Adam Tervort
0 to 1
builder
About
I build the first version of things. I turn ambiguous problems into working systems—internal tools, AI workflows, MVPs, and automation. Over 12 years, I've led operations, engineering, support, and HR at a cybersecurity startup. But the through-line has always been building.
Memos
Writing, ideas, and discussion-ready notes
Experience
- -
SVP, Backup @ SpiderOak
US - RemoteSummary:
- Own full P&L for SpiderOak's backup business as general manager, running the complete business operation end-to-end as a self-contained unit.
Responsibilities:
- Lead product roadmap, revenue targets, sales, marketing, support, and software development
- Manage team of 8 contractors spanning engineering, DevOps, customer support, and marketing
- Run the complete business operation end-to-end as a self-contained unit
- General Management
- P&L Ownership
- Product
- -
Vice President, Operations @ SpiderOak
US - RemoteSummary:
- Directed company-wide operations across Engineering, DevOps, IT, HR, Assurance, and Customer Success for 5 departments.
Responsibilities:
- Led hiring revamp post-Series C across 5 departments, cutting time-to-hire by 50% to 45 days and doubling pipeline quality
- Partnered with finance and CEO to secure $13M in Series C funding (2022), aligning ops KPIs with board goals
- Designed and delivered internal leadership training program supporting high-performing teams in a fully remote environment
- Operations
- Leadership
- Strategy
- -
Vice President, Customer Success @ SpiderOak
US - RemoteSummary:
- Built customer success org from scratch, raising customer retention by 25% and growing ARR by 15%.
Responsibilities:
- Served as product owner for CrossClave, shaping roadmap based on direct user insight
- Integrated a new SaaS billing system and backend infrastructure, reducing errors and processing time by 30%
- Represented customer voice in executive discussions and board meetings
- Customer Success
- Product
- Revenue
- -
Customer Success Director @ SpiderOak
US - RemoteSummary:
- Introduced queue system that reduced backlog by 80% and resolution times by 60%.
Responsibilities:
- Deployed AI-driven support chat and ML-powered help center, cutting average customer wait time in half
- Integrated support with marketing and sales for unified GTM motion
- Designed and led training for all CSMs and support agents
- Support Systems
- Process Design
- Training
- -
Support Engineer @ SpiderOak
US - RemoteSummary:
- Delivered high-quality technical support via email and video, managed the billing and account system, and collaborated with marketing to develop technical content and customer onboarding materials.
Responsibilities:
- Technical Support
- Documentation
- -
Operations & Systems Consultant @ Freelance Consultant
US - RemoteSummary:
- Supported 10+ founders across education, solar, insurance, and publishing in optimizing web funnels, automating operations, and building scalable digital systems.
Responsibilities:
- Delivered end-to-end projects including copywriting, workflow automation, and WordPress builds
- Improved lead conversion and reduced manual workload for clients
- Consulting
- Automation
Core Competencies
- General Management
- P&L Ownership
- Product
- Operations
- Leadership
- Strategy
- Customer Success
- Revenue
- Support Systems
- Process Design
- Training
- Technical Support
- Documentation
- Consulting
- Automation
Projects
Production SaaS that audits, scores, and remediates website visibility in AI-powered search engines. Stripe monetization, admin dashboard, CMS-specific remediation guides, and AI citation probing across Perplexity, OpenAI, and Google AI Overviews.
- 6-dimension AI readiness audit engine
- Probes 3 AI search engines for citation presence
- CMS detection for 13 platforms with remediation templates
- Full SaaS: Stripe checkout, admin dashboard, 238 tests
- FastAPI
- Next.js
- Stripe
- Python
AI-powered solar lead qualification for a residential installer. Agent Ray — a Gemini-powered conversational AI — qualifies prospects through natural dialogue, integrates Google Solar API for roof analysis, and hands off AI-generated summaries to the sales team.
- Agentic AI with tool calls for lead qualification
- Google Solar API with per-panel roof analysis
- Meta CAPI integration (8.0/10 match quality)
- 165 tests, Playwright E2E, bilingual support
- Next.js
- Gemini
- Drizzle
- Vercel
Comprehensive administrative platform for local church leadership. Sacrament meeting planning, callings management, ward calendar, drag-and-drop website builder, and AI-powered calling field guides — all with zero-knowledge encryption.
- Zero-knowledge AES-256-GCM encryption for all PII
- AI calling guides with handbook RAG (pgvector)
- Ward website builder with custom domain + auto-SSL
- 681 tests, 11 roles, 21 RLS-protected tables
- Next.js
- Supabase
- Anthropic
- Prisma
SaaS platform for Substack podcasters that automates the entire episode publishing workflow — transcription, AI quote extraction, branded image generation, audiograms with synced subtitles, and guest social media guides.
- 55+ episodes processed in production
- Self-hosted asset generation via Cloudflare Browser Rendering
- Guest-ready social guides with per-platform formatting
- Multi-tenant SaaS with Deepgram + AI pipeline
- SvelteKit
- OpenAI
- Cloudflare
- Prisma
Client website for the 18th & Vine Student Jazz Festival in Kansas City. Built with a multi-agent workflow — orchestrator, researcher, designer, and coding agent collaborating through GitHub Issues.
- Real client delivery for a KC cultural institution
- Multi-agent development workflow (4 AI agents)
- Astro 6 with Netlify deployment
- Content parsed from PDFs and event materials
- Astro
- Tailwind
- Netlify
Free, zero-dependency text cleaning utility that runs entirely in the browser. 25 one-click cleaners, 5 themed skins, keyboard shortcuts, regex find & replace, and offline PWA support. No accounts, no servers.
- 25 cleaners (whitespace, case, unicode, redaction, etc.)
- 5 themed skins with dark/light modes
- 143 TDD tests, 20-level undo/redo
- Offline-capable PWA, zero dependencies
- JavaScript
- HTML
- CSS
Local-first, privacy-focused daily writing app. Distraction-free Milkdown editor with inline markdown, typewriter scrolling, and AI-powered 'What Remains' analysis that extracts themes and insights from your writing.
- Local-first via Chrome File System Access API
- AI 'What Remains' analysis (Claude/OpenAI)
- 5 themes, encryption mode, PWA support
- 103 unit tests + Playwright E2E
- React
- TypeScript
- Anthropic
- Tailwind
Encrypted, local-first writing app with AI editing assistance, track changes, and zero-knowledge architecture. Client-side AES-256-GCM encryption means your words stay yours.
- Zero-knowledge client-side encryption
- AI writing assistant with track changes
- TipTap editor with SvelteKit + Cloudflare D1
- 110 unit tests + Playwright E2E
- SvelteKit
- Cloudflare
- Anthropic
- TypeScript
AI-assisted dictation-to-publication tool. Speak into a mic, get a polished newsletter post. Agentic loop with 9 skills turns voice recordings into platform-specific derivatives for Substack, X, LinkedIn, and Facebook.
- Dictate → transcribe → AI collaborate → publish
- Agentic loop with 9 skills and auto model selection
- Per-newsletter voice profiles and brand matching
- Prompt caching with ~90% cost savings
- FastAPI
- Anthropic
- Deepgram
- Python
Cross-cutting practice in designing, deploying, and orchestrating AI agents. From self-hosted Signal-based agents on dedicated hardware to multi-agent coding workflows and agentic patterns embedded across production applications.
- Self-hosted agent platform (Signal + Anthropic + Tailscale)
- Multi-agent coding workflows with Factory/Claude Code
- Agentic patterns in 6+ production applications
- E2E encrypted agent communication channels
- Anthropic
- OpenAI
- Python
- Docker
Publication platform built for both human readers and AI agents. Long-form essays with editorial typography, one-click discussion launchers for Claude and ChatGPT, clipboard-ready agent context, and optional Proof doc collaboration — content authored to be discussed, not just read.
- AI-native publishing with discussion launchers
- One-click open in Claude, ChatGPT, or any agent
- Full memo + context packaged for agent consumption
- Editorial design independent from portfolio
- Astro
- TypeScript
- Tailwind
Automated job discovery pipeline that fetches listings from 17 source instances, scores them against a resume using AI fit-assessment, and surfaces matches via a private dashboard. An agentic co-worker that hunts for jobs while you sleep.
- 17 source instances (Remotive, Greenhouse, Lever, etc.)
- AI fit-scoring with cost guardrails ($4.65 for 1,100+ listings)
- PII-scrubbed dashboard with status write-back
- 250 tests, pluggable adapter architecture
- Python
- Anthropic
- Netlify
- Tailwind
Open-source Claude Code skill that audits any website or local project for Generative Engine Optimization readiness. Scores AI search visibility across 6 research-backed dimensions.
- 6 weighted audit dimensions
- Works on live URLs and local projects
- Research-grounded (Princeton GEO paper + 4 studies)
- Checks llms.txt, AI crawler access, structured data
- Anthropic
- Python
AI-powered resume and cover letter customization. Generates tailored applications from your base resume with fit assessment, gap analysis, and multiple PDF styles. Built during my own job search.
- Local-first architecture
- AI-powered tailoring without hallucinations
- Multiple PDF export styles
- Fit assessment before applying
- Next.js
- TypeScript
- Tailwind
- OpenAI
Zero-dependency flashcard app for drilling 175 simplified Chinese radicals with spaced repetition and quiz modes. Single HTML file, no build step, no backend.
- 175 radicals with pinyin and stroke counts
- 3-box Leitner spaced repetition system
- Single HTML file, zero dependencies
- Dark mode with OS auto-detection
- HTML
- CSS
- JavaScript
Wellness audio discovery app with AI-powered mood-matching recommendations. 1,600+ tracks across breathwork, binaural beats, and meditation, plus standalone breathing tools and a meditation timer.
- AI mood-to-content recommendations (OpenAI)
- 1,600+ wellness tracks across 3 categories
- iOS native via Capacitor with Apple Health
- 78 Playwright E2E tests
- Next.js
- Supabase
- OpenAI
- Capacitor
RSS feed generator for 500+ webcomics from GoComics, Comics Kingdom, TinyView, and The Far Side. Multi-image support, daily detection, feed health monitoring.
- 500+ comics supported
- Multi-source architecture
- Zero maintenance operation
- OPML bundle creation
- Python
- Flask
- GitHub Actions
Visual decision-making tool for church leaders scheduling multiple congregations in a shared building. Drag-and-drop interface with constraint validation, packaged as a single HTML file.
- Visual scheduling interface
- Single HTML file, no backend
- Real-time constraint validation
- Shareable via URL
- HTML
- CSS
- JavaScript
Personal weight tracking system optimized for speed. Log weight in under 5 seconds from iOS, with data you own on infrastructure you control.
- iOS Shortcut for instant logging
- Self-hosted data ownership
- React dashboard visualization
- Sub-5-second entry time
- FastAPI
- PostgreSQL
- React
- Railway
OpenAI text-to-speech interface with multiple voices and style prompts. Built for my wife to generate natural-sounding audio from text.
- Multiple voice options
- Style prompt customization
- Clean audio output
- Simple interface
- OpenAI
- Python
CLI tool to convert Deseret Bookshelf books to standard EPUB format. Read your purchased books on any device.
- DRM-free conversion
- Standard EPUB output
- Batch processing
- CLI interface
- Python
Over-engineered randomization tool with six visualization engines. For when pulling names from a hat isn't dramatic enough.
- Six randomization engines
- Zero dependencies
- Dark/light mode
- Statistical trial mode
- HTML
- CSS
- JavaScript
Technologies
- Python
- TypeScript
- React
- Next.js
- Svelte
- FastAPI
- PostgreSQL
- OpenAI
- Anthropic
- Tailwind
- Git
- Docker
- Notion
- AWS
- Kubernetes