Connor Eschrich
Founder & engineer advising startups on product, design & engineering
Founder & Software Engineer · Chicago, IL
Open to advisory
Product · Engineering & Tech · Team & Hiring
I know how to take a vision & make it a production-ready system. With AI, going from idea to prototype is doable. Going from prototype to something that can scale, is secure, & has a foundation to build on... that's where I can help advise.
Makes warm intros to
5
Hours / month
About Connor
With over 8 years of experience turning visions into production-ready software systems, I help early-stage startups navigate the full creation process across product, design, and engineering. I specialize in closing the gap between design and engineering handoffs, establishing robust technical design specs, and incorporating pragmatic AI workflows. As a founder and former engineering manager, I work closely with non-technical founders and lean teams looking to ship high-quality software efficiently.
Skills
Experience
job
Software Engineering Manager
EDO, Inc.
Software Engineer → Tech Lead → Engineering Manager. Led the product engineering team, reporting directly to the CTO. Managed all client-facing platforms, collaborating with PM’s, designers, media analytics, marketing, backend engineering, infra, data engineering, & data science teams. Built internal tooling, client dashboards, & a dynamic reporting system used by media analysts to produce weekly client reports.
job
Founding Engineer
BrightGo
Founding Engineer. Worked across the full stack (web, backend, mobile), with end-to-end ownership of projects (issue tracking system, timesheet review). From leading the product design process, to prototyping, to working with an agency for high-fidelity designs, to engineering build, & managing the rollout for clients. Ran client calls for product research, user interviews, & customer success on rollout. Worked very closely with CEO & CTO.
job
Co-Founder & CEO
Pearl Music, Inc.
Co-Founder, CEO. Built the full product (engineering, product, design, business operations) from my vision to a stable, production-ready app on iOS & Android with a paid subscription tier. Conducted market research, pricing analysis, & user research to shape the product direction & subscription model. Built investor pitches & ran quarterly planning.
education
Student
University of Iowa
B.S. in Computer Science & Engineering.