Tony Schmidt | Builder of Better Conversations

About

I'm a builder of better conversations—a software engineer with the soul of a philosopher and the heart of a community-maker.

After trading espresso for APIs, I discovered that my passion for bringing people together didn't change, just the tools I use. I ran a coffee house before diving into software engineering, and that experience taught me something fundamental: the best ideas emerge when people feel welcome, heard, and challenged in equal measure.

Today, I build spaces for human connection in two complementary ways. Physically, I host Tony's Nolo Coffee Corner—Saturday morning salons in my apartment where neighbors and friends gather over free coffee for genuine conversation. Digitally, I'm building ReasonSmith—a platform that helps people engage in structured, good-faith discourse by evaluating argument quality and promoting intellectual humility.

Whether I'm pulling espresso shots or writing TypeScript, designing systems to evaluate reasoning quality or stargazing through my 10" Dobsonian telescope, I'm driven by the same mission: helping people connect authentically and think more clearly together.

Projects

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Tony's Nolo Coffee Corner

Saturday Morning Coffee Salon

Every Saturday, I transform my apartment into a neighborhood gathering space. Free coffee, real conversations, and a community of neighbors who've become friends. It's a simple idea: provide excellent coffee and create space for people to connect face-to-face in an increasingly digital world.

What started as an experiment in hospitality has grown into something bigger—a weekly ritual where regulars mix with newcomers, ideas are exchanged, and genuine relationships form over shared cups of coffee.

Visit nolo.coffee →

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ReasonSmith

Structured Discourse Platform

A platform designed to elevate online discourse by evaluating argument quality and promoting good-faith dialogue. ReasonSmith helps users engage in rigorous debate while maintaining intellectual humility—structuring conversations so that ideas, not egos, take center stage.

Built with SvelteKit, PostgreSQL, and GraphQL, it combines my technical skills with my passion for meaningful exchange. The goal: make it easier to think clearly together, even when we disagree.

SvelteKit TypeScript PostgreSQL GraphQL

Visit reasonsmith.com → Currently in development

Interests

When I'm not building platforms or brewing coffee, you'll find me:

Stargazing through my 10" Dobsonian telescope, contemplating our place in the cosmos and the humbling scale of the universe
Exploring rigorous discourse analysis—studying how arguments work, what makes reasoning sound, and how we can have better disagreements
Practicing intellectual humility—constantly questioning my own assumptions and staying curious about perspectives different from my own
Community-building—experimenting with new ways to bring people together, both online and offline, for authentic connection
Reading philosophy—particularly interested in epistemology, practical ethics, and how we can think more clearly about complex issues

All of these interests connect back to the same question: How can we create conditions where people think more clearly and connect more meaningfully?

Connect

I'm always happy to chat about building communities, structured discourse, coffee, or stargazing.

✉️ Email 💻 GitHub 👔 LinkedIn ☕ Coffee Corner