How we work
Three stages. One person. Working software every week.
Each stage ends with something you can use. You can stop after any of them.
The three stages
Discovery
One or two weeks with the people who do the work. You get an hours estimate before any build.
Build in weekly rounds
Working software every week, so you steer as it takes shape.
Care plan
We host, watch and improve it. Same-day response when something is critical.
01 / Discovery
Discovery. 1 to 2 weeks.
Billed hourly. We sit with the people who do the work, map where the data lives and estimate the hours the build will take. If it is not worth building, we tell you.
Interviews with the people who use it
A map of your systems and data
Screens sketched before anything is built
An estimate of the hours the build will take
02 / Build
Build. Most projects take 6 to 12 weeks.
Billed hourly. We build in short rounds and show you working software every week. Websites usually take a few weeks.
An hours estimate you approve before work starts
Working software to try every week
Connections to the tools you already use
Training for your team, and the software is yours
03 / Care plan
Care plan. Month to month.
Monthly support. Hosting, backups, fixes and changes from Chris, who built your system, so it keeps up as your business changes. Cancel any time.
Hosting, monitoring and nightly backups
Critical issues: a response the same day
Bugs: a response within 2 days
New feature requests: a response within 5 days
A set number of hours for small changes
A check-in each quarter
Where this comes from
At two startups, our founder built the finance function from nothing, then automated it. Reports that took a week started running on their own.
- Weeks
- to minutes, for the monthly reporting pack
- 12 hrs
- a day given back to a client’s coordinators
- 6 to 12
- weeks from discovery to launch
What we hold ourselves to
You see working software every week.
No three-month wait for a reveal. Every week there is something new to click on, and your feedback shapes the next round.
The numbers are defined like a finance team would.
Every metric has a written definition and a check behind it, so two screens never disagree about the same number.
You own it, we run it.
Your data and the software built for you belong to you. We host, manage and support it, so you never have to think about it.
We work with what you have.
Your new system connects to the tools your team already uses. We only recommend replacing one when it is clearly the cheaper path.
How we use AI
Built with AI. Checked by a person.
AI coding tools are why a system that took a team months now takes weeks, and why the cost came down. A person reviews every line, tests it against your real numbers and stays responsible after launch. AI goes into the software itself only when it earns its place.
Works with the tools you already use
If your software has an API, a door other software can use to read and send data, we can connect to it. That includes the Microsoft and Google tools most businesses already run on. If a tool has no API, we will tell you on the first call, before you spend anything.
Microsoft
- Excel
- SharePoint
- Outlook
- Teams
- Power BI
- Dynamics 365
- SQL Server
- Sheets
- Drive
- Gmail
- Calendar
- BigQuery
- Looker Studio
Accounting and payments
- QuickBooks Online
- Xero
- NetSuite
- Sage Intacct
- Stripe
- Square
Operations and property
- Buildium
- Monday.com
- Procore
- Jobber
- Airtable
- Asana
Sales and customers
- HubSpot
- Salesforce
- Shopify
- Calendly
- Mailchimp
- Slack
Not on the list? Most business software with an API can be connected. Ask on the call.
How we protect your data
These protections come standard in what we build. Each one is already running in the Sentinel Application, the system we built for a Cleveland property manager.
Two-step sign-in
Staff sign in with a password and a code from an authenticator app on their phone. Each code works once, and recovery codes cover a lost phone.
Passwords that cannot be read
Passwords are stored scrambled, never as plain text. Repeated wrong guesses are slowed down and then blocked.
The right access for each person
Each person gets a role that decides what they can see and change. Remove someone and their access ends on their very next click.
Encrypted everywhere
Every connection runs over HTTPS, the database connection is encrypted and verified, and the most sensitive secrets are encrypted again on top of that.
A record of what happened
Changes to data, decisions and access to documents are logged, so you can always see who did what and when.
Nightly backups
The database is backed up every night, with two weeks of copies kept. Sessions sign out automatically after 12 hours.
Questions people ask
How fast do you respond on a care plan?
Critical issues get a response the same day. Bugs get a response within 2 days, and new feature requests within 5 days.
What happens if you are ever unavailable?
Your system keeps running on its own. It is hosted in accounts set up for your business, so nothing depends on us staying switched on, and your data stays yours. Care plan clients come first whenever something needs fixing. If we ever had to stop for good, you would keep everything and any care plan would simply end.
What do you need from us during a project?
About an hour a week from the person who owns the project, plus short conversations with the people who will use it. We handle the rest.
What if we want changes halfway through?
That is normal, and the weekly rounds are there for it. Small changes fit in the plan. If something big changes, we update the hours estimate and you approve it before we do the work.
What happens if we stop working with you?
You get a full copy of the software built for you, along with all of your data.
Is our data safe?
Each system gets only the access it needs. Sign-in uses two-factor authentication, there are nightly backups, and hosting is on established cloud providers. We will walk you through the details for your project.
Tell us what slows your business down.
A 30-minute call, no slides. You will leave knowing whether the problem is worth solving, the likely first step, and what we need to estimate the hours.