JDM Casanova

Jean-Dominique Michaël Casanova, Founder of Drafted By: EdTech, FinTech and AI engineer

Introduction, JDM Casanova professional journey
Present

Founder, Drafted By

EdTech · FinTech · AI

I build and run software, automate complex workflows, and teach AI and chess. I’m the founder of Drafted By, with a background in support engineering and automation at Apple, OpenText, and WhatsApp. My products include lesson planning across 13+ national curricula and retirement audit reports for French advisory firms.

Retirement software

  • Carriva: career-record analysis, anomaly detection and audit reports for French retirement advisers.

One lesson-planning suite, four local editions

Presentations

  • Prezto: turn text and documents into editable slide decks.

Everyday teaching tools

  • Agenda: a free teacher planner for timetables, classes, tasks and lesson scheduling.
  • Cahier.online: one permanent link for class homework and due dates.
  • Chessdesk: a coach-and-student workspace with free Stockfish game review and analysis.

AI coaching & delivery

  • JD Teach AI: individual coaching, team workshops, automation and custom AI systems.
Chess coaching and analytical training
Ongoing

Founder & coach, JD Chess

1-on-1 coaching · group masterclasses · digital tooling

I coach 1-on-1, run group masterclasses, and publish the supporting material. Structured training plus per-game analysis takes most students up to +500 Elo in 10 weeks.

Key Achievements

  • Site & booking: FR + EN, lesson archive, testimonials. Built and shipped solo. (jdchess.com)
  • Volume: 5,000+ individual sessions delivered worldwide. Verifiable Elo gains per student.
  • Ranking: Top 3 chess coach in France on Superprof, 5-star average.
  • Group program: Launched JD Chess Masterclass: structured group format, theory + live practice.
WhatsApp operations and process management
2019 - 2023 • WhatsApp, Ireland & Remote

Head of European Automation

Support automation · ML · Project Management

I led automation for WhatsApp’s European support operations, coordinating ML deployments, vendor delivery and the internal support platform.

Key Projects & Impact

  • Automation: As Head of European Automation, cut manual ticket handling by ~50%.
  • ML: Shipped ticket-closure ML models. Cut manual work and response time by 10%.
  • Platform: Built WASP, the internal support portal: ticket management plus automation.
  • Misinformation: Privacy-preserving analysis of misinformation patterns in French-speaking Africa.
  • Interop: Worked with legal and engineering on cross-app messaging interoperability across the Meta family.
OpenText technical operations role
2016 - 2019 • OpenText, Ireland

Business Network Engineer

B2B data exchange · EDI infrastructure

I supported enterprise clients on the GXS/OpenText Trading Grid, tracing B2B data, security, and transmission failures across global supply chains.

Technical Responsibilities

  • Network migration: Zero-downtime migrations for critical trading partners under strict security compliance.
  • EDI & connectivity: Trading partnerships across global supply chains, using AS2, SFTP and OFTP2.
  • Forensic debugging: Granular data tracking across ANSI X12 and EDIFACT. Caught transmission failures before client impact.
Apple technical support and customer service
2014 - 2016 • Apple, Ireland

Technical Support Senior Advisor

Escalation management · mentoring · documentation

I handled advanced cases on Apple’s technical escalation desk and helped junior advisors resolve them.

Key Contributions

  • Escalations: Owned advanced hardware and software cases for high-value clients.
  • CSAT: Top-percentile customer satisfaction scores across tenure.
  • Mentoring & documentation: Coached junior advisors and wrote troubleshooting guides used across the support team.
Early career roles and experiences
2010 - 2014 • France TV, Europcar, Orange

Early client-facing roles

Media · sales · service

At France TV, Europcar and Orange, I worked directly with clients across media, sales and service. Those roles taught me to listen closely, explain clearly and solve the problem in front of me.

Education and academic background
Foundations

Cinema, economics, and sciences

Cinema · economics · sciences

Cinema shaped how I structure a story, economics how I think about incentives, and sciences how I test a hypothesis. These influences still guide my product and teaching work.

Get in touch, contact and networking
Next Steps

Work with me

Software, AI training, and chess coaching

Work directly with me to diagnose a production problem, plan a migration, or move an existing software product forward.

Diagnose a production problem
Trace the gap between what your application should do and what users actually see.
Plan a migration
Work through dependencies, the cutover, and how to check the service afterwards.
Evolve an existing product
Connect the next feature to the application, integrations, and operations it depends on.

Examples from my own products

Diagnosing a stale monorepo deployment: I compared the running versions and public pages across four apps, then checked the result of the recovery.

Moving this site from Vercel to Coolify: The cutover, the problems I encountered, and the operating responsibilities I took on.

For AI systems, workflow automation, coaching, or team workshops, visit JD Teach AI. For chess lessons and masterclasses, visit JD Chess. Drafted By is the studio for my own products.

Describe your software project and what is blocked. Include a public link if useful, what you expected to happen, and your timeframe. I’ll reply by email.

This site uses first-party analytics and processes contact-form data as described in its privacy notice.

Etched brass processor with radial circuits, representing analysis and diagnosis
Analytical Core

Analysis & Automation

I turn unclear problems into testable parts, then trace each part to its cause.

Problem Solving
Systematic diagnosis that traces a symptom to its cause.
Process Automation
Workflows that remove repeated manual steps.
Strategic Planning
Long-term direction broken into milestones you can verify.
Etched brass bridge joining two circuit pillars, representing communication and translation
Communication Layer

Communication & Technical Leadership

I translate technical decisions into language that clients, teachers, and operators can use.

Cross-Cultural Communication
Adapting tone, examples, and stakes per audience.
Escalation Management
Turning high-pressure conflicts into structured resolutions.
Technical Writing
Docs that let the next person complete the work without guessing.
Etched brass field manual with converging circuits, representing teaching and execution
Execution & Pedagogy

Teaching & Mentorship

Chess coaching and support operations use the same loop: explain the task, practise it, review the result, and adjust.

Structured Teaching
Breaking down complex skills into learnable steps.
Performance Tracking
Metrics that guide improvement, not decoration.
Mentorship
Building independence, not dependency.
Etched brass result bars on a stable base, representing shipped and measured work
Tools & Results

Tools & Selected Outcomes

The useful output is live, measured, and still running. These are the tools and results behind the work.

Tooling Stack

Application development
Next.js, React, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS, FastAPI, Python
Data & storage
PostgreSQL, Prisma, Drizzle ORM, MinIO
AI & search
LangChain, OpenRouter, Meilisearch
Infrastructure
Docker, Coolify, Cloudflare, Proxmox
Product services
Stripe, Resend, Better Auth
Monitoring & analytics
Sentry, Umami, PostHog

Selected Outcomes

Products
Core portfolio: a four-market EdTech suite, retirement SaaS, AI tutoring, and a chess academy.
Automation
ML-driven ticket routing reduced manual handling by ~50% at WhatsApp.
Infrastructure
Self-hosted production stack on Proxmox: Docker, Cloudflare Tunnels, PostgreSQL, Meilisearch.
AI/RAG
LangChain + OpenRouter for document analysis, lesson generation, and Carriva's retirement audit pipeline.

Field notes

Latest from the workshop

Build notes from production EdTech, retirement software, and AI tools: exact changes, failures, and operating trade-offs.

All notes →