I build software for small businesses. Booking systems, inventory tools, customer portals. The kind of software that used to require a six-figure budget and a team of developers, but now mostly requires knowing what you're doing and having a good reason to build it.
Most of my clients find me through word of mouth. Someone's neighbor says "I know a guy who built our booking system." That person calls me. We talk. Sometimes they hire me.
That pipeline works. But it has a ceiling. And more importantly, it means I spend a lot of time explaining the same things over and over again. What custom software actually costs. Why a $12/month SaaS tool might be costing you $800/month in fees once you account for transaction percentages. What a build-it-once, own-it-forever model actually looks like.
This blog is where I write those explanations down.
What I will write about
The main subject is custom software for local businesses. That includes:
- How to know when a SaaS product is eating your margin instead of serving your business
- What a good software build actually looks like, from first call to deployment
- Case studies from real projects (anonymized where the client prefers it)
- Technical notes on the tools and patterns I use
I'll also write about running a small, location-based technical practice. Port Aransas is not a tech hub. That's mostly a feature, not a bug.
What I won't write about
Hot takes on framework wars. Conference summaries. Career advice for software engineers.
Nothing against any of that. It's just not what this is.
A note on frequency
I write when I have something to say. No editorial calendar. No newsletter cadence to fill. If I publish ten posts this year, that's ten things worth reading. If I publish two, that's two.
The goal is signal, not volume.
If you build or run a local business and you're curious whether custom software makes sense for you, the best next step is a twenty-minute call. The contact form at the bottom of the main page is the fastest way to reach me.