Me, my agents, and two decades of shipping

Overpass is an app studio in Birmingham. I build productivity, lifestyle and utility apps for iOS, Android, macOS, Windows and the web, and AI agents for businesses. I've been writing code since 1998 and running Overpass since 2004. I've no plans to stop.

Overpass

Years of coding: 25+
YouTube videos: 1,000+
Apps in the stores now: 13
Since: 2004

The short version

I grew up in the US, studied history at Central Missouri State, then joined the army as a linguist, learning Chinese and Vietnamese along the way. It sounds more glamorous than it was, but it taught me to learn fast and work under pressure.

After the army I moved to the UK and ended up writing code for investment banks in the City. That's where I found out two things: I was good at building things with technology, and I didn't want to spend the rest of my career doing it for banks.

I started writing code in 1998 and founded Overpass in 2004. It began as a mobile app agency with a small team. Since 2012 we've shipped 240+ apps (language games, utilities, business tools) with over 2.2 million App Store downloads, and titles translated into 20+ languages.

These days there's no development team. I replaced it with AI agents, and I ship more, faster, than we ever did as an agency. One human steering, with everything I've learned in 25 years of building software.

How the agents fit in

I'm upfront about this: I replaced my human development team with AI. Not because they weren't good; they were. But I've always been the person who works out how to get things done with whatever tools are available, and right now the best tools are AI.

Claude writes much of the code. Agents handle testing, documentation and project coordination, and watch my apps for problems before users notice. It's a pipeline that would have needed five people three years ago.

It's how I ship the products, manage client work, write the blog and still have time for side projects. The agents do the repetitive work. The decisions that need 25 years of context stay with me.

The stand-up comedy chapter

I used to do stand-up. I performed at Komedia in Brighton, The Branding Network, and open mic nights around the UK. I'm not on stage any more, but I don't regret a single set.

Comedy taught me to read a room, to be honest about what's working and what isn't, and to keep going when something falls flat. Those turned out to be useful skills for building products.

It also kept me from taking myself too seriously. Which, if you've ever met a tech founder, you'll know is a genuine public service. I even built an app out of it: TightFive, a comedy practice tool with simulated audience reactions.

Eric performing stand-up comedy on stage at Komedia, bathed in purple lights

Eric performing at The Branding Network comedy night

A Minute of Overpass

I've made over 1,000 videos on my YouTube channel, covering app development, Flutter, business, and the occasional rant about technology. It started as a way to record what I was learning and turned into something people watch.