
Builder ID
Kent Salcedo
- Honolulu, HI
- 0→1 Product Engineering
- AI Automation
- Full-Stack Dad
- Available for select consulting / founding engineer work
Not a guru. Just a builder who likes turning ambiguous ideas into useful systems.
Founding Engineer · 0→1 · Hawaiʻi
Founding engineer and builder-first CTO in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi. I help founders and teams turn unclear ideas, AI workflows, and early products into software that actually ships.

Builder ID
Kent Salcedo
Not a guru. Just a builder who likes turning ambiguous ideas into useful systems.

Builder ID
Kent Salcedo
Not a guru. Just a builder who likes turning ambiguous ideas into useful systems.
Build / Ship / Repeat
01
I help turn early ideas into working software without overbuilding the wrong thing.
02
I build practical AI-assisted workflows that save time without turning your company into a science experiment.
03
I can set direction, write code, translate tradeoffs, and keep teams moving when requirements get weird.
Manifesto · The Messy Middle
Most of my work lives here, not in the pitch deck version of the product, but in the part where reality shows up.
01 · Unclear requirements
The idea is real, but nobody agrees on what v1 actually means yet.
02 · Evolving teams
Roles shift, priorities change, and the roadmap gets rewritten mid-sprint.
03 · Real customers
Feedback is valuable, contradictory, and arrives at inconvenient times.
04 · Real constraints
Budget, timeline, compliance, and the one API that never works the way the docs say.
That's not a problem to avoid. It's the job. I build calmly inside it.
Founding Product Engineer · Dec 2026 to Present
Problem
Divers and dive operators plan around ocean conditions every day, but most tools are built for surfers or generic weather, not the decisions divers actually make.
Build
Building LuuLive from zero: the Surfline-style forecasting platform for divers. As sole product engineer, I own the full stack: product definition, data pipelines, maps and UX, and every release. I also drive go-to-market: positioning, outreach, user acquisition, partnerships, and fundraising conversations as we grow the feature set and user base from the ground up.
Stack
Signal
0→1 · sole builder · product + GTM + raise
CTO & Founding Engineer · Aug 2024 to Present
Problem
Small business owners need practical advisory support, not another dashboard full of generic AI outputs.
Build
Built an AI-enabled advisory platform from the ground up as part of Blue Startups Cohort 16. Led product architecture, technical direction, and hands-on development.
Stack
Signal
Blue Startups Cohort 16 · 0→1 platform · CTO + builder
Software Engineer · Early Team · Aug 2020 to Aug 2024
Problem
Field service teams need reliable software that works in production, and early-stage startups need builders who can ship on a small, scrappy team without waiting for perfect specs.
Build
Joined as an early employee during the seed round on a tight engineering team. Helped build the product and company from those early days, shipping across the stack, owning features operators used daily, and growing the platform as the startup scaled. Four years later, that trajectory contributed to a $74M raise.
Stack
Signal
Seed-stage hire · 4 years · $74M raise
Full Stack Engineer · Apr 2016 to Aug 2020
Problem
Companies needed experienced builders who could join fast-moving teams and ship across web and mobile.
Build
Created 14+ feature-rich web applications and 4 native apps. Augmented internal development teams for startups through Fortune 500 companies.
Stack
Signal
14+ web apps · 4 native apps · startup to Fortune 500
Front-end Lead
Problem
Hawaiian language learners needed a reliable dictionary that normalized data from multiple inconsistent sources.
Build
Built a Hawaiian-to-English dictionary incorporating several source dictionaries. Led front-end development and handled complex parsing to normalize heterogeneous data.
Stack
Signal
Data normalization · cultural tech · front-end lead
React Component Engineer
Problem
Enterprise teams needed accessible, cross-browser React components that worked everywhere, including legacy browsers.
Build
Contributed to the Grommet React component library. Built 14 core components with focus on accessibility and cross-browser compatibility including IE/Edge.
Stack
Signal
12 components · enterprise-grade · a11y focus
You need someone who can both set direction and ship code.
Your product is early, messy, or changing fast.
Your AI idea needs to become a real workflow, not a demo.
Your team needs calm technical judgment.
You want pragmatic architecture that compounds.
10+
Years building software
18+
Production projects
14+
Feature-rich web apps
4
Native apps shipped
Multi-sector
Startup, agency, government, utility, nonprofit, and Fortune 500
Remote-first
Years of distributed team experience
Technical build logs from the messy middle.
Why the first version of a product should be useful, not perfect, and how to know when you've shipped enough.
Practical guidance for teams adopting AI workflows without turning the org into a research lab.
The difference between a founding engineer and a senior developer, and why it matters at 0→1.
Requirements may change. That's why we build calmly.