Build Here teaches you to build: see a problem, try fast, look at what it changes, and pass it on. It is for people who want to start, builders who want to get better, people growing a team, and people who back them.
Building is not only for engineers. Support, sales, design, finance, operations, community work: wherever someone improves a situation, they are building. And with today’s tools, AI first among them, anyone can build far beyond their own trade.
Who writes it
I’ve been building since 2000. I built SiteDynamic, a CMS sold around the world from 2002 to 2007, then co-founded and rebuilt the relaunch of the French marketplace 2xMoinsCher from 2011 to 2014. From 2016 to 2025, I co-founded Afrikrea, now ANKA, and built it as CTO: Africa’s largest e-commerce export platform, with over $80 million in sales across 175 countries.
Why this book exists
I went looking for builders, and mostly saw the ones my network made visible. I took that filter for a measure of the level around me. That was my mistake. This book starts from that correction: concrete practices for building, getting better, and getting others to build.
Where to start
The four paths give you a direct way in. Every card reads on its own, in a few minutes.
The builder test gives you your level, from 1 to 5, based on what you did in recent months, and a move to try. Without an account, your answers are sent nowhere. The method explains how the level is calculated.
Where the ideas come from
The book draws on proven practices and on texts the annotated reading list lets you find. The scenes are constructed to illustrate; the reading guide explains how to read the cards.
Sending feedback
On a card, “Did this help?” flags what helps or what is missing. It needs JavaScript, not an account.
Give the card, the passage, and what your context changes. A precise counter-example helps as much as a correction.
You can also reach me on LinkedIn. On GitHub, the issues and discussions are open. For a translation, write to me first: someone may already be on it.
Reusing and adapting
The book is under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0. Share it and adapt it, including for a workshop: credit the source, say what you changed, and share your adaptations under the same licence. The licence text is the reference.
The source repository holds the text, the site, and the checking tools. That is where you propose a correction or an adaptation.