John Coleman
25 years building companies. 7 bootstrapped ventures. The same pattern repeating: find a broken market, build the solution, ship fast, iterate with users.
From founder to founder
I've been on both sides of the table. I've hired developers who built exactly what I asked for—and watched projects fail because no one questioned whether I was asking for the right thing. I've also been the developer who delivered on spec, only to learn the business case was broken from the start.
That's why 1123Interactive exists. Not to take orders, but to build things that actually work—technically and commercially.
Cobalt Cable
The pattern started early. In 2001, I saw a flawed market: customers paying premium prices for audio/video cables where only 8% of the purchase price went into the actual product. Monster Cable was the main competitor. So I built Cobalt Cable—using professional-grade components from recording studios and video broadcast to create exceptional quality products with lifetime warranties, often compared to consumer products costing 10x as much. We scaled to $5M revenue and 50,000 units before I closed the business in 2008, still profitable. Every lesson from that first venture—supply chain, margins, positioning, the difference between features and value—shapes how I approach software today.
ReApply
Between ventures, I spent three years unemployed. 800 job applications. Almost no interviews. Not because I wasn't qualified, but because my founder experience didn't translate to traditional employment language. That frustration became ReApply—an AI platform that customizes every application, something even expensive career coaches don't do.
Preinspection
The same pattern applies to Preinspection. Watching buyers get scammed on used cars because they couldn't verify what they were buying. Information asymmetry kills deals. So I built a platform that creates parity: independent inspections, video documentation, direct YouTube uploads where nothing can be hidden.
1123 IT
I started my career in IT in 1998, working for scientific companies and a bank where I learned what enterprise IT really means—availability, reliability, administration. At the bank, I saved my employer $50,000 in my first 90 days by streamlining how they purchased and deployed computers across a 500-machine network spanning four states. I saw that nonprofits, small businesses, and healthcare organizations weren't being served by anyone who understood big systems. So I built 1123 IT to bring that expertise to underserved markets. Eventually, offshore providers drove prices down so far that I chose not to participate in the race to the bottom.
DX Labs
DX Labs was built on a premise: nonprofits should use what the consumer internet knows about e-commerce. Customer experience over transactions. Building real relationships between donors and organizations. Applying modern optimization to charitable giving. The projects achieved 600% donation growth. But two things ended it—COVID completely changed charitable giving right when we were supposed to launch, and the business model never quite worked. Optimization without an implementation layer isn't a service you can sell. So I rolled DX Labs into 1123Interactive, expanding our focus to include nonprofits alongside commercial clients.
"The best technical decision is the one that gets you to market fastest with the least risk. Everything else is premature optimization."
I don't build software for its own sake. I build software that validates hypotheses, captures revenue, and creates value. The technology is a means to an end, not the end itself.
Ventures launched
ReApply & FitCheck
2025–PresentAI career intelligence platform. 9 AI engines, 87% margins, built in 6 weeks. FitCheck Chrome extension launched December 2025.
Preinspection
2023–PresentMobile vehicle inspection platform. Android app, cloud video processing, Flask backend.
Cobalt Cable
2001–2008Premium audio/video cables using professional-grade components. Lifetime warranties, often compared to products costing 10x as much.
DX Labs
2018–2021Applying e-commerce optimization principles to nonprofit donations. Customer experience, donor relationships, partnership models over transactions.
1123 IT
2008–2015Enterprise-grade IT services for nonprofits, small businesses, and healthcare. Built on experience from scientific companies and banking.
1123Interactive
2012–PresentTechnical consultancy for founders and nonprofits. MVPs, websites, migrations.
Full-stack builder
I write production code. Not just architecture diagrams or project plans—actual software that ships. From mobile apps to cloud infrastructure, AI integrations to payment systems.
Languages
Frameworks
AI/ML
Infrastructure
Tools
What to expect
Direct communication
No project managers, no account reps, no layers between us. You talk to the person writing the code. Questions get answered immediately, decisions get made on the call.
Business-first thinking
Before I write a line of code, I'll ask about your market, your customers, your unit economics. The technical solution follows from the business case, not the other way around.
Speed over perfection
Shipping beats planning. Learning beats guessing. I optimize for getting something in front of users as fast as possible, then iterating based on what we learn.
No lock-in
Everything I build, you own. Full source code, documentation, deployment guides. If you want to bring development in-house later, I'll help with the transition.
Have something to build?
I work with founders who have a problem worth solving and want to ship fast. Let's talk about what you're trying to create.
[email protected]