N° 01Curiosity
Relentless curiosity.
I dig into problems until I understand them well enough to build something worth using. If I’m not learning, I’m not interested.
Home / About
01 · Who runs the shop
I’m Conner.
I build things.
Not because someone handed me a spec and a deadline — because something was broken, or missing, or could be better, and the curiosity wouldn’t let me leave it alone.
Based inColumbia, Tennessee
Remote for the rest
Remote for the rest
RoleOperator · builder
One of one
One of one
The long version.
ShirePath started less than a year ago, but the work started long before that. I’ve been building software professionally for years — C#/.NET, React, TypeScript, Next.js, Python — across workers’ comp brokerage, donor data pipelines, youth sports operations, and whatever problem landed in front of me. At some point I realized the pattern: I keep ending up as the person who looks at a broken system and says “I’ll just build something better.”
So that’s what ShirePath is. A studio where I build software and systems for real problems — usually ones I’m facing myself. I run operations for a youth flag football league in Southern California, so I built the platform to manage it. I wanted Bible reading to feel like an RPG, so I built that. I wanted to send my family a Christmas card that actually meant something, so I built an AI app that writes and narrates personalized stories. Right now I’m wiring a Whoop band to a glucose monitor to figure out what my body actually does with the food I eat.
Curiosity → obsession → “why doesn’t this exist?”
→ build it. The pattern is always the same.
→ build it. The pattern is always the same.
I’m not trying to build the next unicorn. I’m trying to build a portfolio of things that matter — to me, to the communities I’m part of, and to the people who have the same problems I do. Some of them will become real products. Some of them will teach me something and end up on the Shelf. Both outcomes are fine.
When I’m not building software, I’m restoring a 1985 GMC K2500 square body, leading F3 workouts at 5am, cooking whatever the smoker asks for, or figuring out how to be a good dad to my daughter alongside my wife Erin.
If you’ve got a problem that won’t leave you alone and you want to build something about it — I’m your guy.
02 · Operating principles
Four things
I don’t bend on.
If any of these don’t sound like a fit — if you need a consultant, a roadmap, or a discovery call before any code moves — I’m probably not your guy. That’s okay. I’d rather be clear about it up front than be useful halfway.
N° 02Craft
Built to last.
I’ve felt the pain of shipping fast without architecture. Quality matters. Clean code matters. Doing it right the second time matters more than shipping fast the first.
N° 03Honesty
Radical transparency.
This whole site is transparency. Here’s what I’ve built, here’s what failed, here’s what I’m working on now. No smoke. No decks.
N° 04Posture
Builder over seller.
I don’t want to sell you a roadmap. I want to build the thing. If you need a deck and a discovery call, I’m probably not your guy. Sleeves up. Let’s make it.
03 · The crew
I say “I” a lot.
That’s a half-truth.
ShirePath is a one-person studio, but the work is never actually solo. These are the people who sharpen what I build — partners, mentors, and a few of my best friends who happen to be dangerously good at what they do.
TC
Toby Chappell
Data wizard· Lifelong friend
One of my best friends, and the person I call when the data layer stops making sense. Co-building on several active projects — he makes the pipes quiet so everything else can be loud.
CH
Cole V. Hambright
Partner · Jettison Air· Lifelong friend
Partnering up on Jettison Air — role and scope still forming. Another one I’ve known forever, which is the only way I know how to start a company.
PA
Paul Albertini
Mentor · YLAFL owner· Sponsor
Owner of YLAFL and the reason League-OS has a real operation to stress-test against. Business mentor, early sponsor, and the person who keeps me honest about what actually serves the families on the field.
PT
Patrick Taylor
AI expert· Advisor on most projects
Lives on the cutting edge of what’s possible with AI and is generous about dragging the rest of us along. If it involves models, prompts, or agents, I’ve probably run it by Patrick first.
Roster is growing — more names to add.If we’ve built something together and you’re not here yet, ping me.
04 · Life inventory
Where the time goes.
ShirePath is one part of a full life— that’s the point.
01FAMILY
Erin, the kid, the dogs.
The why behind everything else. Every project has to survive the “is this worth the hours I’d otherwise spend with them” test. Most don’t.
02WORK
ShirePath + AFL ops.
Running league operations for 1,500 families while building software for the operation and whatever else has caught my attention this month.
03FAITH
Sundays, daily.
Shows up in the work — see Biblical Battle Plans — but mostly it just shows up as how I try to live. Quiet, consistent, not performative.
04F3
5am. Rain or shine.
Free men’s fitness in the dark. It’s where half my best ideas land, and where I remember there’s a whole life outside the screen.
05GARAGE
1985 GMC K2500.
Square body. Slow restoration. Keeps my hands honest and reminds me that the best things take more than a weekend.
06KITCHEN
Low and slow.
Smoked meats, long cooks, recipe iteration that rhymes suspiciously well with software development. The smoker doesn’t care about deadlines.
05 · Receipts
Years in the craft.
The short version: I’ve spent the last several years building real software for real operations — not just side projects. ShirePath is where all of that shows up in one place.
2025 →
ShirePath Solutions — founded. Operating League-OS, Battle Plans, Story Card, and everything on this site.
Columbia, TN
2022 →
Integrations engineering — three-plus years moving data between systems that refuse to talk. Glorified plumbing, and I love it.
Full-time
2018 →
Advantage Flag League — operations and platform. 1,500 families, one full-time operator, a lot of Sundays.
Yorba Linda, CA
Ongoing
Donor data pipelines — odder-river. ETL that people’s missions depend on.
Contract
Earlier
C# / .NET / Blazor shops — where I learned that architecture is a feature and that “we’ll refactor later” is a lie.
Various
Tools on the benchRev. 04·26
Front
Next.jsReactTypeScriptTailwindVite
Back
NodePostgresDrizzleSupabaseFirebaseC# / .NETPython
Pay / infra
StripeVercelNeon
AI
OpenAIElevenLabsClaude
Happily used
LinearNotionFigmaGitHubCursor
Got a problem that
won’t leave you alone?
Bring it to the bench.
Where the bench sitsColumbia, Tennessee
Remote for the rest of it.
Remote for the rest of it.
How to reach meconner@shirepathsolutions.com
What to tell meWhat’s broken. What you’ve tried.
What “done” would look like.
What “done” would look like.
What I’ll tell youAn honest read, usually within 48 hours. Sometimes “not my guy.” That’s fine too.