Custom software can be transformative, and it's now within reach of small businesses.
Many small businesses run on one person's acquired knowledge, a spreadsheet, a WhatsApp thread standing in for a system, or a routine nobody has written down.
Software that's custom built was once too expensive for a small business to consider. Now that's changed.
What it is
Filling the gaps your current tools leave.
You may already have software that handles most of your work well. If your team still has to copy information between systems, repeat the same manual steps or keep separate spreadsheets to fill the gaps, custom software could help. It can connect existing tools or handle the parts of the process they do not cover.
Sometimes it does much more than fill a gap. The right custom software can transform a business in different ways:
Runs in your browser
A web app runs in your browser, so you can use it on a phone, tablet or computer without downloading an app from the App Store. Your team accesses the same system across devices, and you can release updates without asking everyone to install a new version.
Unlock efficiency
Less time on routine work, and fewer steps repeated by hand.
Save costs
Lower running costs, from fewer subscriptions to less wasted stock.
Prevent errors
Checks built into the process, rather than relying on memory.
Increase revenue
New ways to sell, take bookings or serve customers.
Gain a competitive advantage
A way of working that competitors cannot buy off the shelf.
Many owners cannot yet picture what that would look like for their business. That's what Groundwork is for.
How it works
We talk it through, then build it in one go or in stages.
If you know what you need, this is the whole process. If you're not sure yet, start with Groundwork, below.
Talk it through
At no charge
We talk about your business and what you need the software to do. If it's clear enough to scope, we quote the build. If it's not clear yet, Groundwork can help.
Build it in one go, or in stages
Whichever suits the business
We can build it all at once, or start with the part that solves your main problem and add the rest as the business can afford it. Each stage works on its own.
Add a public website, if you need one
Only if it helps
Some projects need a public website with a customer login or booking system behind it, using the same data. Others only need the internal tool and keep the website they have. We'll recommend which fits.
Groundwork
Not sure what you need? Start with Groundwork.
Groundwork is an optional, fixed-price piece of exploratory work for businesses that can see something could be better, but not yet what it would take. It suits a larger potential project, which might later be built in one go or in stages.
There's no commitment to a project from either side. If you already know what you want, you may not need it.
1. Understanding your business
We look at how the work flows day to day, where time goes, what gets copied from one place to another, and what depends on one person's knowledge.
2. Ideas for software that could help
We review what we've learned and look for where custom software could help. That might mean creating opportunities to increase revenue, reducing time spent on routine work, or preventing costly mistakes. We assess which ideas are worth exploring further.
Two weeks from the first conversation to a written summary of what we found and the ideas worth exploring. It's yours to keep, whatever you decide.
If you'd like to go ahead with one of the ideas, we quote it separately. The Groundwork fee is not a deposit on a build, and sometimes the right answer is a tool you could buy for thirty euros a month, or nothing at all.
Examples
Two examples, from a florist to aviation compliance.
One is a tool for a one-person studio. The other is a platform for a regulated industry.
Concept and data model
Anthesis
Floral design studio
Flowers are perishable, event dates cannot move, and each variety lasts a different length of time. A peony ordered three days late is no use, and ordered three days early it has faded. The system works out each order date backwards from the event, and warns when a flower cannot be bought from a supplier in time.
Task tools like Trello model tasks. None of them know that amaranthus lasts a week in a bucket and a peony does not.
- Next.js
- Supabase
- Phone-first
Platform and marketing site
Heading AI
Aviation compliance - UK CAA and EASA
A multi-tenant platform for approved training organisations, turning compliance documents into information that stays current. Built as a working first version, to test whether the market wanted it before a full product build.
It uses AI to process documents against a regulated framework, with test sets that measure the output rather than assume it.
- Next.js
- Supabase
- Multi-tenant
- AI evaluation
Ownership
You own the code, the data and the accounts.
We put this on the page, not only in the contract.
Your accounts, your name
Hosting and the database are set up in your name and paid on your card, at cost. We're an administrator, and you can remove our access at any time.
Your data, whenever you want it
You can export it in an open format at any time, free.
Your code, once it's paid for
It's assigned to you, in a repository you control.
If we stop trading, you keep working
Because of the three points above, the system keeps running and another developer can take it over. We keep the documentation current so that stays true.
After launch
What support includes, and what it does not.
Software your business depends on needs looking after. We keep it secure and up to date, monitor it, back it up and fix anything that does not work as agreed.
Availability
We work Monday to Friday, and we do not offer round-the-clock cover or a guaranteed response time. Uptime depends on your hosting provider, which is in your name.
For anything your business cannot pause for, we build in a fallback, such as key information emailed to you in advance, so a problem with the system does not stop your work.
Skills retainer
Time reserved each month for ongoing development of your website, your software or both.
Once something is built, there's usually more you'd like it to do. You can reserve a set amount of our time each month, and we spend it where it's most useful: design changes, new features, upkeep or advice on what to do next.
It gives you the skills of a web designer, a developer and a copywriter, none of whom you may need full time. It can also pay for a larger project built gradually, a section at a time.
Websites
We design and build websites too.
A website can share data with your software, for bookings or a customer login, or stand on its own. Fixed quotes start at €4,800.
Start with a blank canvas.
Tell us a little about your project, and we'll come back within one working day.