Question 1

What does Skaiward actually build?

Accepted Answer

Custom internal software for founder-led service businesses — usually the system of record that a spreadsheet has been standing in for. In practice that's client and lead tracking, stage and pipeline management, follow-ups and renewals that surface on their own, task and project management shaped around your process, and reporting on the numbers you can't currently answer.

Question 2

Who is this for?

Accepted Answer

Founder-led service businesses of roughly 5 to 30 people, where the founder is still personally involved in delivery, the process is repeatable, and there are somewhere between 30 and 300 active clients. The common signal is that the process only runs because someone remembers to run it, and growth has made that stop working.

Question 3

How much does it cost?

Accepted Answer

Builds start at $5,000 and most land between $5,000 and $50,000 depending on scope and integrations. Payment is 50% up front and 50% on deployment. You see a working prototype and a fixed price before any money changes hands, so there's no open-ended hourly arrangement.

Question 4

How long does it take?

Accepted Answer

The three calls fit inside one business week, and a typical build is about three weeks after that. Builds with no external integrations can turn around in a week. Integrations are the slowest and least predictable part, which is why they're quoted as named line items rather than bundled in.

Question 5

What happens on the three calls?

Accepted Answer

The intro call is 15 minutes: what the process is, who runs it, what you've already tried. The requirements call is 60 minutes, where we map the workflow end to end — entry, stages, triggers, exceptions, who decides. Then I build a working prototype and bring it to a 30-minute proposal call, where you see it running before you see a price.

Question 6

Do I really get a prototype before paying anything?

Accepted Answer

Yes. By the third call there is a working version of the core of your process on screen, using your stages and your terminology. It's a real thing running, so you can click into it. That's also why the scope can be fixed before the build starts, because by then we've both seen what it is.

Question 7

Do I own the code?

Accepted Answer

Yes — the code and the infrastructure both, running in accounts you control, with your team's access. Another developer can pick it up and continue it. Nothing stops working if you stop working with me.

Question 8

Why build custom instead of buying an off-the-shelf tool?

Accepted Answer

Often you shouldn't, and if a cheap tool genuinely covers your problem I'll tell you that on the first call. The case for custom is time and fit: evaluating products, configuring one, and retraining your team on someone else's workflow is weeks of your attention, which is usually why the project has been on your list for months. Most people who call me have already tried tools that didn't stick.

Question 9

Isn't a subscription cheaper than a custom build?

Accepted Answer

In month one, almost always. Most tools in these categories run $50 to $300 a month. The arithmetic changes over two or three years, and it changes faster if you're adding contractors or staff, because per-seat pricing means you pay more every month for growing. A build is paid once and owned.

Question 10

What if I know something needs to change but can't say exactly what?

Accepted Answer

Then a build isn't the right starting point, and the 60-minute requirements call would be premature. There's a $999 audit for this: several of your processes examined, your current tech stack mapped, and the highest-priority gaps ranked, so you find out where the opportunity actually is before committing to building anything. If a build follows, the audit fee comes off the price.

Question 11

How do I know whether I need a build or the audit?

Accepted Answer

You don't have to work that out in advance — it's what the 15-minute intro call decides, and both start there. The rough test is whether you can name the problem. If you can point at it (follow-ups get missed, nobody can say where a client stands, renewals slip), that's a build. If you know the business should be running better but can't say which part of the week to fix first, that's the audit.

Question 12

Is there ongoing cost after launch?

Accepted Answer

Not in the quote. Every build includes a live training session with your team at deployment, recorded so new hires can watch it later, plus a 30-day window covering bugs and in-scope changes. That's in the build price already. Ongoing support is a separate conversation after launch, once you've used the thing for a month and know what you actually need.

Question 13

What if the project isn't a fit?

Accepted Answer

I'll say so on the intro call rather than after you've spent an hour on requirements. Sometimes the answer is a cheap tool, sometimes it's that the process isn't stable enough to build around yet, and sometimes it's the audit rather than a build.

Frequently asked

Ask me on a 15-minute call.