Arif Bandali

Hi, you've found Arif. I build software for the web and mobile, and am a big advocate for startups.

My Work

Until its acquisition in 2019, I was a partner at Codetree, providing project and issue tracking software for teams writing code. I founded Arbour Medical, a software product that optimizes billing for Canadian Family Physicians. I consult with teams that are looking to build and grow early to mid-stage technology businesses, often in a system and product design capacity, and then always as a builder, writing code.

My latest side project is Bench Investor an investment portfolio tracker on steroids. After years of being frustrated with brokers showing me performance numbers that are either vanity metrics or worse, just plain wrong, I built a portfolio tracker that solves those problems and has a focus on annualized total return.

I'm a full stack engineer with 15 years experience. I'm pragmatic with a focus on speed and iteration rather than on being a purist with a big unveil at the end. Get something out early that stakeholders can see and play with, then adjust.

Recently, I've written a lot of React Native targeting mobile. On the web side, I most often build backends in Rails. On the frontend for key UI interactions and pages I love to use React - but for simple pages, I advocate simply using the backend to generate the views.

I enjoy system design; much pain and battles can be avoided by getting this right. Again, I like to keep things simple until there is a clear win in complicating the architecture.

Some of my client work:

• SoleSavy - a community site for sneaker heads. Led the build on the iOS and Android apps. Built a web based tool to manage and send their push notifications across many platforms (40+ Slack targets, iOS, Android etc.).
• Chimp.net - providing donor-focused tools to manage your charitable giving. Brought on just past napkin-stage with a team of a few and stayed on until the business employed ~50, with revenue greater than $200M. Wrote code and managed product.
• Digital Health Strategies - provider of US healthcare digital engagement web-based products. Acted in an CTO capacity as well as lead engineer on the more technically-involved engagements.
• Define Media Group - boutique enterprise SEO firm. Acted in an CTO capacity, maintained and improved both an in-house Rails app as well as a MapReduce cluster used to crawl and analyze large web properties.
• CertiStay - third party safety and security certification for short term rental properties. Brought on early in a builder and product role - roadmapped, specced, and built the iOS React Native app, and Rails backend.
• Elastic Path - enterprise-level, e-commerce vendor. Brought on to lead a client engagement that was proving problematic and was behind schedule. Put out the fire and quickly delivered an integration.

Personal

I live in Vancouver, British Columbia and was born and raised across the country in Toronto, Ontario. I have a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from McGill University in Montreal and an MBA from Rotman, University of Toronto. Ski, golf, tennis, basketball. I'm game for most activities and sports if they take place in the beauty outdoors.

Please get in touch, I'd love to hear from you. Email is best, arif+at+arifb.com.