The person behind it
Hi, I'm Matt
Great North Agency is me — a Canadian developer who spent years inside big technology companies before deciding that small businesses deserve the same standard of work, without the agency overhead.
Before this
Where I've worked
Habits picked up in places where downtime, security and sloppy work all have a price.
BlackBerry
Enterprise security software
NCR
Retail & banking systems at scale
Definity
Regulated financial services
- Canadian
Armed
ForcesCanadian Armed Forces
Service, discipline, teamwork
Logos and names are the trademarks of their owners and appear here only to describe where I've worked. Nothing on this page implies their endorsement of Great North Agency.
What that buys you
Big-company habits, small-shop attention
- Security isn't a bolt-onYears around enterprise security software leave a mark. Your site gets HTTPS, sensible headers, spam protection and updates as standard — not as an upsell.
- Built to keep runningSystems that handle real transaction volume teach you to design for the bad day: backups, monitoring and a way back when something breaks.
- You talk to the builderNo account managers, no handoffs to a junior team. The person who scopes your project is the person who writes the code and answers your email.
- Plain language, fixed pricesRegulated industries make you explain things clearly and write them down. You get a fixed quote and honest answers, including when the answer is “you don't need that”.
Off the clock
Still building things
I live and work in Ontario, and when the laptop closes I'm usually still making something — most of it with a wall of 3D printers and two small quality-control inspectors who live in my house.
That side of things became 3D Ontario, a family shop printing articulated dragons and desk creatures. It's also where a lot of this studio's ideas get tested first: if a checkout flow or a product page annoys me there, it never reaches a client's site.
Let's talk about your project
Tell me what you're building and you'll get a straight answer — including whether I'm the right person for it.