About

Michael Woodworth

I'm an engineering executive and founder in Toronto. I've spent about 15 years building software, from cloud SaaS and ML platforms to the systems that run a factory floor.

The short version

I co-founded Upverter (Y Combinator W11) — a cloud-based hardware design tool for PCB and circuit schematics. We built the company over seven years and sold it to Altium, the global standard in EDA software.

After that I spent nearly four years at SRTX (Sheertex) as their top technical executive, effectively the CTO. I led a 46-person technology organisation across software, engineering, materials science, and IT, and I built Cortex, the software that connected every machine on the factory floor, every production run, and every business metric into one system. It became the only connected hosiery factory in the world.

Now I'm focused on AI. Headless HQ orchestrates ad campaigns across the Meta, Google, and TikTok APIs, with LLM-powered creative analysis to surface what's actually working. PageWeaver creates personalised children's storybooks with AI. Get Indexed is an AEO platform that helps brands get cited by ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini, the Semrush equivalent for AI visibility.

I also care about manufacturing and innovation in Canada. My time at Sheertex showed me how much potential there is, and it's something I'm actively exploring.

On the side I do fractional CTO work with early-stage companies building hard technical products.

How I work

I go deep before I go wide

When I take on a technical problem, I understand it at the level of the machine. Stack choices follow from first principles, not from what's fashionable.

I build for the floor, not just the dashboard

Software that looks great in a demo but breaks in production is not finished software. I've been on factory floors. I know what real use actually looks like.

I lead before I delegate

Great technical leadership means doing the hard work alongside the team first — so you know exactly what great looks like when you step back.

I have opinions, and I'll tell you

You're not hiring me to validate your choices. You're hiring me to make better ones. I will push back, I will disagree, and I'll be right often enough that it's worth it.

Technical depth

Physical World

  • PCB Design & EDA
  • Embedded Systems & Firmware
  • Industrial Automation & PLC
  • Sensor Integration & IoT
  • Manufacturing Operations

Software

  • Python, FastAPI, Django
  • React, Next.js, TypeScript
  • PostgreSQL, Redis
  • Docker, GCP, AWS
  • Real-time systems

AI & Agents

  • Claude API, OpenAI APIs
  • Multi-agent architectures
  • LLM prompt engineering
  • Agentic workflow design
  • AI-native product development