About me.

From hardship and chaos to sustainable growth and fulfillment.

In an increasingly complex world, leadership must be grounded in clarity and resilience. Empowering people to do meaningful work, wherever they are.

Nicolas Cava
Nicolas Cava
Fractional CTO

What drives me:

My values.

They inspire every decision I make and reflect everything I achieve.

Contribution
I show up fully to my business, my team, and the people I serve. Contribution means using my skills to advance positive progress, uplifting people along the way, and solving real problems that create lasting value.
Growth
Growing is a mindset, a lifestyle. I use learning, experimenting, and feedback as tools to expand my thinking and performance. In personal and professional life, I focus on progress over perfection.
Simplicity
Simplicity is discipline. I reduce complexity in how I work, communicate, and solve problems. I make space for focus, clarity, and execution. Simplicity drives alignment, execution speed, and exceptional outcomes.
Resilience
Resilience makes me grounded and adaptable in the face of chaos or setbacks. I remain calm under pressure and learn from tough times without losing momentum. Resilience is about recovering and always moving forward.

My engagement:

Scale with purpose. Grow through actions. Deliver lasting impact. Always putting people first.

I commit to leading myself and people I serve with clarity, integrity, and a growth mindset. Building businesses, systems, and individuals that scale with purpose, learn with intention, and impact through lasting value. I shape a vision where high standards, sustainable growth, and human connection must coexist to solve ambitious problems.

Backstory:

I was born Spanish and raised in a humble village in the south of France. Early on, I wanted to be an illustrator, and I've always been drawn to structure. From military ideals to systems that make the world work better. That tension between creativity and structure shaped the way I approached my life and work.

I started with design, moved into electrical engineering, and eventually found my home in software. I've worked remotely since 2011 (long before it was cool) and moved to Canada in 2013 to pursue more opportunity. Since then, I've worn many hats: developer, founder, manager, and executive leader. I've led teams and businesses, helped scale startups, and worked for one of Silicon Valley's top companies. I've also burned out, closed my own company, and started over. More than once.

In 2018, I returned to France with my family after a tough burnout. One of my kids was born just three weeks before that move. We spent the next three years traveling across Europe looking for a place to feel settled. 11 different places in just four months at one point. In 2021, we moved back to Canada, but life threw another curveball. In 2025, I was laid off and separated from my partner of 17 years. I'm now raising two kids and continuing to build a meaningful, grounded life.

This journey taught me what no textbook ever could: That resilience is built through adversity, not comfort. I learned that growth often comes from letting go, not just pushing forward. I saw firsthand how remote work isn't just a convenience. It's a powerful enabler of opportunity, especially for those far from major tech hubs. I came to understand that real leadership starts with self-leadership. Owning your energy, your mindset, and your impact. And perhaps most importantly, I learned that leadership without empathy doesn't scale. It breaks people.

I've always had a drive to push myself. Not to compete with others, but to challenge my own potential. I'm passionate about systems thinking, scale, and sustainability. Whether that's scaling engineering teams or helping others avoid burnout. I believe leadership is service. I believe in transparency, vulnerability, and in designing systems that care for people, so people can take care of the work.

I've led teams in high-stakes environments, built businesses from scratch, and learned the hard way that scaling isn't just about growth. It's about empowerment. My go-getter mindset had to evolve into something deeper: Self-leadership, compassion, and long-term contribution.

I've seen too many workplaces broken by politics, poor leadership, and disconnection. I believe there's a better way. One where leaders take responsibility, where empathy isn't a weakness, and where structure exists to support people, not control them.

Today, I'm focused on building businesses, systems, and lives that scale without burning out the people in them. I share what I learn to help others following the same path to avoid the same mistakes I made.

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