sourcing and domain driven design.
  • I have further worked on multiple projects in 2019 ranging from a logistics solution for Hellmann, a location based messaging application for an internal project, a portal to optomize certain business operations of Spur Corporation as well as a large middleware project to help consolidate data.
  • My skills have extended to Azure App Services, Azure Function Apps, Azure Service Bus, Azure Storage, Azure Search services as well as many other Azure features.
  • On top of that, I've taken it upon my self to run workshops and sessions with other developers where I explain more complex frontend (React, Flutter etc) paradigms so that they can write better code on their projects. Doing this has benefitted other developers and their teams but has also allowed me to gain a deep understanding for a large variety of frontend technologies.
  • My frontend knowledge coupled with my ability to write C# backend code (in MVC, CQRS etc) and make use of cloud platforms like Azure truly makes me full stack and allows me to understand a solution from the ground up.
Software Development

Junior Software Developer

Oct 2017Oct 2018 · 1 yr

  • I joined Haefele Software as Junior Software Developer in October of 2017. My project was OnSiteIMS which is a digital solution to the issues that face modern construction. OnSiteIMS allows for all of the parties involved in the construction of a building to communicate and share information effectively and categorically. I've fully redesigned and developed the new OnSiteIMS mobile application using the Ionic 3 framework.
  • My desire to learn as lead me to grow my skills in other departments and has given me the opportunity to be the business analyst, quality analyst and scrum master for the project.
Software Development

Full facing (pty) ltd

Software Developer

Aug 2016Aug 2017 · 1 yr · Durbanville, Cape Town

  • I joined Full Facing as an intern for 8 months where I had to do some light backend work on a project called iFings which worked with a variety of sensors to provide information to clients such as temperature, humidity etc.
  • After my internship, I became a full-time developer where I worked on the larger projects such as GateKeeper Ticketing and Lessondesk. I was one of the main backend developers on these projects which came with a lot of responsibility.
  • I also developed a course to help train new interns. This course involved me managing and training the interns to help speedup their training and prepare them for what development is actually like.
  • I worked with Scala, RabbitMQ, MongoDB and the Google Cloud Platform.
Software Development

Education

CTI Education Group

Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) — Information Technology

Jan 2016Jan 2018

CTI Education Group

Higher Certificate — Software Development

Jan 2015Jan 2015

Edgemead High School

Matric Certificate

Jan 2010Jan 2014

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