full-stack web developer · since 2009 · brazil → worldwide

One developer. Any platform. Built from scratch — when that's the right call.

Shopify, BigCommerce, WordPress, or fully custom: for 17 years I've built stores and sites from a blank folder — and I'm still answering the same clients' emails years later.

70+ jobs delivered on Upwork — every review public. "One of the best I've worked with."
My client made it to Shark Tank on a store I'd built from scratch — the company is still selling today.
A local farm runs on my code — when their checkout breaks at dawn, it's my phone that rings.
Get a straight answer → See the work

Tell me what's broken or what you're building — you'll get a straight answer, even when the right one is the cheaper one.

Built, not assembled

Your store shouldn't be a pile of patches.

Most "custom" stores are a theme, plus 14 apps, plus the patches holding them together — and it still doesn't look like what you wanted. I build from a blank folder instead: only what your store needs, exactly how you designed it. And the easiest place to see the difference? How fast it loads for your customer.

ASSEMBLED — theme + 14 apps0.00s
ADD TO CART
revenue walking away$0.00
BUILT — from a blank folder0.00s
ADD TO CART
open for business in—

Simulated on a typical mobile connection. A site built from scratch carries nothing it doesn't need — that's why mine are fast. Run Google's test on this site →

What I build on

The right tool. Zero bias.

Seventeen years across every platform where small and mid-size commerce actually lives. I diagnose first, then pick the tool — and I'll tell you when the cheaper option is the right one.

Your store

E-commerce

Shopify · BigCommerce

Hand-built custom themes, wholesale & B2B flows, checkout work, app integrations — plus deep experience on a large education e-commerce platform.

The right call when: you sell products and want a store that converts without fighting your platform.

Your site

WordPress

Custom themes · no page builders

Hand-built themes, exactly to your design — not a $60 template with your logo on it. Rescues of hacked or broken sites, same day when it's urgent.

The right call when: content is the heart of your business and you want full control without bloat.

Your own thing

Fully custom

Laravel · Vue · APIs

When no platform fits, I build the platform: subscription systems, custom CMSs, dashboards, integrations — like the platform I've run for a local farm for years.

The right call when: your idea doesn't fit a template — because it's genuinely new.

Case study

From a blank folder to Shark Tank.

later featured on Shark Tank Parting Stone · partingstone.com · sole developer

A custom Shopify theme for a product no one had ever sold before.

Parting Stone turns cremation ashes into smooth, beautiful stones — a product with no template to copy and no playbook to follow. I was the only developer: from the first HTML draft to the launched store. Wholesale club, pre-purchase forms, gift cards, shipping rules — all built to their exact designs. Their founder later closed a deal with Kevin O'Leary and Lori Greiner on Shark Tank (S14E19).

◂ the launched storethe blank folder ▸
partingstone.com as Martin shipped it — the 2021 custom theme

drag — the store as I launched it, built line by line from nothing (Wayback Machine, 2021)

Sole developer
first HTML draft to launched store
Pixel-perfect
shipped exactly like the approved mockups
Shark Tank deal
S14E19 — Kevin O'Leary + Lori Greiner
"Martin is an expert who knows his stuff. He'll take complete control and allow you to kick your feet up while he does the hard stuff. Definitely use him. One of the best I've worked with." — verified Upwork review, 5.0★

Case study — passion project

Part passion project. Part laboratory.

where I test what's next Sítio Raiz · sitioraiz.com.br · engineered by me since the pandemic

A local farm's entire platform — and the place where I experiment freely.

When the pandemic hit, a local organic farm I care deeply about was running everything by hand — orders on WhatsApp, routes on paper, a newborn in the family making the nights even shorter. I built them a platform. Years later, I'm the whole agency, solo: first wireframe, design, database, storefront — then speed optimization, SEO with weekly audits, analytics, and now their Google Ads, run by me. My marketing degree gets a daily workout here. And because it's a labor of love, it's also my laboratory: I pick whatever stack I want and push it. The site reads the farm's real time and season and redesigns itself — four times a day, four seasons a year. Try it:

05:30 — sunrise The fields wake up early.
● the real product — morning state sitioraiz.com.br in its morning state sitioraiz.com.br in its midday state sitioraiz.com.br in its late-afternoon state sitioraiz.com.br in its night state

↑ all four are the real product — same page, four states, exactly as customers see it through the day.

EngineeringLaravel 13 · Vue 3 + TypeScript · Inertia · Tailwind v4 — every line by me
QualityFull test suite (Vitest · Pest · PHPStan) · automated deploys · error monitoring · Google mobile: 100 accessibility · 100 best practices · 100 SEO
GrowthGoogle Ads — run by me · SEO with weekly audits · GA4 · GTM · conversion tracking

70+ projects, every review public

Don't take my word for it.

"He never does the minimum… When a project takes him less time to complete, he mentions it instead of pocketing the extra money like a lot of freelancers do, and to me honesty is very important."

verified Upwork review★★★★★

"Martin is great when you have a crisis (e.g. your wordpress website gets hacked) and you need a solution quick smart. He worked til 3AM local time for me getting an issue resolved. I could not recommend him more highly!"

verified Upwork review★★★★★

"He was very patient with my lack of coding skills and explained everything very clearly. Thank you so much, Martin!"

verified Upwork review★★★★★

"Fabulous service, fast response, perfect English, very knowledgeable and reliable. So happy in fact he's now working on another project for me."

verified Upwork review★★★★★

"He has a design and marketing background, so will often pick up things that won't work in your original designs, and improve them. This cuts development and testing time in half."

Alex Diamond — LinkedIn recommendationin

"I give him complicated tasks, and he always surprises me with AMAZING work… delivered ahead of schedule."

verified Upwork review★★★★★

How clients tagged me, counted by Upwork itself:

Collaborative ×19 Committed to Quality ×17 Reliable ×13 Clear Communicator ×11

Verify every review on Upwork →

The long way here

Twenty-five years on the web. Seventeen as a pro.

I put my first site online in 2001 — and spent the years before my first paycheck teaching myself by building: game bots, my mom's bookstore, my dad's campaign site. I was programming before I knew I was a programmer.

2001

First site online

Built in FrontPage on dial-up. The Wayback Machine still has it →

~2003

First programs: game bots

Scripts that made my Ultima Online character mine ore, chop wood — and flee to a chest hidden in the woods when attacked.

~2006

PHP, out of necessity

Rebuilt my mom's bookstore site from Flash to dynamic PHP — every new event meant recompiling the whole Flash file, and it was misery. First real problem solved with code.

2009

First web job

Web designer at WWF-Brasil — yes, the panda one.

2017

Going global

After agency years in Brasília: freelancing for the world. 70+ projects, every review public.

2021

Viral Nation

Three years building Shopify & WordPress for one of the world's biggest influencer-marketing agencies.

2024

US agency + select clients

Engineering e-commerce daily — and answering my own email here.

How I work

No surprises. Ever.

Root cause, never band-aids.

I find the real problem and fix it once — so you don't pay for the same bug twice. The right fix, even when it's the longer one.

You'll always get the truth.

If the job takes less time than quoted, I say so. If the cheaper platform is the right one, I'll recommend it.

Explained in plain English.

You'll understand what I did and why — no jargon, no mystery invoices. Clients call it out in reviews.

When it breaks, I pick up.

Hacked site at midnight? There's a review about that. Same-day response on every business day.

Start small.

Most of my long-term clients started with one small task. Try me on something little — that's how trust is built.

Martin Carvalho

Martin Carvalho

Brasília, Brazil — engineering e-commerce for a US agency by day, answering this site's email myself. On the web since dial-up.

New York
—
Brasília
—

One to two hours ahead of New York — your whole workday overlaps mine. Same-day replies, every business day.

Tell me the problem, not the platform.

Describe what's broken, slow, or not built yet — you'll get a straight answer about the right way to do it, even if the answer is "you don't need me for this."

✓ Got it. You'll hear back from me today if it's a business day — usually within a few hours.

Replies same business day · 9am–6pm ET · prefer email? martincarvalho@gmail.com