Using Laravel to Power an AI Storytelling Startup. The Artisan of the Day Is Kyle Arch.
Kyle Arch has built his career around making complex backend systems work at scale.
At Dropbox, he worked inside the company’s incubator, wiring machine learning pipelines into a Laravel backend to support experimental products. At Creative Market, he was the one trusted to stabilize and modernize fragile payment code that the marketplace depended on every day. At Wayfair, he faced challenges of scale head-on, from carving out services from a PHP monolith to improving infrastructure so that critical systems ran faster and more reliably.
Across these roles, there is a common thread: building, scaling, and refactoring systems that can’t fail. While Kyle has worked across stacks and languages, Laravel has been the framework he has returned to most often, the tool he’s used to ship and maintain products in environments where reliability is non-negotiable.
Laravel as the Bedrock
Kyle’s relationship with Laravel runs deep. He’s been working with the PHP framework since its earliest days, long before version numbers were on his radar, and it has become a cornerstone of his career. Much of his growth as a backend engineer has centered on what he’s been able to build and ship with Laravel.
One example is ClassicIQ, a multi-tenant SaaS platform built on Stripe Connect that gives owners and operators the tools to manage memberships, subscriptions, and attendance. Kyle built the product end-to-end using PHP, Laravel, and Vue.
His involvement goes beyond building with the framework. He also contributes directly to its evolution. A recent pull request introduced a new 12x feature for route tags, adding to Laravel’s expanding toolset. As he puts it, “I really appreciate all the work Taylor and the rest of the team have done. Laravel is awesome.”
Launching Odie: AI Storyteller for Kids
Today, Kyle is channeling his experience into a new startup: Odie, an AI storyteller for children. The product is built end to end with Laravel and its surrounding ecosystem, and it’s rolling out through a private beta alongside a Product Hunt launch.
For infrastructure, he’s considering different paths but continues to lean on Laravel’s own tools. “Odie is hosted with Forge, and I’m looking into Cloud and other options,” he explains. With Forge preparing for its own relaunch, he expects to keep Odie there long enough to see where it goes.
The goal is to deliver an imaginative and engaging platform for kids; one that uses modern AI capabilities but is powered by the simplicity and developer velocity that Laravel makes possible.
Looking Ahead
While Odie is still in its early days, Kyle’s vision is to keep Laravel as the backbone of his innovation. As he experiments with hosting options and continues contributing to Laravel itself, his story reflects both the versatility of the framework and the creativity of the developers who use it.
Your Story Belongs Here
You don't need to have a course, a talk, or a big launch. If Laravel has been part of your journey (a pivot, a side project, a moment of growth), we'd love to hear about it!
Answer Taylor's questions at laravel.com/stories.
We're always looking to feature developers from every corner of the community. Beginners, builders, behind-the-scenes folks. If Laravel helped you do something you're proud of, that's a story worth telling.