Founder & CTO
Gabor Ferencz
Two decades of engineering, a decade of leadership, one obsession: building things that work beautifully.
The short version
Developerbyinstinct,entrepreneurbychoice.
I started writing code in 2001 and never really stopped. Over twenty years I've shipped software for law firms, hospitality brands, luxury hotels, and fast-growing startups — always with the same belief: that good technology should be invisible, except when it genuinely delights.
After senior roles and CTO positions across London and Bristol, I founded Octopus Digital to build the kind of agency I always wanted to work with — boutique enough to care, technical enough to do things properly, and honest enough to tell you when you're solving the wrong problem.
In numbers
20+
Years in software
5
Years as CTO
9
Years building Friska's platform
2
Companies founded
Career journey
How I got here
The foundations — law firms & enterprise (2007–2014)
Started as a software developer at Beachcroft LLP, one of the UK's largest law firms, before moving to Lyons Davidson. Seven years of enterprise .NET development, complex data models, and the discipline of writing code that has to work — no excuses.
Nine years building Friska (2010–2019)
Joined Friska, the Bristol-born healthy fast-food brand, as Systems Architect. Over nine years I owned the entire technology stack — from POS integrations and loyalty platforms to the e-commerce and backend infrastructure that scaled with the business.
Going independent — Octopus Digital (2019)
Founded Octopus Digital with a simple idea: a technically rigorous agency that invests in its people and treats clients as partners. What started as a solo operation has grown into a team delivering for clients across the UK, Europe, and beyond.
CTO at Matter of Form (2020–2025)
Alongside running Octopus, I served as CTO at Matter of Form — the London luxury experience agency. I built and led their engineering function, shipping websites, apps, and cloud infrastructure for some of the world's most recognised hospitality and luxury brands.
What drives me
PrinciplesIbuildby.
Craft over shortcuts
The right architecture now saves months of pain later. I'd rather spend the time doing it properly than explain why it broke in production.
People first
The best technology is built by engineers who feel ownership. I invest heavily in mentoring, clear communication, and creating environments where good work can actually happen.
Honest counsel
If a simpler solution exists, I'll say so. If the brief is solving the wrong problem, I'll say that too. Clients hire me to think, not just to execute.
Full-stack thinking
From Terraform scripts to pixel-perfect UIs — understanding the whole system means better decisions at every layer, and no surprises when it goes live.
Technical toolkit
What I work with
- 01Frontend: Next.js, React, Vue.js / Nuxt, TypeScript
- 02Backend: .NET Core & Framework, C#, Node.js, SQL Server
- 03CMS: Umbraco, Kentico / Optimizely, Episerver, Sanity
- 04Cloud: AWS, Microsoft Azure, Docker, Kubernetes
- 05DevOps: Terraform, GitHub Actions, Azure Pipelines, Jenkins
- 06Mobile: React Native, Progressive Web Apps
- 07AI integration: OpenAI, Claude, RAG pipelines, data migrations
Have a project in mind?
Let's build something together