Hi, I’m Brian Draper

I’ve spent the last 25 years working in technology — starting out as a developer, then growing into project management, senior leadership, and executive roles. Along the way, I’ve led teams, built platforms, launched startups, and helped global brands modernize how they work.

DraperWeb is the consulting practice I built to bring all that experience to companies who need both strategy and execution, from early-stage startups to enterprise teams trying to move faster. Whether I’m acting as a fractional CTO or COO, or building out solutions with a lean team of trusted specialists, the goal is the same: deliver clarity, capability, and results.

How I Think About Consulting

I’ve always been a builder at heart. Whether it’s crafting Home Assistant dashboards for my house, wiring up n8n workflows just to see what’s possible, or tinkering with self-hosted AI tools, I’ve always had a drive to build things that are useful, efficient, and maybe even a little magical.

That same passion is what I bring to my consulting work. I don’t just show up with a slide deck (although I probably will show up with a slide deck) — I roll up my sleeves and help you build real solutions that make a measurable impact.

One of the things I love most about this work is learning. I’m endlessly fascinated by new tools, new technologies, and the unique challenges different industries face. It’s not just about systems and code. It’s about the positive impact on the people they serve.

Whether I’m working with a scrappy startup or a billion-dollar enterprise, I focus on understanding the people, the problems, and the possibilities. Because the true measure of success isn’t just delivery — it’s the real-world impact your technology has on your business and your team.

Lessons From 25 Years in Tech

Every business is a people business.

Trust is built in drops and lost in buckets.

Your assumptions are your biggest vulnerability.

Every expert was once a beginner who refused to give up.

You can always get better — personally and professionally.

There is generally a perfectly rational reason for bad decisions.

The urgent always crowds out the important.

Communication failures cause more outages than technical failures.

Simple solutions are harder to find than complex ones.

There’s an inverse correlation between complexity and reliability.

The person who says it can’t be done shouldn’t interrupt the person doing it.

Technology changes, people don’t.

Documentation is like flossing.  Everyone knows they should do it, but somehow it never happens.

If it’s not tested, it’s broken.

Technical debt compounds faster than interest.

If you’re not embarrassed by your first version, you launched too late.

The demo will break in ways you never imagined possible.

Users will find the one way you never thought to test.

Experience is what you get right after you needed it.

Building software is easy; building the right software is hard.

Ready to make your idea real — or get your team unstuck?

Let’s talk about how DraperWeb can help.

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