# Silverback CTO > The Velocity Process in public — one company built per day for 30 days using AI coding agents. Silverback CTO is the consulting practice of Todd Merrill, a 30-year CTO veteran who has rebuilt his entire development methodology around AI coding agents. The Velocity Process compresses months of product development into days without sacrificing business fundamentals. The 30-day build challenge is the live public proof of concept. ## About Todd Merrill Todd Merrill is a consulting CTO, fractional executive, and founder based in Atlanta/Alpharetta, GA. He has 30+ years of CTO experience serving PE/VC-backed companies in the $10M–$500M range. He is the creator of the Velocity Process methodology and has built 22+ production applications using AI coding agents. He hosts the business podcast Tales From The Sky Lounge, is founder of Silverback CTO and Silverback Ventures, and is a general partner of CogleGroup — an AI-native services firm (with Jim Hasty as GP). ## The Velocity Process The Velocity Process is a rapid product development methodology that uses AI coding agents (primarily Claude Code) to compress traditional development timelines. The core insight: the bottleneck is no longer code — it is problem definition. A precisely written problem spec produces a working product in hours. Key principles: - Problem definition is the highest-leverage activity - Business model decisions are human work — execution is AI-assisted - "Done" means working product with pricing, waitlist, and business model — not just a demo - Every build is a real business someone could fund, launch, or acquire ## The 30-Day Challenge Starting May 1, 2026, Todd Merrill is building one company per day for 30 days using the Velocity Process. Every build is public: working product, business model, live URL, GitHub repo with full Claude Code prompt spec, and architecture documentation. The live feed is at www.silverbackcto.com/builds. ## Services ### Silverback Ventures (Venture Partner / Studio) AI-native venture studio. Equity partnerships and co-founding on high-signal problems where AI provides an unfair speed advantage. Default engagement model: equity-aligned partnership with cash optional. Todd serves as Venture Partner alongside founders, with 30 years of CTO experience, top-25 global consulting CTO recognition, and active LP investing in AI funds. ### Consulting CTO PE/VC-backed companies in the $10M–$500M range. Board-level technical leadership and architecture engagements at AI speed. Focus: technical strategy, AI transformation roadmaps, technical due diligence, and acceleration of portfolio companies. Engagement structure aligned with venture timelines, not hourly billing. ### Silverback AI Agency The Velocity Process productized for client companies. Rapid MVP development, AI integration strategy, and technical due diligence for investor portfolios. ## Portfolio (Velocity Launch — May 2026) ### Cyber Savi MSP cluster (Days 1, 4, 5, 6, 8) - **SecureStackScan / securestackscan.com** — AI-native security assessment platform with a CISO MCP endpoint; sells to the MSP / vCISO / fractional-CISO channel (Day 1). - **CompliancePulse / cybersavi.com/compliance-pulse** — The continuous-compliance spine of the CyberSavi MSP operating system; framework coverage across NIST 800-171, CMMC L2, SOC 2 CC, HIPAA, and ISO 27001. In revenue (Day 4). - **CyberSavi Academy / cybersaviacademy.com** — Multi-tenant security awareness training for MSPs; dynamic modules generated against live threat intel; SCORM 1.2 + xAPI auditor-grade reporting (Day 5). - **CyberSavIQ / cybersaviq.com** — Personal/reputation layer: Internet Dossier + LLM Perception Report; couples into CompliancePulse evidence per tenant (Day 6). - **GovernAI / governai.cloud** — AI governance module for MSPs and vCISOs (ISO 42001 / NIST AI RMF / EU AI Act / Colorado AI Act / NYC LL 144), co-built with Cyber Savi Security (Day 8). ### Federal & Defense (Day 2) - **SecureLink / securelinkvpn.io** — FIPS 140-validated publicly-routable static IP for Starlink / Starshield CGNAT, in AWS GovCloud. CMMC L2-aligned. Software and managed-router SKUs. ### Physical Goods (Day 3) - **PartFoundry / partfoundry.shop** — On-demand replacement-parts manufacturing for the $15B obsolete/discontinued parts market. Public repo and business plan (Day 3). ### Velocity Studio deals (Day 7) - **TrainTogether / traintogether.dev** — Goal-oriented community fitness platform, Atlanta-first beta Q3 2026. First publicly-disclosed Velocity Studio deal; founder Philippe Kabasele. ### CogleGroup AI-native services firm — Cogle GTM cluster (Days 9–12) - **CogleGroup / coglegroup.com** — AI-native services firm; software company masquerading as a services firm. GP partnership with Jim Hasty (Day 9). - **CounselExpress / counselexpress.app** — Privilege-preserving litigation support for personal injury attorneys; Electron desktop app, Claude Sonnet over AWS Bedrock, files-stay-local. Built for the post-*Heppner* regulatory shape (Day 10). - **ChamberAdvance / chamberadvance.com** — AI-powered member engagement for chambers of commerce. In revenue with Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce (Day 11). - **PlanCheckers / foco.plancheckers.com** — Planning-permit software running today for a major Atlanta-area county (Day 12). ### Media & Methodology - **Tales From The Sky Lounge / tftsl.podtosite.com** — Business podcast for PE/VC operators and founders. - **Substack / toddmerrill.substack.com** — Long-form essays on the AI-native operating model and the Velocity Process. ## Contact - Email: todd@silverbackcto.com - Booking: https://fantastical.app/toddmerrill/silverback-cto - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/toddmerrill - Substack: https://toddmerrill.substack.com - Podcast: Tales From The Sky Lounge — https://tftsl.podtosite.com ## Pages - [Home](https://www.silverbackcto.com): Challenge overview and recent builds - [Build Feed](https://www.silverbackcto.com/builds): All 30 daily builds with full documentation - [Velocity Process](https://www.silverbackcto.com/velocity): Methodology overview - [About](https://www.silverbackcto.com/about): Todd's background and Silverback story - [Work With Me](https://www.silverbackcto.com/work-with-me): Services and booking ## Technical - Stack: Astro (SSG), CSS custom properties, Google Fonts, Vercel - Content: Markdown-based content collections, one file per build - Launch: 2026