What we do
We work with people who care about what they do and want to make it better. That can mean helping someone connect their first AI tool, designing and building software, or working with a chief executive on a difficult decision. Mike and Alex stay involved in the work.
We bring experience across product, design, engineering, architecture, and leadership. The useful combination depends on the people and the problem in front of us.
We help people build with AI.
Someone who knows a job often has ideas about how to improve it. We help them try those ideas: connect an AI assistant to the material they use, work through examples together, make a useful tool, and learn how to inspect and change it.
The starting point might be a first MCP connection, which lets an AI assistant work with another tool or source of information. It might be a workbench for a recurring task, or an internal incubator where people from across a company build around their own work.
We build alongside people, answer questions, and help when they get stuck. When we run an incubator, we also help the company make time for participants and develop the people who will carry it forward. The aim is for them to become more able to do the next thing themselves.
We build useful software.
We can take a piece of work from the first conversation through design, engineering, release, and use. We also join an existing team where a particular contribution would help: understanding a service, reviewing an architecture, building an integration, or making a difficult part of a product work.
The software might be a small personal tool, a customer-facing product, or a system people depend on every day. We work with the people using it and follow what happens after the first version reaches them. Their corrections matter as much as our original plan.
We keep the source and the work visible to the customer. As the needs change, we discuss what deserves more time, what can stay simple, and who will look after the result.
More about building software together →
We provide executive leadership and coaching.
We work with founders, CEOs, and other leaders on where to invest, what to build or buy, how to organize a team, and what their ambitions ask of the people doing the work. This can be a conversation around a particular decision, an ongoing advisory relationship, or a fractional role with agreed responsibilities.
Coaching happens around real decisions and conversations. We can prepare a difficult discussion, examine a proposal, or help make a commitment clear enough for a team to act on. Working directly with operators and builders keeps that advice connected to what is happening.
We value our independence because it lets us say what we think is true, including when a proposed project is unnecessary or when we are the wrong people to carry it. We want customers who can disagree with us just as plainly.
Stay close to the work
We start by looking at a real task with the person who understands it. We ask what they need, what they already know, and who depends on the result. Then we make a useful change together and see what happens.
The work stays available to inspect: the examples, code, drafts, corrections, and reasons for a decision. A shared record should save someone from assembling another explanation. A conversation should help the people involved understand or decide something.
Sometimes the next move is more software. Sometimes it is a clearer explanation, a different arrangement, or leaving a good thing alone. We can change our minds when the work gives us a reason.
Find a starting point
If the question is still unclear, we can spend time with the people, systems, and existing attempts before deciding what to do. A short piece of discovery may be enough. We might look at a few examples, make a small test, or work through a decision together.
Working through an open question →
Working together
We charge for our time. We agree what we will work on, how much time to give it, and what it will cost. A small piece of work can stay small; continuing together should follow from another useful thing to do.
We work directly with the people involved and make room to discuss what has changed. If a commitment needs more time or a different contribution, we say so. When software needs ongoing care, we agree who will provide it and what our part will be.
Customers keep the source, tools, and working knowledge we create for them. We involve people as we go so ownership means being able to use and change the work. We want to work ourselves out of the parts of the job they can carry themselves.
If there is something you want to work through with us, tell us about it.
Book time with us