Technical advice for founders, boards and investors
Founders, boards and investors bring me technical problems that have real money attached to them - an architecture nobody senior understands, a hire they can’t assess, a vendor with too much leverage, an AI claim that sounds expensive, or a platform that keeps falling over.
I’ve answered to boards and government ministers as a CTO, and pitched San Francisco investors as a founder. In 2016 I co-founded Really, which used machine learning on speech and writing to spot early signs of neurodegeneration, years before boards were asking about AI.
Two advisory slots open. Sydney, working anywhere.I typically reply the same day.
How I work
Four ways to engage me. Each one has a defined start, a defined end and something you can hold at the finish.
Advisory retainer
Founders & CEOs
A standing slot in my week for a founder or an executive team - architecture reviews, hiring decisions, vendor negotiations, board papers, and the phone call at two in the morning when something is on fire. I only keep a few of these going at once, so each one gets proper attention.
Board & advisory seats
Boards & recruiters
An independent technical voice at the board table. I know which questions directors should be asking about technology - and I can tell when they are getting a straight answer.
I’m CEO of Production City while its funding round closes. I’m also a director of Aperim, a creative and digital agency. I won’t advise on a decision where either could be a supplier, a competitor or an investment, and if a piece of work comes close to that line I’ll say so before we start.
Technical due diligence
VCs & investors
For investors, boards and founders weighing up a technical or AI claim. I read the code, the data pipeline, the architecture, the infrastructure bills and the team, then write up what I found in plain language. I don’t talk about my clients’ projects.
Audits & rescues
Operators in trouble
A fixed piece of work on a specific problem - a platform that keeps falling over, a rebuild that has stalled, a team that has lost its only architect. I get it stable, document it, and hand it back with a plan.
If one of these fits, write totroy@troykelly.com.
Where I’ve worked
I’ve spent thirty years building systems that had to work on the day: theatre, data centres, applied machine learning in health, an LED volume for a film school, and now a virtual production campus.
2003–2006
WebCentral
Data centre manager, one of the first dedicated data centre facilities in the southern hemisphere
2011–2021
Aperim
CEO, now director. Creative and digital agency, Sydney
2016–2018
Really
Co-founder and CEO, San Francisco. Early neurodegeneration detection through language
2018–2021
Pioneera
CTO. Workplace stress signals through language ML
2021–2022
AFTRS
CTO. I led the technical, production and facilities teams that built one of the first LED volume stages at any film school.
We had nine months and a fixed budget, and we delivered on both.
2024–now
Production City
CEO.
The long version
Thirty years, and underneath it the job’s been the same: get the technology working by the time people are counting on it. I’ve done that on stages, in data centres, in startups and on film sets. Here’s how it went, in order.
Act I · 1995–2012
Backstage
Theatre
Act II · 2003–2015
Infrastructure
Theatre, data hall, radio studio
Act III · 2016–2021
Startups & health
Over black
Act IV · 2021–2022
Screen
Radio studio, LED volume, brain bar
Act V · Now
Building & advising
Brain bar
Told as a screenplay, through five rooms built for this site. Pictures or text only.
What I’m building
Production City
CEO, raising
A virtual production campus planned for seven locations. Sound stages, an LED volume and a broadcast theatre, with one team taking a production from script to delivery.
I’m CEO of Production City while its funding round closes.
Away from the campus I still write code most weeks, always on something personal.
Conspect
Founder, shipping
An open broadcast engine that runs on ordinary hardware and doesn’t fall over. One correct frame every tick, whatever the inputs are doing. Free for non-commercial use.
r6y
Founder, in beta
A private app for recovering from a stroke, heart event or surgery. Log how you’re going and share it with the people looking after you.
Kin
Founder, shipping
For co-parents, families and carers sharing the care of someone. Handovers, appointments and medications in one place.