Technical product leader · Founder of Katsuko · Writer

CAN
ISERI

I turn complexity into products people trust, systems made clear, decisions people can use, and stories worth carrying.

For more than a decade, I have led technical product work inside complex, regulated environments. Through Katsuko, I carry that practice into consumer software. I also write speculative fiction and run marathons.

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10+ years

Technical product leadership in complex systems

3 independent builds

Scorch, HardBeet, and Aurora developed through Katsuko

Published

The Receiver, a Kindle short released in 2026

(01)

Selected work.

Independent products built under Katsuko, each centered on a sharp human problem and an honest release boundary.

Private pilot build

Scorch

Scorch makes head-to-head running fair across different paces. It turns mapped local routes into scheduled races where each runner gets a pace-based start and the whole field races toward one finish.

The problem

Local competition is often club-dependent, pace-matched, or tied to formal race calendars.

My role

I defined the product, designed the athlete journey, built the iOS client and backend, and set the privacy, safety, and launch gates.

The key decision

I removed cash prizes, payments, cycling, health-data integrations, and broad public claims from the first release so the pilot can prove free, run-only fair-start racing.

What is real now

The complete free-race lifecycle is validated against the backend. Outdoor physical-device testing is the next gate.

Verified build evidence

As of July 2026, 256 automated tests and 118 release-readiness checks pass across registration, server-timed starts, route telemetry, evidence-backed finishes, review, and results.

Fair startsLive route progressPrivacy boundariesRelease hardening

HardBeet

Active development

Care should not require surveillance. HardBeet creates a respectful daily check-in agreement: one deliberate tap, people you approve, and a clear escalation path when a check-in is missed.

Product boundary

Only a deliberate tap creates the shared signal. No live location or private phone activity is exposed, and offline check-ins stay visibly unconfirmed until the backend receives them.

Build-readiness evidence: React Native client, Supabase backend, consent model, notification escalation, privacy controls, offline behavior, localization foundation, security hardening, and release QA. The current candidate has passed 29 automated tests plus backend, access-control, and account-deletion checks. Physical-device QA is the next gate before external distribution.

Aurora

Working prototype

Aurora turns cruise history, route preferences, cabin needs, and a price threshold into explainable fit recommendations and quiet price-watch opportunities.

Product boundary

Recommendations expose route fit, tradeoffs, and confidence before asking someone to watch or act. Unsupported or private data paths are blocked instead of quietly scraped.

Prototype evidence: Cruise Passport, itinerary-fit model, Decision Confidence layer, privacy boundaries, source-policy architecture, installable PWA, backend scaffolding, and native shells. The fixture-backed validation suite currently passes 25 of 25 tests. A compliant live-source adapter and observed planning sessions are the next gates.

(02)

Proof from complex systems.

I currently lead technical product work for a global financial institution. The role spans roadmap decisions, cross-functional alignment, and hands-on technical delivery across product, engineering, analytics, risk, and control partners. Selected outcomes are anonymized to protect internal systems and teams.

35%

More efficient core workflows

Led reengineering across model validation, risk rating, and change-management workflows in a core risk platform.

50%

Faster breach detection

Built an automated model-performance evaluation approach across forecasting, trading, and valuation models.

3×

Greater API adoption

Led model-risk API enhancements that expanded adoption across internal product and platform consumers.

Selected figures reflect completed work and are anonymized. Confidential platform names, teams, and regulatory details are intentionally omitted.

Current practice

Regulated systems made legible.

Product leadership across financial platforms, analytics, API integrations, model risk, and reengineering. The work is to turn high-stakes workflows into decisions people can understand and trust.

Earlier foundation

Data and platforms at enterprise scale.

Earlier work included a multi-billion-dollar syndicated-loan platform migration, analytics integration, and web-service delivery across financial and healthcare systems.

MSc, Financial Engineering

New York University · Quantitative modeling, analytics, and optimization

BSc, Chemical and Biological Engineering

Koç University · Engineering systems and quantitative foundations

Technical fluency

Product strategy · Python · SQL · APIs · Cloud systems · Mobile and web delivery

(03)

Published Kindle short · July 2026

The Receiver

When an evaluator discovers a frontier model translating concepts no human culture has ever named, she must decide what version of humanity to show whatever may be listening on the other side.

The Receiver is a story about first contact through machines. It asks whether authenticity, performance, and our capacity for repair can ever be separated.

“Performance degrades authenticity. Repair improves compatibility.”

Read on Amazon

Available now38 pagesKindle editionEnglish

The idea beneath the story

The Orchard Hypothesis

A speculative framework that imagines civilizations as living systems whose mature intelligences create self-models: models that might one day become comparable, translatable, or receivable across worlds.

Authenticity and self-presentationIntelligence as relationshipRepair over perfection

(04)

26.2

miles · one practice

Progress accumulates through preparation, honest feedback, recovery, and return.

Built for the long run.

I am a marathoner pursuing all six World Marathon Majors. Endurance is not a metaphor added to the brand. It is part of how I learn, make decisions, and keep working when the first plan meets reality.

The pursuit

Complete the six World Marathon Majors through patient, sustainable progress.

The product origin

Scorch grew from a runner’s question: how can people at different paces still experience a meaningful head-to-head race?

The operating habit

Plan carefully, test honestly, adjust without drama, and return to the work.

(05)

The person behind the systems.

I am Can Iseri, a technical product leader, independent builder, writer, and marathoner based in New York. My professional work lives inside regulated financial systems. My independent work ships through Katsuko.

Katsuko is the label for Scorch, HardBeet, Aurora, and The Receiver. It gives me a place to carry one practice across software and story: make a difficult idea clear enough to use, test, or feel.

I work close to the full arc, from product promise and UX through engineering, privacy boundaries, validation, and release preparation. The medium changes. The standard does not.

KATSUKO

Software · stories · experiments · by Can Iseri

Open to thoughtful conversations

Does something here
resonate?

I am open to thoughtful conversations about technical product leadership, independent builds, publishing, and aligned collaborations. Tell me what you are working on and what a useful conversation would look like.

iserican@gmail.com

CANISERI