Meet the unicorns.
We named ourselves after the rarest thing in the field, because that's the kind of team we set out to be: senior, one of a kind, and impossible to mistake for anyone else. A decade shipping software at some of the world's biggest tech companies taught us the judgement that matters most — helping you build the right thing before you spend.
The people on your project
No account managers, no hand-offs to a junior team. These are the people you meet on the first call and the same people who do the work.
James founded Built By Unicorns to bring enterprise-grade engineering to businesses of every size. He works directly with founders and business owners, leading a team that builds websites, custom apps and AI automations aimed at a real result: more customers, more sales, fewer wasted hours.
At AWS he delivered full-stack projects for enterprise customers across media, healthcare, finance and aviation, and contributed production code to AWS's core products (CLI, CDK, Amplify, IAM, SAM). That rigour — earned at AWS, Reach plc, ChargedUp and Ticketmaster — now shapes how the whole team works.
React & Next.jsNode.js & PythonAWS · Lambda · BedrockArchitecturePatryk co-founded Built By Unicorns, where he leads the commercial side of the business and is responsible for business development. He works directly with founders and business leaders to identify where business workflows are leaking time and money, turning those insights into a clear business case before any code is written.
With 15 years delivering complex software implementations for SAP, Klaviyo and Movable Ink, he specialised in complex problem solving across different technology ecosystems for enterprise clients throughout Europe — marketing, CRM, order management, finance and logistics. Most recently at Rossum AI, an AI-native workflow automation platform acquired by Coupa Software in 2026.
Business caseWorkflow discoveryEnterprise CRMOrder managementSam runs marketing at Built By Unicorns. He co-founded and led Podvine, a Techstars-backed social podcasting platform, where he built the first version of the product and ran business development and growth to more than 50,000 users — so he approaches marketing the way we approach engineering: as something that has to produce a number, not just noise.
He hosts the Growth Mindset Podcast, which has passed 8 million downloads and charted at No. 1 in Apple Podcasts for Self-Improvement and Education in several countries, and creates How to Change the World, nominated for Best Factual Podcast at the 2026 British Podcast Awards. He is also an active angel investor.
Growth marketingContent & podcastsPositioningAudience buildingRyan is a senior engineer who has spent the last several years shipping production front-ends for regulated businesses — wealth management at Saltus, legal publishing at The Legal 500, financial platforms at FNZ Group, and back-end work at Bank of America. React, Next.js and TypeScript are his home ground, and he has worked in functional Scala too.
Colleagues and managers describe him the same way every time: a creative lateral thinker who is diligent with his output, communicates clearly on complex projects, and flags problems early enough to keep a delivery on schedule. He also co-founded Run Fanatics, so he knows what it takes to get a product out of the door with no one else to hand it to.
React & Next.jsTypeScriptDesign systemsScala
The operators behind the team
They don't write the code — they pressure-test the decisions around it. Two operators who have scaled software businesses and run enterprise programmes, on hand when a call is bigger than the build.
Arpad is the former General Manager of SAP Emarsys in Austria and Central & Eastern Europe. In various roles as a Chief Operating Officer and advisor, he has shaped the business for multiple start-ups and scale-ups in the software sector.
He has also evolved into an operational advisor in the SaaS industry, leveraging his extensive experience in scaling businesses. Alongside this role, he has become a business angel, investing in and mentoring SaaS scale-ups, and providing strategic guidance on growth, operations, and market expansion to help them achieve long-term success.
SaaS scalingCOO advisoryMarket expansionAngel investingJim is a senior interim Chief Procurement Officer and board-level advisor specialising in value-led transformation in complex, capital-intensive organisations. He has led major programmes for Transport for London (TfL) and SGN, bringing board-ready commercial discipline and enterprise workflow expertise across infrastructure and utilities.
Jim's experience in complex enterprise environments is invaluable for translating intricate workflows and constraints into simple, robust solutions built on the newest cloud and AI technologies. His ability to cut through complexity helps the team design scalable products and services that deliver clear, measurable outcomes for clients.
Procurement transformationEnterprise workflowInfrastructure & utilitiesBoard-level advisory
Where the rigour was earned
Our team spent years inside enterprise engineering organisations before Built By Unicorns: full-stack projects at AWS for customers in media, healthcare, finance and aviation; mobile and web apps at Reach plc for the UK's largest news publisher; engineering leadership at ChargedUp through a COVID-era pivot; and front-end work at Ticketmaster shipping accessible features to 17 countries.
Between us we've also delivered enterprise implementations for SAP, Klaviyo, Movable Ink and Rossum AI across Europe, shipped regulated front-ends at Saltus, FNZ Group and Bank of America, and built and scaled a Techstars-backed product of our own past 50,000 users. That mix is deliberate: someone in the room has usually seen your problem before.
Business first, code second
Before software engineering, James founded three startups and held sales leadership roles across health-tech, marketing consultancy and SaaS — managing teams of 3–10 to real commercial outcomes, including a successful exit.
That entrepreneurial background is why we think about engineering in business terms first. The technical work serves a customer, a roadmap, and a company that needs the work to land. Code is a means, not the goal.
Let's move your numbers.
Got a product to build, a website that should be pulling in more enquiries, or a technical decision you want a straight answer on? Tell us what you're trying to grow and we'll tell you honestly how we can help.