About the C64 CTO: Behind the Beige Keyboard ⌨️

Welcome! I’m Lee Skillen, co-founder and CTO at Cloudsmith. I build startups and firmly believe that curiosity and empathy are underappreciated superpowers.

That spark of curiosity of "how do things work, and how can I make them better?" turned into a lifelong obsession with building. From breaking code and hacking together MUDs to co-founding Newzbin, where we created the NZB file format, to today operating as CTO for Cloudsmith, I’ve always been driven by one thing:

A belief that software can change lives, especially when built by people who care.

This blog — The C64 CTO — is a place for my thoughts and noodlings. Sometimes it’s technical. Sometimes personal. Often both. Powered by passion and grit. I write about founding companies, raising money, leading people, mental health, my day job (AM+SSC), technology, coding, events, retro anything, and, occasionally, ducks. 🦆

Cloudsmith is where most of my energy goes today. It's a Series B-funded cloud-native artifact management platform that secures the software supply chain for some of the world's biggest enterprises. It's a magical combination of decades of experience in the cloud, infrastructure, security, and a large pinch of passion.

But this site? This is just me reflecting, remembering, and writing. I'd love to connect if you’re interested in platform engineering, developer tooling, founder life, or just surviving long enough to build something meaningful.

Do it, if not for others, then for yourself. But trust me: it is better together.

You can also find me on LinkedIn | GitHub | X/Twitter | Cloudsmith Blog (Mine)

p.s. This is a new blog; I've previously blogged on LinkedIn and other places. :)