/ ABOUT

The person behind the mission.

Niklas B. Muegge

Entrepreneur · Product Builder · Full-Stack Engineer
Based in Southeast Asia

The Short Version

I build products to make markets more efficient and transparent. I design, develop, and ship complete platforms — from user experience and mobile apps to APIs, search systems, and production infrastructure — end-to-end, as a solo technical founder.

Currently, I'm building Proplink, a multi-country real estate platform bringing MLS-grade property search to Southeast Asia, starting with Thailand, Vietnam, and Singapore.

I've worked across finance, real estate, and technology as a developer, product manager, and entrepreneur. If you need someone who can take a product from idea to production — design, build, and operate the whole thing — we should talk.

What I'm Building

Proplink — Real Estate Search for Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia has no functioning MLS (Multiple Listing Service). Property data is fragmented across hundreds of agency websites, Facebook groups, and Line chats. Foreign buyers — who bring significant capital — have no reliable way to search, compare, or verify properties across markets.

Proplink is building the platform to fix that.

The opportunity: Thailand recently extended foreign leaseholds to 99 years and raised the foreign condo ownership quota from 49% to 75%. PropertyGuru, the region's largest PropTech company, was acquired for $1.1B in late 2024. The market is large, growing, and drastically underserved by technology.

What I've built (solo):

  • A full property search platform with trilingual support (Thai, Vietnamese, English) — web and mobile
  • Geospatial and multilingual search so buyers can find properties by location, features, and price across countries
  • Agent-facing tools for listing management, lead tracking, and portfolio presentation
  • SEO-optimized public pages with server-rendered property listings and structured data
  • Image processing pipeline that automatically optimizes listing photos for web and mobile
  • Self-hosted production infrastructure running on bare metal — keeping operational costs at a fraction of typical cloud spend

How I Work

I'm a product builder who happens to go deep on infrastructure. I think in user flows and business models first, then build the systems to make them real — including the parts most founders outsource.

Product & Design

I start with the experience. Who's the user, what are they trying to do, and what's the simplest path to get them there? I design interfaces, define information architecture, and build responsive UIs across web and mobile. For Proplink, that means property search that works as naturally in Thai as it does in English, listing pages that rank on Google, and agent dashboards that don't require training.

Full-Stack Development

I build across the entire stack: React and Next.js on the frontend, Hono APIs on the backend, PostgreSQL with PostGIS for geospatial data, Elasticsearch for search, and React Native for mobile. I write TypeScript end-to-end with strong typing via Drizzle ORM and Effect-TS because shipping fast means catching errors before they reach users.

Infrastructure as a Competitive Advantage

I self-host on bare metal (Hetzner, Docker Swarm) not because I love servers, but because it makes the product more viable. Running the full stack — database, search, caching, job queues, observability — on infrastructure I control keeps monthly costs 5–10x lower than equivalent cloud services. For a startup in Southeast Asia, that's not a technical preference — it's months of extra runway.

The Stack

  • Web: Next.js, React Server Components, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS
  • Mobile: React Native
  • API: Hono on Bun, Effect-TS, OpenTelemetry
  • Database: PostgreSQL with PostGIS, Drizzle ORM
  • Search: Elasticsearch (multilingual, geospatial)
  • Background Jobs: BullMQ, image processing, search sync
  • Infrastructure: Docker Swarm on Hetzner, GitLab CI/CD, Cloudflare CDN
  • Observability: Grafana, Loki, Tempo, Mimir (LGTM stack)
  • Storage: MinIO, Cloudflare R2

Background

I started coding at 12 after watching The Social Network — the idea that a kid could build something that changes the world stuck with me. I learned through Stanford's free online courses on iTunes U, built my first mobile app at 14, and haven't stopped shipping since.

That early start turned into a career that cuts across domains: product management, full-stack development, system architecture, and entrepreneurship. I've worked in finance and real estate, built decentralized infrastructure, contributed to open-source projects, and advised organizations on technology strategy.

What ties it all together is a belief that the best technology is invisible — it just works for the people using it. And that the people who need it most are often the ones least served by existing solutions.

What I Can Help With

For Companies & Teams (Consulting/Freelance)

I take on select projects where I can make an outsized impact — typically as a senior engineer, product lead, or fractional CTO:

  • Product development end-to-end — from concept and design to production launch across web and mobile
  • Full-stack engineering — Next.js, React Native, TypeScript, PostgreSQL, Elasticsearch
  • Marketplace and platform architecture — multi-sided platforms, search systems, listing management, internationalization
  • Cost-optimized infrastructure — self-hosted deployments that cut cloud spend without sacrificing reliability
  • Technical due diligence — evaluating architecture, product quality, and technical risk for investors or acquirers

I'm particularly effective for startups and SMEs who need a senior builder — someone who can own the product, not just write code.

For Investors

If you're evaluating PropTech, marketplace infrastructure, or Southeast Asian tech opportunities, I can offer perspective grounded in hands-on building.

Proplink sits at the intersection of several converging trends: Thailand's liberalization of foreign property ownership, the $1.1B PropertyGuru exit validating Southeast Asian PropTech, and the persistent absence of MLS infrastructure across the region. I've built the entire platform solo — product, design, engineering, infrastructure — and I'm looking for partners who share the vision of opening up real estate markets in developing economies.

What I Believe

Sovereignty

People should control their own data, digital presence, and economic participation. I build platforms that distribute access rather than concentrate it.

Transparency

Open source, open standards, and honest communication build trust. I publish what I learn and build in the open where I can.

Accessibility

Powerful technology means nothing if only a privileged few can access it — whether that's the end user or the founder trying to afford their infrastructure.

Long-term Thinking

Building for sustainability over growth-at-all-costs. Owning over renting. Patience over hype.

Let's Connect

Whether you're a startup looking for a technical co-founder or senior product engineer, an investor exploring Southeast Asian PropTech, or someone building for underserved markets — I'd like to hear from you.

→ Email → LinkedIn → GitHub