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Nick Bouton

Hi – I'm Nick Bouton. Taunt Media is my software company, based out of Vancouver, BC, Canada. 🇨🇦

I've been at this for over 20 years now – I spent the last few years doing principal-level engineering work at Microsoft scaling consumer security products to millions of users, was the first employee and front-end lead at Klue (joined at seed, stuck around through Series A prep), and led UI architecture across Alida's 7-product suite.

Before all that, I built and ran Protagonize – a collaborative fiction-writing community that grew to 30,000+ authors and picked up a few awards along the way (SXSW finalist, Canadian New Media Awards, nextMEDIA Banff Top 5). It ran from 2008 to 2017, and I still hear from folks who miss it.

Consulting.

The project has to be interesting, the people have to be good, and the work has to matter.

On the Work

I'm a product builder and designer at heart, and I take 1:1 coaching and consulting selectively – mostly remote, mostly with individuals, creators, and small teams or agencies building new products or revamping existing ones.

Lately, a lot of that has involved AI tooling and process integration, both at scale and in indie builds – figuring out where AI earns its keep in a product dev workflow (and where it doesn't), building it in alongside the tools and systems a team already runs on, and pairing on the build-out. Then comes the part that doesn't get talked about much: the AI change management after the tools land – training, building muscle memory, and fitting them into how a team already works.

Currently booking a couple of engagements for summer 2026 onwards – drop me a note or grab some time if it sounds like a fit.

What I help with.

  • Engineering

    UI engineering & architecture

    Front-end architecture, design systems, and the UI layer of complex, multi-product suites.

  • Strategy

    Product strategy & consulting

    Product strategy, planning, and management consulting for individuals and small teams building or revamping products.

  • Design

    UX engineering & interaction design

    Interaction design and the product UX layer – designed and engineered together, not handed off as a static mockup.

  • Build

    Software development

    Custom software, web, and SaaS product builds for founders and teams – frontend-led, AI and LLMs in the loop where they earn their keep, from prototype to live product.

  • AI

    AI integration & change management

    Practical AI integration for teams – building the connective tissue (MCP servers, agent skills, custom integrations) and the change management that follows: training, habits, and fitting platforms like Microsoft 365 Copilot, Claude, ChatGPT Enterprise, and Gemini into existing tools and workflows.

  • Coaching

    1:1 product-build coaching

    Direct coaching, founder mentorship, and leadership development for individuals and small teams building new products.

Find Me Elsewhere

Or, on WhatsApp

Click to chat on WhatsApp

Or, by email

hello@tauntmedia.com