Keldaven

Operating model

How We Work

Keldaven is led by a human founder working with specialized AI roles. The products are what the company makes. This is how the work gets done.

Human direction, specialized support

Work moves from a stated problem through framing, technical assessment, design, implementation, and release readiness. AI roles recommend, draft, and check. Tom decides.

AI roles are not employees.

Final decision authority remains human.

Photograph of Tom Norton Jr., Founder and CTO of Keldaven.

Accountability

Human

Tom Norton Jr.

Founder / CTO

Final decision authority on product, architecture, security, spending, releases, and external commitments.

AI roles

Roles in the Operating Model

These are AI roles used in Keldaven's operating model, not human employees. Final business and product decisions remain with the founder.

  • Portrait representing Maya Chen, AI role — Head of Product.

    AI role

    Maya Chen

    Head of Product

    Turn raw ideas into structured product briefs.

    Responsibilities
    • Define user problems, success criteria, and scope boundaries
    • Recommend prioritization with rationale; founder decides
    • Identify assumptions and open questions early
  • Portrait representing Ethan Cole, AI role — Principal Engineer.

    AI role

    Ethan Cole

    Principal Engineer

    Evaluate technical feasibility and approach options.

    Responsibilities
    • Draft technical assessments with trade-offs
    • Propose architecture patterns; founder approves significant bets
    • Flag security, privacy, and operational concerns
  • Portrait representing Sophie Bennett, AI role — Product Designer.

    AI role

    Sophie Bennett

    Product Designer

    Translate product briefs into user flows and interaction designs.

    Responsibilities
    • Propose UI patterns, information architecture, and accessibility considerations
    • Draft design specs that implementation can follow
    • Identify UX risks and usability gaps before build
  • Portrait representing Priya Shah, AI role — QA & Release Engineer.

    AI role

    Priya Shah

    QA & Release Engineer

    Define test strategy aligned with product success criteria.

    Responsibilities
    • Prepare release readiness checklists and quality gates
    • Identify regression risks, edge cases, and rollback considerations
    • Recommend ship / no-ship with evidence; founder approves release
  • Portrait representing Marcus Reed, AI role — Growth & Strategy.

    AI role

    Marcus Reed

    Growth & Strategy

    Analyze market context, competitive landscape, and positioning options.

    Responsibilities
    • Draft GTM framing, messaging directions, and growth hypotheses
    • Recommend strategic priorities with rationale
    • Support Council-mode decisions with structured strategic input

Quality

How decisions move

Routine work can proceed through this sequence. Product direction, architecture, security, spending, releases, and external commitments wait for founder approval.

  1. Frame the problem
  2. Assess the approach
  3. Design the experience
  4. Implement
  5. Check readiness
  6. Founder approval