Providence, Rhode Island

Brian J.
McGuirk

I spent twenty years solving problems for startups, small businesses, and the great State of Rhode Island. Now the problems I solve are my own. I'm the co‑founder of 1time studios, where we make focused, fast, genuinely useful apps for professionals whose gear is their livelihood — and where I finally get to do the thing I've wanted to do all along.

1time studios Check1 LinkedIn

01Now

1time studios is a two‑person software firm I run with Nate Lopes — a professional DJ, a better marketer than I'll ever be, and my closest friend since we were three years old. Forty years of friendship turns out to be excellent preparation for a founding partnership: we disagree quickly, decide quickly, and ship. The studio motto is “Two people. A lot of good software.” We're holding ourselves to it.

Check1

iOS & Android — launched August 2026

Insurance‑ready gear inventory for working DJs. Point your camera at your rig and Check1 identifies it, values it, and keeps claim‑ready documentation at hand for the worst day of your professional life. Your whole rig, cataloged in eleven minutes. Bands and photographers are next.

Click Clack

Meta Quest — mixed reality

A mixed‑reality shooter that plays off your own walls, with thousands of weekly players. Proof that a two‑person shop can ship something people come back to every week — and that work is allowed to be fun.

02The road here

My career has run through consulting, payments, government, and fintech — usually at the seam where technology meets institutions that need it to simply work.

2025—
1time studios — Co‑founder. Business, infrastructure, and backend engineering: Python, FastAPI, GraphQL, Flutter, and Google Cloud.
2021–24
Fintech — Business development at SRM and Bankjoy, helping community banks and credit unions across the country make smarter technology and payments decisions. I still serve on the board of Greenwood Credit Union.
2015–21
State of Rhode Island — From the Office of Digital Excellence to Head of IT at the Department of Business Regulation, where I architected the state's COVID‑19 response platform — work that became the model for Salesforce's Work.com.
Before
The first decade — Payments analytics at Swipely, online account opening at Andera (now Bottomline), and IT consulting from Providence to San Francisco. Along the way: trustee service with Trinity Repertory Company and Common Cause Rhode Island.
School
Brown University — International Relations, with a focus on global security. I went in planning to understand the world and came out building software for it, which feels about right.

03Off the clock

The best things in my life aren't on this page. I'm a happy father of two amazing kids, and I'm married to an amazing woman who also happens to be an excellent therapist — a professional pairing I can only describe as extremely convenient for everyone involved.

Writing. There's a novel in progress. It's going slowly, on purpose.
Woodworking. I make furniture that is very nearly square.
The Stoics. Marcus Aurelius and a daily practice that keeps entrepreneurship survivable.
Languages. Enough French and Hindi to order dinner, ask directions, and quit while I'm ahead.

04Say hello

The best place to find me is LinkedIn. If you're building something for a professional community that the big platforms ignore, I'd especially like to hear from you.