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API intelligence · Dino
Dino
The API quality and context layer for AI agents: understand, test and safely modify APIs, with verdicts backed by evidence.
Founder · Architect · Full-Stack Engineer · Founded 2026
Explore architectureDennismary Chidiebere
Engineer · Founder · Operator
I build things that didn’t exist before.
I’m Dennis, an engineer, founder and operator based in Lagos. I build products, engineer complex systems and bring together the people who turn ambitious ideas into reality.
Now
The problems I care about sit where products, money and machines meet.
- Founder · DinoTeaching AI agents to trust softwareDino gives coding agents a real understanding of the APIs they change, then proves the change works.Read more
- CTO · CircoLeading engineering for creator videoSixteen engineers, one platform: the video pipeline, its protection and its moderation, all running in production.Read more
- Advisor · SFXMoving tuition across bordersA FinCEN-registered payments business now processing US$10–15 million, and a 2026 Circle grant recipient.Read more
- Venture value
- $30M+combined value of the ventures and products I built
- Value processed
- $10M+moved through the products I built and managed
- Companies founded
- 3Yuki, ComiBlock and Dino
Selected work
Systems I’m proud of
02
Intelligence · Circo
VideoSense
Twenty-two additive steps turn one upload into teasers, platform presets, thumbnail crops and monetisation signals.
Architect; built the engine · AI video intelligence
Explore architecture03
Fintech · Yuki
Yuki
Wallet and stablecoin infrastructure for African fintechs as one API: twice through Celo Camp, a DeFi award and Blockchain Founders Group’s Adrenaline programme.
Founder, CEO and product lead · 20K+ daily API requests
Explore architecture04
Fintech · SFX
SFX
Cross-border tuition payments and SFX Points, from a FinCEN-registered business that is a 2026 Circle grant recipient.
Technical product partner; built the product with the team · US$10M+ processed
Explore architectureMedia · Circo
Multi-DRM and entitlement
Encrypt once, license per viewer: the licence decision is a business rule about who has paid.
Live in production
Leadership · Circo
Project Zeus
Every engineering board in one live view: what is being built, by whom, how healthy delivery is and where it is stuck.
Delivery intelligence
Fintech · ComiBlock
ComiBlock
A goal-based crypto robo-advisor: risk profile, model portfolio and recurring naira investing, valued at around US$3 million.
US$400K under management
Intelligence · Circo
Circo Sparks
Every interaction carries two values, one for the fan and one for the creator, in a single event model.
Team-built
The Engineering Museum
Some systems are easier to understand when you can run them.
The museum holds what I’ve built, floor by floor. Start with the Video Factory: send a film through it and watch it become protected, adaptive streams.
Exhibit 01 · The Video FactoryLive model
Transcoding the ladder while moderation runs in its own service.
- MediaTranscoding, protection, moderation and delivery for creator video.5
- IntelligenceEvent models, analytics and discovery that respect privacy.5
- FintechWallets, ledgers, payments and the rules that turn payment into access.9
- Developer InfrastructureVerification and tooling for software that agents build.16
- LeadershipTeams, operating models and the platforms they run.5
Companies and teams
Products, systems and the teams that build them are one problem.
I’ve founded three companies, led engineering as a CTO and built products alongside other founders. The common thread is turning ambitious ideas into things that work every day.
How I lead engineering- DinoFounder · Architect · Full-Stack EngineerThe API quality and context layer for AI agents.2026 –
- CircoCTO · Head of Product EngineeringA creator-first video platform; sixteen engineers, systems live in production.2024 –
- SFXTechnical product partner · AdvisorCross-border tuition payments; US$10M+ processed, FinCEN-registered.2023 –
- YukiFounder · CEO · ProductWallet infrastructure for African fintechs; 20,000+ API requests a day.2023
- ComiBlockFounder · CEO · ProductA goal-based crypto robo-advisor; US$400K under management.2021 – 2023
- OPayPayment AnalystPayment operations, reconciliation and fraud monitoring at volume.2019 – 2020
Ideas and explorations
Small machines for big ideas
Experiments I build to think through how systems behave, and notes on engineering and AI tooling.
- 01The Retry StormWhy retries meant to recover from an outage keep a server buried, and how jitter sets it free.
- 02The Cache ShelfWhat a cache should forget, and when the answer is simply a bigger shelf.
- 03Engineering decisionsMake the call yourself on two real design decisions, then see what was built.
10 entries · Engineering and product experiments at Circo, 2024–2026
The Circo Engineering Diaries
Circo-focused engineering and product experiments from a creator-first video platform: video infrastructure, DRM and provenance, live premieres, moderation, recommendations, the move to WebSockets and the years we took peer-to-peer seriously.
Operator Notes
Notes from the operator’s desk.
- AI engineering · Apr 2026I Stopped Claude Code From Burning My Tokens. Then I Built a System Around It.How a five-agent infrastructure, a custom Bun fork and a JSON file changed how I ship software.
- Growth · Jan 2026Why Influencer Campaigns Burn CashPart I: how the algorithm actually allocates attention.
- Leadership · Jan 2026Why the Best Companies Aren’t Built by ConsensusField observations from building, deciding and carrying the cost of clarity.
Building something that doesn’t exist yet?
I’m always glad to talk with founders, engineers and teams working on hard products.