Geologist · Founder · Entrepreneur
Jacob
Cichosz.
I am a Perth-based geologist with a Bachelor's degree with Honours in Applied Geology from Curtin University. I build technology the way geology taught me to think: follow the evidence, preserve uncertainty and change the interpretation when the facts change.
The route in
My professional background is geology.
My work has covered base metals, gold and lithium across open-pit and underground operations, as well as greenfields and brownfields exploration. It has involved trying to understand complicated systems from incomplete information: mapping rocks in the field, interpreting structures, reviewing drilling, comparing geochemistry and geophysics, testing geological ideas and deciding what evidence actually matters.
Geological work rarely comes with a perfect dataset. I learned to build the best interpretation available, challenge it, look for contradictory evidence and revise it when the facts changed.
That way of working eventually drew me into technology.
From geology to software
My experiments with AI became MINDSYNC Technologies.
I became increasingly interested in what machine learning and AI could do when they were treated as practical tools rather than magic answer generators.
What began as experimentation developed into designing and building working products, and eventually became MINDSYNC Technologies.
Today I lead the development of Chattly, our iPhone reflection app, now available on the App Store, and use LodeCraft to deliver a professional exploration-intelligence service. I lead the scoping, analysis and handover of LodeCraft engagements. They grew from two different problems I wanted to solve.
Why I built Chattly
What if continuity was part of the product from the beginning?
As I used AI assistants, I kept encountering the same limitation: conversations were temporary, so goals, circumstances, routines, ideas and problems often had to be explained again later.
That question grew into a system involving conversation, user-controlled memory, personal context, journaling, mood, insights, goals and proactive support.
Chattly is built around user-reviewed context and choices over what it can remember, use or forget. It is now available for iPhone on the App Store in supported regions, for adults 18+.
Explore Chattly →Why I built LodeCraft
LodeCraft grew out of my work in mineral exploration.
Mineral exploration produces large volumes of information from geological mapping, drilling, geochemistry, magnetics, radiometrics, remote sensing, structural measurements and historical work.
The difficulty is deciding which evidence matters for the geological question being asked.
Machine learning can help with that, but it can also create convincing nonsense if geological context, data quality and uncertainty are ignored.
LodeCraft begins with the exploration decision, brings fragmented evidence together and uses methods suited to the available data. The geologist remains responsible for the interpretation.
Explore the LodeCraft service →How I entered software
I came to software as a geologist with problems I wanted to solve.
AI-assisted engineering helped me move from describing products to designing, testing and building them.
My role sits across product thinking, domain logic, system behaviour, quality standards and the decisions about what the technology should—and should not—be allowed to do.
I work extensively with AI in that process while remaining responsible for understanding the systems, testing their behaviour and setting their boundaries.
How I think about building
I build around usefulness, evidence and clear limits.
Building a useful product requires questioning the first idea, testing assumptions and stating clearly when evidence is weak.
I also refuse to turn uncertainty into a marketing claim simply because the technology can generate one.
I learned that discipline from geology and now apply it to technology.
What I’m working on now
I am building Chattly and delivering exploration intelligence through LodeCraft.
Chattly — building a more continuous and user-controlled relationship between people and AI.
LodeCraft — bringing complex exploration evidence together into documented priorities for further investigation.
LodeCraft engagements begin with a free fit discussion and an agreed written scope. Chattly is available on the App Store; its product page explains the app, paid access and download options.
Read about MINDSYNC →