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Judson Dunne

Judson Dunne is a full-stack, iOS and Android software engineer and founder. He built and shipped Locava, a location-based social platform with native iOS, Android and web clients, end to end. He took it through launch to more than 10,000 organic users with no paid acquisition, raised a seed round on it, and hired and led a team of eight. He founded Misty Mountain Forge, a working blacksmith shop, at fourteen and ran it as a business for three years. He is studying computer science at Lafayette College and is looking for full-stack engineering and founding-engineer roles.

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Based
Easton, PA · Hartland, VT
Email
judson.dunne@gmail.com
LinkedIn
judson-dunne
GitHub
judsondunne
Judson Dunne’s one-page résumé: computer science at Lafayette College, expected May 2027; founder and lead engineer at Locava; software engineering intern promoted to head of user interface at SpaceOna; lead product manager at Insight Lab; founder and blacksmith at Misty Mountain Forge; the RidgeSync and throttlekit projects; awards; and the full skills list.

01 Experience

  1. Founder & Lead Engineer

    · Locava

    From 2023 · Team of 8

    Locava helps you discover and share the coolest spots around you, from hidden swimming holes to scenic overlooks. Join thousands exploring amazing places.

    • 10,000+ organic users, zero paid acquisition
    • ~50% weekly retention at peak
    • 8,000+ places posted by users
    • 742k lines of TypeScript across the monorepo

    TypeScript · React Native · Expo Router · Fastify · Next.js · Zod · Firestore · Redis · Google Cloud Run · Cloud Tasks · BigQuery · Mapbox · ML Kit · sharp · OpenTelemetry

    Full breakdown

  2. Founder & developer

    · RidgeSync

    Side project

    An all-in-one backpacking trip planner. Use RidgeSync to plan mileage and elevation, camping sites and water sources, and much more.

    • 3 platforms: web, iPhone and Apple Watch
    • 7 trail datasets built from raw OpenStreetMap
    • 100% of a planned trip works with no signal
    • 120k lines of TypeScript

    TypeScript · React 19 · Vite · Expo · Expo Router · watchOS · Supabase · PostgreSQL · Mapbox GL · Valhalla · Turf.js · PMTiles · TanStack Query · Tailwind · RevenueCat · PostHog

    Full breakdown

  3. Sole developer

    · base.

    Shipped September 2026

    A hybrid-training app for iPhone and Apple Watch that holds strength, endurance and nutrition in one adaptive plan, driven by live health data.

    • 18 micronutrients tracked, not just the three macros
    • 6 health signals banded against your own baseline
    • 5 surfaces: dashboard, food log, coach, workout, endurance
    • 2 platforms: iPhone and Apple Watch

    TypeScript · React Native · Expo · Expo Router · watchOS · Swift · HealthKit · Supabase · PostgreSQL · Drizzle ORM · SQLite · Reanimated · PostHog

    Full breakdown

  4. Sole developer

    · Lewis

    Since August 2025

    An AI agent that works a real-estate agent’s dormant lead list over text, with a policy engine between the model and every irreversible action.

    • 68k lines of TypeScript in the product
    • 13 standing rules between the model and anything irreversible
    • 47 test files, one reproduction per compliance bug
    • 41 marketing pages generated from one copy file

    TypeScript · Node.js · React · Vite · Anthropic API · Tool use · Supabase · PostgreSQL · Vercel · Playwright · Astro · Tailwind CSS · Twilio

    Full breakdown

  5. Sole developer

    · Pathfinder 3D

    October 2026

    A routing lab on the real road and trail network of Vermont. Five shortest-path algorithms, written from scratch in Rust, explore the graph as glowing wavefronts over 3D terrain.

    • 5 shortest-path algorithms written from scratch in Rust
    • 222k graph nodes, stitched from tiles while you move
    • 2,611× Contraction Hierarchies over Dijkstra on a 245 km query
    • 72 tests across Rust, the wasm wrapper, the pipeline and the browser

    Rust · WebAssembly · TypeScript · WebGL2 · Web Workers · Mapbox GL JS · OpenStreetMap · Vite · Node.js · Playwright · Vercel

    Full breakdown

  6. Sole developer

    · Neural Net Observatory

    October 2026

    Two neural networks trained on real handwriting with a backward pass derived by hand, drawn as a 3D network you can fly through, inspect one neuron at a time, and rewind to its random initial weights.

    • 98.94% on all 10,000 MNIST test digits
    • 91.95% on all 20,800 EMNIST test letters
    • 0 machine-learning libraries, in training or in inference
    • 65 tests, including every test prediction checked against numpy

    Python · NumPy · TypeScript · Three.js · WebGL · Web Workers · Canvas 2D · Vite · Vitest · Playwright · Vercel

    Full breakdown

  7. Head of User Interface

    · SpaceOna

    Oct 2023 to Apr 2025 · Philadelphia, PA · remote

    Head of UI for eighteen months, turning IoT sensor data into a live answer about physical spaces.

    React · Tailwind · UI/UX · Design systems

    Full breakdown

  8. Lead Product Manager

    · Insight Lab

    Spring 2025 · Easton, PA

    Lead PM on a cross-disciplinary team turning U.S. Census data into policy recommendations.

    Azure ML · GenAI · Python · Product management

    Full breakdown

  9. Founder · Blacksmith & Head of Marketing/Sales

    · Misty Mountain Forge

    Apr 2020 to Jun 2023 · Hartland, VT

    The blacksmith shop I built at fourteen and ran for three years, on the Ottauquechee River.

    • Age 14 built the forge myself
    • Hundreds of pieces forged, listed and shipped
    • 3 years run as a business
    • Coal → gas converted the shop

    Wrought iron · Production · Marketing & sales · Teaching

    Full breakdown

  10. Creator

    · throttlekit

    2026

    A rate-limiting library with three algorithms behind one API, and tests for the cases that bite.

    TypeScript · Jest · GitHub Actions

    Full breakdown

02 Education

Lafayette College

Computer Science (BS) · Class of 2027 · Easton, PA

After running Misty Mountain Forge for 3 years, I decided to find a new way to build things, still with my hands, but in software. Junior year of high school I took Harvard’s CS50 class that was credited through my high school, and instantly fell in love. So much so, that I convinced a Dartmouth professor to allow me to take his software engineering class at the nearby Dartmouth college while I was still only 17. From that moment onward, I knew building software was what I wanted to do.

Based
Easton, PA · Quechee, VT
Studying
Computer Science, Lafayette ’27
Coding since
Age 12
Forging since
Age 14

03 Awards & recognition

  1. 2025

    Seed round raised

    Locava

    Hired and led a team of eight: two full-time engineers and six interns.

  2. 2025

    1st place, Big Idea Pitch Competition

    Dyer Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship, Lafayette College

    $1,500 prize for Locava, with Will Gottfried ’27 and Ethan Melgar ’27.

  3. 2024

    1st place, Lehigh Valley Hackathon

    Lehigh Valley, PA

    24 hours, built and shipped on the theme of helping the local community.

  4. 2023

    Best Visual Design, Rivalry Hackathon

    Lafayette College × Lehigh University ACM

    With Jack Marich ’27 and Kevin Nusom ’27.

04 Technical stack

Languages
  • TypeScript
  • JavaScript
  • Python
  • Rust
  • Kotlin
  • Swift
  • SQL
  • HTML/CSS
AI & ML
  • GenAI workflows
  • LLM agents
  • On-device ML (ML Kit)
  • Vector search / embeddings
  • Backprop from scratch
  • NumPy
  • Azure ML
Backend & data
  • Node.js
  • Fastify
  • Express
  • REST
  • GraphQL (Apollo)
  • Firestore
  • Redis
  • PostgreSQL
  • Supabase
  • Zod
  • Drizzle ORM
  • BigQuery
Cloud & infra
  • Google Cloud Run
  • Cloud Tasks
  • Cloud Build
  • GitHub Actions
  • Vercel
  • Firebase
  • Wasabi (S3)
Frontend & mobile
  • React
  • Next.js
  • React Native
  • Expo Router
  • watchOS
  • HealthKit
  • Vite
  • Tailwind
  • TanStack Query
  • Design systems
Maps & geo
  • Mapbox GL
  • Valhalla routing
  • Turf.js
  • PMTiles
  • OpenStreetMap pipelines
  • Shortest-path algorithms
  • Terrain-RGB elevation
Graphics & systems
  • WebAssembly
  • WebGL2
  • Three.js
  • Web Workers
  • GPU profiling
  • Binary formats
Testing & observability
  • Jest
  • Playwright
  • Vitest
  • Regression suites
  • OpenTelemetry
  • PostHog
  • Crash & usage telemetry

05 In the press

All coverage, with quotes

Hiring for a full-stack seat?

Email is the fastest way to reach me. I always answer other founders.

judson.dunne@gmail.com