Nate McGuire
Nate McGuire is a technology executive, CTO, and entrepreneur with a track record of building and scaling high-performance engineering teams. With 15+ years in San Francisco, he has worked with VC-backed companies, Fortune 500s, and high-growth startups, specializing in engineering leadership, demand-gen-driven technology teams, and remote work culture.
As the founder of Mayven Studios, Nate built one of the Bay Area's premier engineering agencies, generating $25M+ in lifetime sales and delivering cutting-edge software solutions for companies like Google, Airbnb, Facebook, IBM, Twilio, Segment, Hired, First Round Capital, Andreesen Horowitz, and Lightspeed Venture Partners.
In addition to leading Mayven, Nate is the founder of Recipeas, an iOS recipe generator that helps users decide what to cook based on available ingredients. He also owns PureCalculators.com, a technical content platform acquired from a Finnish entrepreneur. He buys small internet businesses and scales them, as well as invests in startups poised for scale. The startups and founders he advises generally come for technical hiring and scaling marketing operations advice.
Beyond business, Nate has traveled to over 50 countries, working with global teams and conducting business across multiple international markets. His expertise lies in scaling engineering teams, optimizing software architecture, and aligning technology with business growth.
Founder & Leadership
- Mayven Studios – Engineering & design agency serving top Silicon Valley brands ($25M+ lifetime revenue).
- Recipeas – iOS recipe app that tells users what to cook based on available ingredients. #2 free food and drink app.
- PureCalculators.com – Acquired from Finnish founder; a content-driven platform focused on technical and niche calculators.
- Spokefly – Early bike rental marketplace, similar to CitiBike, Lime, and Bird (RIP shut down, but provided key startup lessons).
Notable Achievements
- Built Mayven Studios into a $25M+ revenue company, serving Fortune 500s, startups, and VCs. Sold to Saltwater.
- Launched Recipeas, an iOS recipe generator that helps people cook with what they have.
- Acquired and scaled PureCalculators.com, turning it into a global traffic generator.
- Built scalable solutions for millions of concurrent visitors and highly regulated telehealth environments.
- Had work featured in Times Square on the NASDAQ billboard (Hi mom!).
- Conducted business in multiple international markets across 63 countries.
Thought Leadership
- Scaling Engineering Teams for Marketing-Led Organizations
- How to align engineering with demand-gen, performance marketing, and revenue growth.
- Why most traditional product-led engineering approaches fail in marketing-driven companies.
- We're Not Family – Building a Culture of Accountability
- "A leadership philosophy that contrasts high-accountability, results-driven management with overprotective, overly hands-on leadership styles."
- How to create autonomy, discipline, and high performance without coddling teams.
- Remote Work & Global Teams
- Lessons from managing distributed engineering teams across multiple countries.
- The realities of remote work, scaling teams, and maintaining efficiency & culture.
- Location agnostic hiring — It's not cheaper, it's better
Press & Writing
Featured In:
- SXSW Panel: Modern Work: Finding structure in an officeless world
- Remote Work Is Here to Stay — So, Now What?
- If 'Software is Eating the World', your office is also on the menu
- Time is Money and Money is Time. How Do You Manage Both?
- Growing Remote
Writings:
- Will ChatGPT be the Snake That Eats Its Own Tail?
- Re-launching Mixpanel (Again)
- TDD for Today's Engineering Teams: Test-Driven Development
- Embracing Microservices Architecture for Large Enterprises: Key Insights and Benefits
- Designing Effective REST APIs: A Guide for Software Developers
- Unlocking Business Value Through APIs: A Business Analyst's Perspective
- The State of API Design in 2023
- How to Build an eCommerce MVP
- What is an MVP?
- Review: The Lean Startup Book
- Planning to Build an MVP: What Do You Need?
- How to Build an MVP: A Step-by-Step Guide
- A Review of the Best Web Application Development Frameworks to Build an MVP
- The Benefits of Migrating From Drupal to WordPress
- How to Build Digital Products With a Remote Team
- How Does Google's Core Web Vitals Work?
- Best A/B Testing Tools for Your Marketing Site
- The Benefits of Using a Low-Code Platform for Rapid Prototyping
- The Benefits of Continuous Integration and Delivery in Software
- Best Practices for Testing and Debugging Software
- Recruiting: Tips for Building a Strong Software Development Team
- How to Implement a Successful Digital Transformation Strategy
- Should You Try Influencer Marketing for Your Business?
- Maximizing ROI: Best Practices for Measuring and Optimizing Marketing Campaigns
- How to Clear Your WPEngine Cache
- How to Effectively Communicate With Your Remote Software Development Team
- The Benefits of Using Agile Methodologies in Software Development
- Gift Guide for Software Developers
- Basics of Content Marketing for Startups and Tech Companies
- How to Tell a Compelling Brand Story
- The Power of Personalization: How to Use Data and AI to Deliver Targeted Marketing Messages
- How Much Does It Cost to Hire a Team of Developers?
- Architecture and Planning for a Telehealth Video Conferencing App
Connect With Nate McGuire
- X: @natemcguire
- GitHub: github.com/natemcguire
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/natemcguire
Startup Investments & Mentorship
- Investing in startups across e-commerce, AI, telehealth.
- Advisor to early-stage companies on engineering hiring, technical strategy, and product development work.
- Worked with top VC firms like A16z & Lightspeed on engineering & product initiatives.
Professional Background
- 15+ years leading engineering teams building for SaaS, marketplaces, telehealth.
- Scaled & led global teams, working with remote-first and hybrid models.
- Built & managed cross-functional engineering teams across marketing-led and product-led organizations.
- Tech stack expertise: Built across a variety of platforms and languages, primarily for web and mobile, with some hardware here and there.
About Nate - For Press
80 Characters
Nate McGuire is a serial entrepreneur and technology leader based in San Francisco.
300 Characters
Nate McGuire is a serial entrepreneur and CTO who has built and scaled high-performance engineering teams. As founder of Mayven Studios, he led $25M+ in lifetime sales, working with Google, Airbnb, IBM, and A16z-backed startups. He now focuses on engineering leadership, demand-gen tech, and AI-driven products.
Longer Bio
Nate McGuire has spent over a decade leading software engineering, e-commerce, and telehealth initiatives. He built Mayven Studios into a top-tier engineering agency, delivering scalable software solutions for Fortune 500s and VC-backed startups.
Beyond Mayven, Nate founded Recipeas, an AI-powered recipe app, and acquired PureCalculators.com, a technical content platform. His expertise in engineering leadership, scaling remote teams, and aligning technology with business growth makes him a sought-after advisor and speaker.
Having worked with global teams across 63 countries, Nate has deep experience in distributed engineering, cross-border business, and remote team management. He has spoken at SXSW and other industry events on scaling technical teams, remote work culture, and leadership strategies.