Let's unleash your web app's true potential
What people say
My peers and clients often point out my attention to detail and excellent communication skills.
I had the pleasure of working with Mikael on my company, BenAi, and he brought a whole new level of professionalism and polish to our software. From day one, he zeroed in on areas for improvement and took our platform from a prototype to a production-ready product of true enterprise quality.
What stood out the most was Mikael's incredible attention to detail. He's always up-to-date on the latest technology trends and consistently recommends modern, high-performing solutions that have significantly improved the functionality and performance of our platform. He didn't just upgrade the code; he transformed our development process with a disciplined, organized approach that brought real structure to our team.
Mikael's work has elevated BenAi in ways I hadn't imagined. If you need someone who can turn ideas into robust, scalable solutions, I would highly recommend working with Mikael.
It's been a privilege to work alongside Mikael for the past 15 years. He's not only an exceptional developer and mentor but also has an impressive talent for breaking down complex, emerging technologies like AI into insights that are accessible and easy to understand. His expertise and guidance have been invaluable, and we look forward to future collaborations with Mikael.
Mikael was a pleasure to work with. Very knowledgable, very competent, very productive.
We couldn't have asked for anything more from Mikael. We had a relatively difficult new application which needed to be built, on a short timeframe and to specific requirements. His approach was careful, considered and fast throughout.
He is an excellent communicator and was able to work considerately, prioritise tasks appropriately and ask questions when needed. He understood the task well and he produced very high quality code, in line with all the best practices etc. - I am confident that his code will be running with us for a long time to come.
Thank you Mikael for a job well done, we're looking forward to working with you again in the future.
Mikael is fantastic! We are already finding new ways to utilize his vast knowledge. HIGHLY RECOMMEND!
Mikael did a great job with our project. He provided excellent documentation and handed over all of the necessary information.
He also worked with my to make sure my AWS S3 was setup properly and found solutions before and during the project that allow our web app to re-launch and to be cost effective.
Very solid person and developer. Excellent communication and that is key for me.
Great communication, highly organized, works efficiently without delay. I look forward to working with Mikael again.
Open source
Author and maintainer of this project.
PimDB
A lightweight, persisted in-memory database built from the ground up for the browser. PimDB provides fast and efficient text indexing with substring, n-gram, and sorted indexes, enabling quick lookups for partial and exact matches. It's 4,000x+ faster than Array.filter for sorted lookups and 700x+ faster for substring searches on a dataset of 100,000 documents.
Select commercial projects
I've recently spent six years as a tech lead, engineering manager, and product inventor within the Applied AI Venture Studio at BootstrapLabs, an Ares Management company, a venture capital firm investing in applied AI. During this time, I led a series of applied AI projects.
Here are a few favorite AI applications I've built or been a main contributor to.
STΛR MODΞ
Built from the ground up as an AI-first, humanless bookkeeper that handles financial business accounting without human intervention. Powered by OpenAI APIs and custom data pipelines, STΛR MODΞ employs a next-gen AI-driven user interface with voice input and voice+screen output.
BenAi
A dedicated AI-first chatbot for health benefits administrators (TPAs), BenAi quickly and accurately answers questions on individual member claims and plans by ingesting plan documents and claims data at the individual member level. Built with OpenAI LLMs and custom embeddings.
Shorty
An AI-augmented communication platform that enhances team productivity by organizing conversations and interactions into a graph of nodes and edges. Integrated with OpenAI LLMs, Shorty relies on AI agents to summarize discussions, identify consensus points, and enable seamless decision-making support.
Teledyne FLIR Conservator
A curated repository of video, imagery, and analytics components. This application allows data scientists to build and manage repositories of annotated data, and to test and experiment with machine-learning video analytics algorithms.
Things I'd love to take off your plate
Hands-on web app development
I love building web apps from scratch, and I'm great at fixing up broken ones, too. I'm happy to work solo or alongside your existing dev team, to ship a well-crafted web application.
If your app needs a modern look or a smoother experience, I can refresh the design and create a consistent design system that your users will appreciate.
Deployment and quality assurance
A bug-free, fast, and stable app that is a delight to use starts with robust test automation. I set up test automation to eliminate regressions and keep your app thoroughly tested, from integration to end-to-end testing. Quality is at the heart of what I do, and I'm happy to get your team up to speed with test-driven development if that's a focus.
I'll also streamline your deployment process, setting up a reliable release pipeline—whether you're using Vercel, Heroku, GitHub Actions, or another service—so you can release with confidence.
Tech strategy, architecture, and stack optimization
Choosing the right tech stack and architecture is key to a productive, scalable app. I'll work with you to select and optimize the technologies that best fit your goals, ensuring a solid foundation for growth and maintainability.
If your app is currently in JavaScript, I can convert it to TypeScript to improve reliability and reduce bugs. For projects that need a refresh, I'll clean up code, update dependencies, and streamline your setup to keep everything running smoothly.
Leadership and product direction
With a relaxed but high-accountability approach to leadership, I'll help your dev team stay focused, aligned, and motivated. Whether guiding your team's day-to-day work, mentoring individual developers, or setting long-term goals, I keep quality and consistency at the forefront.
As a product manager, I make sure every decision supports both business objectives and user needs, creating a clear path from concept to delivery. My approach brings peace of mind, knowing that your project is in good hands and moving in the right direction.
Why work with me
Peace of mind
My main deliverable is peace of mind. Working with me, you'll have an app leader who takes ownership of every aspect of the project, handles complex situations independently, and keeps everything moving smoothly.
I'll keep you informed on what really matters, so you can stay focused on your core priorities without unnecessary interruptions.
Experience and quality
With years of experience building and refining apps, I create stable, scalable software that's ready to grow with your business.
My commitment to quality—from clean, maintainable code to thoughtful architecture, rigorous testing, and gorgeous design—means you'll have a reliable and performant app to impress your users with.
Let's get to work
Ready to take your web app to the next level? I am here to help. Whether you need an urgent fix or a long-term partner, let's make it happen. The sky's the limit.
- Text me: +1 (415) 370-9331
- Email me: mikael@airlab.io
- Connect on LinkedIn: in/mikaellirbank
Talks
I speak at meetups, conferences, and private corporate events about leveraging AI to build better software.
- December 2, 2024 - SpikeGadgets (private)
- January, 2025 (date TBA) - All Things Web (public)
- March, 2025 (date TBA) - Silicon Valley AI Think Tank (public)
Synopsis: Leading LLMs
A structured approach to building quality software with AI
I've been working on a way to use AI to write high-quality, well-tested, high-performing code really fast. This approach is inspired by my work building PimDB, a browser-based persisted in-memory database. In this talk, we'll explore a structured process to empower teams to leverage AI to tackle complex projects with incredible velocity without compromising on quality.
Through live coding, we'll cover:
- API design and architecture
- Writing tests
- Performance benchmarking
- Writing documentation
- Implementation and optimization
What people say
Mikael came to our company and gave a well-organized and highly informative talk to our developers about how to use AI to speed up software development in a practical way. Mikael has a knack for explaining complex ideas in a way that is very accessible, and our entire group was immediately inspired and empowered to use the emerging methodologies he showcased. I was super impressed!
About me
I'm Mikael Lirbank, based in Corte Madera, just north of the Golden Gate Bridge in the beautiful San Francisco Bay Area. I live here with my amazing wife and children. In my spare time, I'm a bit of a cycling fanatic, so if you'd ever want to go mountain biking or road cycling in Marin County, hit me up!
With over 20 years of experience, I've built a strong track record of building apps from scratch, rescuing existing ones, and leading development teams. I'm a tech lead, product manager, UI designer, and code quality expert, known for taking ownership of every project and delivering predictability and peace of mind to my clients.
Technologies & tooling
I thrive with these tools and technologies.