A koru is a new fern frond, coiled tight just before it opens. It’s the Māori symbol for new growth and for beginning again, illustrating how a new element grows out of the old rather than replacing it.
That’s about right for where software is at the moment.
I’m Dominic O’Toole. I’ve been building software since 1996 — as a developer, an engineering manager, a CTO and a founder. Koru Software has been my own company since 2017.
The last two years have changed how I work more than the twenty before them. I’ve rebuilt my own delivery process around AI tooling, in my own companies, on my own money, and I’ve watched what breaks. That’s what I help clients with.
I’m also Co-Founder and CPO at 3Be, where we build Wizard, a governance and compliance platform. So I spend half my week as the customer for exactly the kind of engineering Koru provides — which keeps the advice honest.
Based in Ireland. Working with teams anywhere.
This site was built the way we build client software: specification first, AI-generated implementation, test coverage, continuous deployment. How it was built, including what the AI got wrong.
2022–present
Shaped the Wizard governance and compliance platform from concept to production. Work at the intersection of product thinking and engineering execution — turning complex regulatory requirements into software teams actually use day to day.
2021–2024
Four years with the Fidelity Center for Applied Technology, identifying and tracking emerging technology trends and the disruptive startups behind them, and assessing what could be brought to scale. A front-row seat to the AI wave as it arrived.
2019–2020
Built a cloud-based content generation platform from MVP to a customer-ready system, taking the company to revenue from a growing client base. Sourced and ran a remote development team on a weekly release cadence.
2015–2018
Ran a team of eight across the full agile lifecycle: sensor data collection and visualisation, shellfish safety reporting for Irish coastal waters, fish and shellfish tracking, plus business continuity and disaster recovery planning.
2002–2015
Worked all roles within the development organisation, from developer to technical lead to client facing software architect. Built applications ranging from systems processing and storing gigabytes of raw data per hour to security systems managing and securing 100K+ endpoints. Many in a follow the sun environment, with colleagues across as many as 30+ sites. I worked with many blue chip companies from around the world delivering quality software. I often worked in the security domain, both with IBM’s own internal processes and the applications we delivered to customers, gaining vast experience in the challenges involved in keeping enterprises and software secure.
2019
Managing maintenance operations in multi-machine configurations. Filed with IBM in 2018, granted in 2019, with two co-inventors. Scheduling maintenance across interrelated machines inside a fixed window: the work is grouped, the time left is tracked, and a group that will not fit is deferred rather than started and abandoned.
Thirty minutes, no pitch deck. Tell me what you’re building or what’s stuck, and I’ll tell you what I’d do.
Ireland. Remote-first.
