Maurice Kleine
build it till you make it
about
i'm based in amsterdam. started studying psychology, switched to tech when i wanted something more concrete. what began as a late start in coding turned into 14+ years of building software.
while at uni, i built a logistics system out of frustration with how data was handled at my part-time job. six years later, i sold it. small exit but i'm proud of it. from there i did frontend, backend, product, and eventually managed teams of devs.
in 2023 i co-founded subthread where we built dozens of ai products - chatbots, recruitment pipelines, consumer apps. that opened my eyes to how powerful ai can be for businesses of all sizes. now i help smes save time by building ai automations for their workflows.
what i build
i treat life as a series of experiments. same goes for products - ship small things, learn from them, keep iterating. even the failed experiments are worth it as long as you keep learning.
current projects:
- Mockly - fake chat screenshots for 15+ platforms. i can't believe this is legal
- ONESIXTYEIGHT - mushroom blend for focus without the crash. helping you get more out of your 168 hours each week
- NonoBench - benchmark for testing how well llms solve nonogram puzzles. spoiler: not great
- Chief - cli tool for ai coding agents. made claude-coding way less chaotic for me
community
i run Hackadam, a monthly meetup in amsterdam for indie makers building their own stuff. we meet, share what we're working on, have lunch, do demos, hang out. part of the HACKA* network.
building alone can be isolating. having people who get the journey - wins and failures - makes it more sustainable.
philosophy
most of what i do comes down to a few principles: progress is the goal, life is absurdly valuable and needs protecting, and the two shouldn't destroy each other. not progress at all cost - but most things should help us move forward.
the strategy is to tinker as much as possible. less top-down planning, more trial and error. ship things, see what happens, collect as many black swan opportunities as you can. any experiment is worth it as long as you keep learning.
i want the biggest comfort zone possible. growth comes from stepping outside it, but you need a safe base to return to. travel, building, community - they all expand that zone.
it's incredibly coincidental that we're here. we need to leverage that - propel things forward lest we fade into obscurity. that's what keeps me building.