Dayyan James is an entrepreneur, writer, and advocate for ADHD awareness. Originally from New Zealand, he has called Singapore home for over a decade, where he has built multiple successful businesses while unknowingly navigating life with undiagnosed ADHD.
At forty-three, Dayyan finally received the diagnosis that explained decades of seemingly contradictory behavior: moments of hyperfocus and brilliant execution alongside chronic struggles with conventional structures. This late-life revelation became the catalyst for Operating System Unknown, a memoir that traces the invisible thread of ADHD through four decades of adventure, entrepreneurship, and self-discovery.
His writing blends raw honesty with sharp observation, offering readers both a deeply personal story and a mirror for their own experiences. Whether describing a four-year-old’s solo expedition to find an ATM or an adult’s realization that their brain has been running on different software all along, Dayyan brings humor and heart to the complex reality of neurodivergence.
Entrepreneurial Ventures
Founder, software engineer, and author — Dayyan runs a luxury skincare house, an open-source Django e-commerce platform, and a machine-learning research lab. See all ventures →
Spwig
Open-source Django e-commerce platform, released under AGPL-3.0. Powers CocosBotanica in production.
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Luxury botanical skincare and scent, made in Singapore from cold-pressed and steam-distilled botanicals.
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Applied machine-learning research on attention, perception, and neurodivergent cognition.
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