Principal Engineer · NanoPlatform
On contract through IO Corp. NanoPlatform describes itself as the origination engine for asset lenders.
Sydney, Australia · Available for advisory
Alex Collins.
Engineer and founder.
I'm a principal engineer at NanoPlatform on contract through IO Corp, and I'm building Ahead. Most of my work is regulated financial software. I also write open-source tools for problems I kept running into.
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IO Corp -
Ahead -
Finstead Capital -
TurboDRF -
Drive -
XREF -
Cuberider -
LVS Brokers -
Freighty -
University of Sydney
A unique and priceless combination of brains, heart, insight and hustle.
With extensive technical ability and a strategic mindset, Alex is an exceptional CTO who can tackle complex engineering challenges and drive companies forward, from start-up to scale.
Currently
Where I spend my time
Director · IO Corp Pty Ltd
The company I contract and build products through. IO Corp does product, engineering and advisory work in fintech, insurance, crypto, AI and automation, for clients in Australia and overseas. It builds Wealth MS and is a partner of bynoon and of the venture studio Unearth-D.
Founder · Ahead
A personal-finance app that connects to your bank accounts and projects your money weeks and months ahead. You can stack what-if scenarios on top. It's tax-aware and uses read-only bank access under the Consumer Data Right. I'm building it on my own.
Open source
TurboDRF
Role-based REST APIs for Django.
It checks role, row and field permissions on every request, and the router won't start until each model says how it's split between tenants. I wrote it after building the same ViewSets one too many times. Wealth MS runs on it.
- v0.6.1 on PyPI
- 95.39% test coverage
- Python 3.10 to 3.14
- MIT
class Project(models.Model, TurboDRFMixin):
title = models.CharField(max_length=200)
workspace = models.ForeignKey(Workspace, on_delete=models.CASCADE)
owner = models.ForeignKey(User, on_delete=models.CASCADE)
@classmethod
def turbodrf(cls):
return {
"fields": ["title", "workspace", "owner"],
"tenant_field": "workspace", # the tenant wall
"owner_field": "owner", # members see their own rows
"bypass_owner_roles": ["manager"], # managers see the workspace
}Selected work
Projects
Some are finished and some I'm still working on.
Ahead
getahead.money
See your money ahead of time.
Tax-aware money forecasting for Australians, on the accounts you already have, with stacked what-if scenarios. Read-only bank access under the CDR.
Personal financeOpen Banking (CDR)Forecasting
TurboDRF
turbodrf.com
Django REST APIs with role, row and field permissions.
An open-source Django REST library. It checks role, row and field permissions on every request and refuses to start with a bad config. MIT licensed, v0.6.1 on PyPI.
Open sourcePythonDjangoMIT
SpaceNamer
github.com/AlexanderCollins/spacenamer
Real names for your Mac's Spaces.
A free, open-source menu bar app. Your names show in the menu bar and in Mission Control, and you can switch Spaces without the slide animation. It works with SIP left on.
Open sourcemacOSSwiftMIT
Drive
drive.inc
An app for finding great driving roads.
Scores open map data to find the best driving roads near you, then builds routes, navigates them and connects you with other drivers.
MobileMapsCommunity
Australian Solana Crypto Exchange
Founding engineer on a regulated Solana exchange.
Founding engineer on a licensed Australian Solana exchange. I was responsible for custody and security, and the platform passed an external penetration test before launch.
DjangoSolanaAWS KMSSecurity
Before all this
Recent positions
Every role before the current ones, then the ventures I started along the way.
Earlier ventures
- Drive · Co-Founder & CTO Co-founded with Chris Saad. We figured out how to identify the best driving roads on Earth from open map data, then shipped it as an iOS app for drivers.
Two Lovers · Co-Founder & CTO Side project. Helped couples find and hire Australian wedding vendors online. Ran for about a year. 
Wingman.ai · Co-Founder Built with Chris Saad. A browser extension that uses AI to summarise and explain online articles. People used it, and it's still on the Chrome Web Store. 
Guide Next Door · Co-Founder A platform for setting up and running your own local guided experiences.
Working on something hard?
I take on a few contracts at a time through IO Corp, for clients in Australia and overseas. If you have a hard technical problem, I'd like to hear about it.