Software consulting from people who’ve shipped it

Practical software consulting from a company that ships code

If you need a senior, independent view on a software decision, a supplier contract, a codebase or a stalled build, we provide that without a sales pitch to build it ourselves. We are a UK software development company with over 20 years trading and more than 100 projects delivered, and our consulting work is informed by the systems we have inherited, fixed and built from scratch. You get a clear written opinion, the trade-offs spelled out, and where the right answer is to do nothing or to use someone else, we will say so.

Andy Jones, our founder, has built and sold a number of businesses himself and has a background in recruitment and umbrella payroll software, so we weigh software advice against real commercial outcomes rather than abstract best practice.

One-off reviews that answer a specific question

A common starting point is a single engagement focused on one risk. You might have a supplier quote that looks expensive, a contract with unclear IP terms, or a codebase you suspect is fragile. We begin by asking what decision you need to make, then review the material you provide: architecture documents, source repositories, or commercial proposals. The work usually takes a few days of senior time billed at UK agency rates of £75 to £150 per hour. We end with a written report that states what we found and what we would do in your position.

This type of review suits a founder who needs a second opinion before signing, or an investor who wants to know whether the technology underneath a business is sound. Because we are builders, we can read a supplier’s estimate and tell you whether the proposed approach will actually deliver, not just whether the document looks polished.

Technical due diligence for a transaction

When you are buying, selling or investing in a business with software at its core, the technical position can make or break the deal. Our technical due diligence engagement examines the code, the infrastructure, the team dependencies and the licence exposure. We have taken on systems such as Saeker, a compliance platform where the original developer had left and the legacy code had become unmaintainable, so we know how hidden key-person risk turns into a post-completion liability. You can read about our approach on the due diligence services page.

The engagement starts with a defined data room and a list of questions from your side. It ends with a findings document that maps each technical issue to a commercial consequence, such as a price adjustment or a condition to the sale. We do not assign a value to the business, but we give you the evidence to negotiate from.

Ongoing fractional CTO leadership

Some businesses need senior technology judgement every week but cannot justify a full-time hire. Our fractional CTO service places one of our senior people in a leadership role for a set number of days per month. We help set the roadmap, challenge supplier choices and keep internal teams honest. Details of how this works are on our fractional CTO page.

We start by understanding your current stack and your commercial goals. The relationship ends when you have hired permanently or no longer need the input, and we hand over the strategy, the records and the open decisions. Having built regulated systems such as Octopaye, an HMRC-recognised payroll SaaS, we bring a pragmatic view of what compliance actually requires.

Build versus buy and supplier selection

A frequent question is whether to commission a bespoke system or adopt an off-the-shelf product. We have built software across payroll, recruitment back office and compliance, so we can model the running costs, the integration burden and the loss of flexibility each path involves. For example, when we designed and built Octopaye, the client had been using third-party software plus Excel, and the move to a purpose-built service took processing from about 1,000 timesheets in 45 minutes to 15,000 in under one minute. That outcome is specific to that project, but it shows the kind of step change a build can bring when the process is central to your business.

We also help you select a supplier, which means writing a specification that a vendor cannot obscure behind jargon, and scoring responses against your actual constraints. If the honest answer is that a spreadsheet or an existing product will do, we will say that rather than manufacture a project.

Rescue of stalled or AI-built projects

Many engagements begin when a build has failed or a non-technical founder has commissioned an AI-generated app that will not pass a security review. We offer a Vibe Code Rescue Assessment for £995 plus VAT, which examines the code, the deployment and the data handling. In apps we have audited, recurring problems include exposed secrets and API keys in client-side code, databases with row-level security never configured, access control enforced only in the front end, and missing input validation. These are not edge cases; they are what we usually find.

After the assessment we can explain the shortest path to something safe, which might be a rewrite of part of the system or a managed handover to another team. Our vibe code rescue service describes how we take such projects into production.

How we handle conflicts of interest

Because we are a development company, you might wonder whether we will steer you towards a build to win the work. We would rather keep the trust of a founder or investor than win a contract that is not justified. If the evidence says do not build, or use a different supplier, we say so and explain why. Where we do take on later work, we keep the consulting findings separate so you can challenge our recommendations.

Is consulting worth it?

A few days of senior review typically saves you from a decision you would regret: signing a contract that leaves you without the source code, approving an architecture that cannot scale past your first hundred users, or shipping an AI-built app that leaks customer data. We do not promise invented percentages or guaranteed returns. We promise that the cost of our time, charged at £75 to £150 per hour, is small against the cost of undoing a mistaken technology choice.

Working with us

If you have a software decision, a codebase you do not trust, or a deal that needs a technical view, we are happy to talk. You can reach us through our contact page to outline the situation and we will suggest the shortest engagement that answers your question.