Zeljko Dakic · “Jake” for clientsChicago · US/Central
Building software for a living since 2006.
I help founders and product teams ship real software every week,without the overhead of an agency or the unpredictability of a freelancer.
Dakic OnLine LLC · out of Chicago · sometimes SF
Twenty years of shipping, distilled.
The tools changed. Frameworks came and went, AI reshaped how we write code, cloud replaced servers. The core problem stayed the same: teams need to ship.
Dakic OnLine starts out of Chicago
The original idea was simple: help businesses solve real problems with well-built software.Not slide decks. Not theater. Actual, working software that people could use.
Watching great ideas stall
Years inside large organizations showed exactly what slows teams down, and it isn’t only technical:unclear priorities, heavy process, long feedback loops, decisions that take weeks instead of minutes.That experience shaped everything about how I work now.
Back to independent work
Launched a studio called Augmented Developers, riding the AI wave. Delivery speed doubled; clients were amazed. Then they got used to it. The lesson: speed is only impressive until people expect it. What matters is shipping something real every week and making the client feel in control of where it’s going.
Simplified everything
No more rigid packages. No more preset timelines. Every client starts with a clear plan, and we adjust weekly. A brand experiment, Make Simple & Easy, undersold the work, so:Dakic. The domain, the name, the company. Clean and simple.
Future-ready product engineering
Hands-on engineering for teams that need toprototype what is possible, modernize what already exists, and keep shipping while the technology landscape keeps moving. Everything I’ve learned, from enterprise environments to AI-augmented development to working directly with founders, comes through in every sprint.
Visible progress, not vendor dependence.
Ship daily. Review weekly. That’s the rhythm, whether you’re a startup founder validating an idea or a CTO scaling a team.
Super IC Partnership
You work directly with the senior person doing the thinking and implementation. Less handoff, more accountability. You talk to the person writing your code, not an account manager.
Daily Deployments
CI/CD and shared boards keep the work in production, not buried in meetings. You’re never in the dark.
100% Ownership
All code, designs, and IP are yours from day one. Everything documented as it goes, so your team can keep changing it.
Practical Futurism
Experiments and prototypes discover what’s possible; the useful parts become systems your team actually keeps.
We use modern tools like AI, cloud, CI/CD because they work, not because they’re trendy. Automation removes friction and speeds up delivery. But judgment, architecture decisions, and understanding what the client actually needs? That’s still human.
Bring a decision. Or bring a build.
If the next step is unclear, start with the free 30-minute call. If the work is already clear, weekly development runs in one-week cycles with a review every Friday.