About
I build engineering teams and systems that survive scale.
I'm Allan MacGregor. For two decades I've turned hard technical bets into shipped products. Most recently I was CTPO at Humi, the Canadian HR, payroll, and benefits platform, where I led technology and product through to its $140M+ CAD acquisition by Employment Hero. Today I'm the CTO of LiORA, building the first Environmental Intelligence Platform — deep tech where software ships alongside science teams and hardware. I also write The Pragmatic CTO.
- $140M+
- CAD exit as CTPO
- 2007
- Shipping software since
- 2
- Books published
- 37
- External publications
Highlights
Now
As CTO of LiORA I'm building the first Environmental Intelligence Platform. It's proper deep tech: software developed hand in hand with science teams and hardware, where the platform is only as trustworthy as the measurements underneath it.
The exit
As CTPO at Humi I grew engineering and product from a scrappy team into the organization behind Canada's leading employment platform — payroll is the kind of software where a rounding error is somebody's rent. That discipline carried the company through to its $140M+ CAD acquisition by Employment Hero.
Regulated systems
I've been building software professionally for two decades — much of it in fintech, payroll, and compliance-heavy domains, with Elixir as the backbone for most of the last decade. I care about systems that stay correct under load, under audit, and under staff turnover.
Author
I wrote two books for Packt — the Magento PHP Developer's Guide and Test Driven Magento Extension Development — and have published 37 articles with AppSignal, Sauce Labs, Fiberplane, and others.
Builder
Outside of the day job I build my own products and projects. Right now that's Bloccs — declarative orchestration for AI agents on the BEAM. An earlier one, Siteguardian.dev — an SSL and domain monitoring service — was built, grown, and sold in a five-figure micro-acquisition.
The Pragmatic CTO
My newsletter on the parts of the CTO job nobody writes down: scaling teams, surviving due diligence, and the engineering decisions that actually move a company. Hard-won lessons from someone who's made the mistakes so you don't have to.
SubscribeWhat I write about here
The blog is code-first and Elixir-heavy: Phoenix and LiveView in production, distributed systems on the BEAM, and lately how AI coding agents change the way we build. The TIL section collects the small sharp things I learn along the way.
Keep in touch
For scheduling, invitations, or professional introductions, work with Madonna, my AI executive assistant. Her profile explains what she handles and how to get in touch.
Use the contact form, message me on
Twitter,
or email me at allan [at] allanmacgregor.com.