About
Who I am and what matters to me.
From faith to fitness, software, surfing and everything in between. This is William Warne in a nutshell.
Coming soon
Reading
Coming soon
Travel
Born in Manchester, raised in Cape Town, and settling in Mafra, Portugal. I started in software development and have been building systems, consulting, and founding ventures ever since.
Software Engineering & Projects
A passion and my career—for someone who loves to design and build systems and solutions, the speed and variety of software is a blessing to be involved in. I never saw myself as a computer guy, but that changed when I realised and experienced the satisfaction in designing, building, and shipping practically valuable solutions. I've been involved in 15+ ventures from idea to launch. Now I find myself consulting, founding, building systems that ship. I focus on design and delivery across the stack—backend, infra, developer experience. Pragmatic development of enterprise grade systems and increasing quality and speed is my continual pursuit. Zebra Labs — Consulting, contracting. The umbrella under which everything software engineering related sits. A framework to support work, and ongoing development. Context as Code (coming soon) — An ongoing experiment focused on leveraging AI and workflows to optimise workflows.
Beliefs
What I Believe
My Christian faith anchors my world view. Despite differences in religion and beliefs it's imperative that collaboration and cooperation prevail. I'm drawn to the work culture dynamics well articulated in the book No Rules Rules by Reed Hastings and Erin Meyer—high ownership, radical candour, and these are the environments in which I tend to thrive best in work and life. Faith Nexus (coming soon) — an experiment where I explore and unpack the history and claims of Christianity. Attempting to map the landscape of understanding, boundaries, and unexplored territories.
Key beliefs — LinkedIn
William Warne
Your tech partner in building apps and startups
7mo·Public
People might forget what your product does. But they won't forget how it made them feel. I don't understand when restaurants deliver underportioned plates of food. The disappointment that sets in is what you now associate with that restaurant. My favourite cafe here in Bali understands this phenomenon—every smoothie comes with an unexpected fruit kabob. Generosity led to user retention.
William Warne
Your tech partner in building apps and startups
8mo·Public
We rarely do anything just for ourselves. Even the wins that look solo? Rarely are. We think we're chasing the summit. But what we really want—is to get there with someone who can turn, smile, and say: 'That was wild.' Big or small, the journey's better shared. Building HIGH 5 with Marco and Sean. Bringing Zebra Labs workshops to life.
William Warne
Your tech partner in building apps and startups
8mo·Public
Are startup incubators always the right move? I've been thinking about this lately—and I don't have all the answers. The word 'incubator' suggests critical fragility. A place to stay warm. Protected. Structured. Don't sign up for insulation when you need ignition—and vice versa.
Key beliefs — Blog
Zebra Labs Backend Default Design — Outline (v1)
August 19, 2025 · William Warne
A practical, opinionated baseline for building FastAPI services at Zebra Labs. Domain-driven, hexagonal, code-first data, with clear observability and a smooth Fly.io → AWS path.
Read more →Zebra Labs Frontend Default Design — Outline (v1)
June 28, 2025 · William Warne
A practical, opinionated baseline for building frontends at Zebra Labs. Every decision connects to higher-level goals we have reasoned about in advance.
Read more →Hobby
Surfing
I grew up 15 minutes from the surf, but only took it up later in life. Dad and my brother were glad to have another buddy to join in on the adventures. Although they pushed, it was Surf's Up and The Endless Summer movies that got me in the water in the end. The cool calm elegance of classic longboard captivated me, but after one too many snapped longboards I decided I needed a short board in my arsenal also. So I built one. Out of wood. I'm looking forward to settling near the surf in Ericeira, Portugal and many more surfs with family and friends. And even making a few more surfboards.
Hobby
Muay Thai
Introduced to martial arts early on I always found myself gravitating back to it sporadically when schedules allowed. Kung Fu, kickboxing, boxing, Muay Thai, BJJ, but Muay Thai stuck. It's the challenge, the stakes, and the intensity I like. You go all out, and you make good friends along the way. One fight down, many more to come.
