Independent Consultant · Product & Technical Leadership

I help companies turn complex technical challenges into scalable, working systems.

I am Ivan Maria Spadacenta, a hands-on technology consultant with 35 years of experience across software, infrastructure, data platforms, APIs and product development.

I work directly with companies and decision-makers to understand business needs, define the right technical approach and turn ideas into real, working systems — from early concept to production and beyond.

Work with me

About

Senior technical partner, not a task-based developer.

I help structured companies, founders and product teams turn complex technical problems into working platforms. My background combines software development, architecture, infrastructure, data collection, API products, AI-assisted processing and technical leadership.

I lead the full technical scope, including architecture, development and infrastructure, and remain hands-on when needed to accelerate execution or unblock critical areas.

Current side projects

Products built and operated under Spadacenta.com.

These are personal projects, fully developed and operated by Ivan Maria Spadacenta, from backend and frontend to infrastructure, APIs, subscriptions and product positioning.

FreeNewsAPI.io

A free news API built for developers who need useful access from day one.

FreeNewsAPI is a developer-focused product designed to provide practical access to news data without the typical limitations of free tiers. It is built on a complete pipeline that discovers, normalizes and prepares content for structured API consumption, making it suitable for real-world applications and not just testing.

Web platform, authentication and dashboard built with PHP.
Backend services and data processing built with Node.js and MariaDB.
Data pipeline for discovery, normalization and structured output.
Designed for developers, prototypes and data-driven applications.

Visit FreeNewsAPI.io

Open to investors

SocketNews.com

A real-time stream of structured, reusable information intelligence.

SocketNews is designed as a data product that analyzes continuous information flows and transforms them into original, enriched and reusable structured items. Each item includes summaries, facts, entities, categories and metadata, delivered as a real-time stream for editorial, research, analytics and monitoring use cases.

Real-time delivery through a Socket.io streaming architecture.
LLM-based enrichment for summaries, facts, entities and metadata.
Subscription model with integrated payments via Stripe.
Designed for editorial workflows, research, analytics, monitoring and commercial data products.

Visit SocketNews.com

Acquired

Insidebnb

A data platform for short-term rental market intelligence.

Insidebnb is a data platform designed to collect, process and analyze large-scale short-term rental data across international markets, turning raw data into structured, usable insights. The system processes millions of properties and generates datasets used for pricing analysis, occupancy estimation, seasonality modeling and competitive positioning.

The platform has been used by property owners, agencies and large real estate companies through APIs and dashboards, and was successfully acquired.

Expertise

Where I create the most value.

System architecture

Designing practical architectures for products that need to move from concept to production quickly and reliably.

Backend & API products

Building backend systems, REST APIs, access control, usage limits, developer-facing products and operational tooling.

Data pipelines

Creating systems that collect, process, normalize and expose large amounts of structured data.

AI / LLM integration

Using external LLMs to enrich, classify, summarize and transform content into higher-value data products.

Real-time systems

Building streaming products and real-time delivery systems, including Socket.io-based applications.

Infrastructure & deployment

Configuring and maintaining Ubuntu servers, application deployment, web services, databases and production environments.

Core technologies

Technologies I actively work with.

Backend

PHP · Node.js · REST APIs

Data

MariaDB · data extraction · normalization · analytics

Infrastructure

Ubuntu · server configuration · deployment · operations

Real-time

Socket.io · streaming products · event-driven delivery

Business systems

Stripe · subscriptions · user access · product monetization

AI

LLM APIs · enrichment · classification · summarization

Background

From early digital systems to acquired data products.

Independent from the beginning

I started 35 years ago as an independent professional, initially supporting PC hardware, software and technical operations before moving into web, digital platforms and product development.

Major media and community platforms

Early work included web and platform responsibilities connected to RAI International and community/platform operations for Sky Italia, including servers, design, promotion and moderation team coordination.

Technical leadership in mobile payments

As CTO and CISO for a mobile payments company, I led an eight-person technical team across development, systems and database administration, while also introducing missing policies, infrastructure practices and internal systems.

Founder of Insidebnb

I built Insidebnb in approximately six months, grew it for two years and eventually sold it. The platform processed large-scale rental market data and delivered APIs and dashboards for pricing and market analysis.

Fit

What I do — and what I avoid.

I am a good fit when a company needs a senior technical partner who can help define the solution, not just execute predefined tickets.

I focus on high-impact consulting, product architecture, data platforms, API products, AI-assisted systems and senior technical leadership. I usually avoid low-budget work, small brochure websites, generic WordPress jobs and purely execution-based roles with no strategic involvement.

Work with me

Available for consulting, senior technical leadership and selected product opportunities.

I work closely with founders, CEOs, CFOs, CMOs and senior decision-makers, translating business goals into technical direction, product strategy and practical execution plans.

Beyond choosing tools and technologies, I help clarify priorities, identify new opportunities and define realistic paths from business need to working product.

Primarily available for remote and flexible collaborations. Open to long-term or full-time roles for the right opportunity, especially where product thinking, architecture and hands-on execution are all required.

Email me Connect on LinkedIn