Founder

Jaeden Doody

Founder of StillAwake Media · Creator · Developer · Problem Solver

Jaeden Doody is a creator and developer based in Montreal, Quebec, and the founder of StillAwake Media — the company through which he builds software, digital products, and the business systems underneath them.

He did not start in software. He started in mechanics, and that is still the most useful thing about how he works.

Work With StillAwake →See the Work →

Background

From mechanics to software.

Before Jaeden was building software systems, he was working on mechanical ones. Mechanics enforces a discipline that is hard to fake: you cannot reliably fix something without understanding how it actually works. A part either moves or it does not. The engine either runs or it does not. There is no version of the job where you talk your way past a fault.

So you learn a sequence. When something fails, you trace it. You inspect the components. You work out which one is actually responsible, as opposed to which one is easiest to blame. Then you repair it, or you decide the design was wrong and rebuild it.

That sequence turned out to transfer almost completely. The objects changed; the thinking did not. Mechanical systems became software systems. Troubleshooting became debugging. Components became services, databases, APIs, and workflows. Rebuilding an assembly became product development.

It is also why a lot of standard business advice does not land well with him. A recommendation with no mechanism behind it is just a guess with confidence attached — and in mechanics, guessing confidently is how you replace the wrong part twice.

Approach

Building is how I learn.

Jaeden does not treat learning and building as separate activities. The projects are the study — each one is a practical environment for understanding customers, software, operations, finance, marketing, search, automation, AI, data, and infrastructure at the same time, under real conditions where being wrong has consequences.

The result is a loop rather than a straight line: find a problem, investigate what is really causing it, build something, operate it long enough to see where it strains, discover the next problem that was hiding underneath the first one, and improve the system.

He has been known to create problems for himself deliberately — taking on a build he does not yet know how to finish, because having to finish it is what forces the learning. It is a habit of curiosity more than anything else.

Problem→Investigate→Build→Operate→New problem→Improve

Companies & Products

What I've built.

Four things, with different relationships to each other. They are not all the same kind of venture, and it is worth being precise about which is which.

Founded by Jaeden Doody · you are here

StillAwake Media

The company Jaeden founded, and the umbrella the rest of the work runs through. StillAwake Media builds software, intelligent systems, and digital infrastructure for modern businesses — identifying a real operational problem, understanding the system producing it, then building a practical solution. It exists because he kept running into those problems while operating businesses and got tired of stitching together tools that were not built for the job.

More about StillAwake Media →

StillAwake Media product · created by Jaeden Doody

ZYLX.ai

The Business Brain for AI

A StillAwake Media product, created by Jaeden. ZylX connects a business's systems once, builds persistent context from them, and makes that context available to authorized AI assistants through MCP — so an assistant answers with real business knowledge instead of guesses. It is the clearest example of the pattern behind everything else here — the problem was real, it was hit repeatedly while operating other businesses, and the fix became a product.

zylx.ai →

Founded by Jaeden Doody · separate organization

BankDeMark

Connected financial management platform

BankDeMark connects personal and business financial records, transactions, invoices, and financial intelligence through its Command and Invoice products. BankDeMark runs as its own organization rather than as a StillAwake Media product — Jaeden founded and builds it, but the two are separate entities.

bankdemark.com →

Founded and operated by Jaeden Doody · separate business

Blackwater Aquatics Canada

Canadian aquatics ecommerce business

A Canadian ecommerce business selling live fish food, bettas, shrimp, and aquarium livestock — run day to day, not just built and handed off. This one matters for a specific reason: it is a real ecommerce business with real customers, inventory, shipping, and search competition, operated day to day. The experience behind StillAwake's ecommerce, SEO, and automation work is firsthand rather than theoretical. It is a separate business, not a StillAwake Media property.

blackwateraquatics.ca →

Areas of Work

What I work on.

Areas Jaeden builds and researches in. Some of these he has worked in for years; others are current and actively being learned.

Artificial intelligenceAI agentsModel Context ProtocolBusiness intelligenceSaaSSoftware developmentBusiness systemsAutomationFinancial technologyEcommerceSearch and SEOData infrastructureWebsites and digital productsProduct development

Principles

How I approach problems.

Understand the system first

Patching a symptom before you understand what produced it usually just moves the failure somewhere less visible.

Question assumptions

“That’s how it’s done” is a description of a habit, not an explanation. It is worth asking who decided that and whether the reason still holds.

Build to learn

A working system tells you things theory does not. Most of what I know about software, search, and operations came from running something, not reading about it.

Follow the problem deeper

The obvious problem is often a symptom. The interesting work is one or two layers underneath it.

Rebuild when it is warranted

Improving a fundamentally broken system forever costs more than rebuilding it properly once. Knowing which situation you are in matters.

Stay curious

Every system has something in it worth understanding, including the ones that look boring from outside.

In His Own Words

“I've always wanted to know how things actually work. Mechanics gave me somewhere to start, and it was honest work in one specific way: if something was broken, you couldn't talk your way around it. You had to go find the problem.”

“That followed me into software and business. These days instead of pulling apart an engine I'm pulling apart workflows, APIs, financial systems, search problems, and AI infrastructure. Same instinct, different objects.”

“I like building things. What I like more is understanding what I've built and why it works — because that's the part that transfers to the next thing.”

— Jaeden Doody, Founder, StillAwake Media

Questions

Common questions.

Who is Jaeden Doody?

Jaeden Doody is a creator and developer based in Montreal, Quebec, and the founder of StillAwake Media. He builds software, digital products, and business systems, and came to technology from a background in mechanics.

Who founded StillAwake Media?

StillAwake Media was founded by Jaeden Doody. It is the company through which he develops software, intelligent systems, and digital infrastructure for modern businesses.

Who created ZylX, and is it part of StillAwake Media?

ZylX is a StillAwake Media product, created by Jaeden Doody. It is a business intelligence system — a Business Brain for AI — that connects a company's systems and makes that context available to authorized AI assistants through MCP.

What is BankDeMark?

BankDeMark is a connected financial management platform founded by Jaeden Doody. It links personal and business financial records, transactions, invoices, and financial intelligence through its Command and Invoice products. It operates as its own organization rather than as a StillAwake Media product.

What is Jaeden's relationship to Blackwater Aquatics?

Jaeden founded and operates Blackwater Aquatics Canada, an ecommerce business selling live fish food, bettas, shrimp, and aquarium livestock. It is a separate business from StillAwake Media, and it is where a lot of his ecommerce, SEO, fulfillment, and operations experience comes from firsthand.

What is Jaeden Doody's professional background?

He started in mechanics, working on physical systems, and moved into software, websites, AI, automation, and business systems. The diagnostic approach carried over: understand the system, trace the failure to its actual cause, then repair or rebuild it.

Keep exploring.

See the work, read the strategy, or start a project with StillAwake Media.

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