Custom software built for your business & built to last.
Strategy, design, and engineering under one roof — hundreds of projects since 2005 at a 96.5% success rate, in an industry where roughly 70% of software and data projects fail or run over. New products, aging platforms, stalled projects, data you can’t trust: pick the job below. Each one starts with a priced first step: a Validation, Design & Planning (VDP) engagement for a new build, or a System Evaluation for an existing system.
Five jobs. Pick yours.
Each has its own page, its own proof, and the same rule: nothing gets built before it gets understood.
New Product Development
A product or platform that doesn’t exist yet — for your customers, your operation, or a new line of business.
Modernization & Enhancement
Software you already run that’s slowing you down — aging, unsupported, unintegrated, or built by someone who’s gone.
Project Rescue
A build that’s off the rails — missed dates, zombie bugs, a silent vendor, or an AI-built app that can’t scale, be secured, or be changed.
Data & Reporting
Systems that don’t talk and numbers nobody trusts — the foundation for reporting, and for any AI you want on top.
Custom ERP & Operations Platforms
A fully custom, company-wide system for the mission-critical parts of your operation — built for how you work, not how a vendor thinks you should.
Strategy. Design. Engineering.
The same three disciplines on every project, from a two-person startup product to a fifteen-system integration. Skip one and you pay for it twice later.
Strategy
Business problem first, technology second. We agree on the number the software has to move, understand how the pain is solved today, and find where the opportunity actually is — before anyone opens an editor.
- Metrics of success agreed up front
- Your current process, mapped as it really runs
- Build vs. buy vs. wait, argued honestly
- Scope that fits your budget, not a wish list
Design
Designing starts long before code. Workflows, risks, and screens get sketched in your language, with the people who’ll use the thing — because the most expensive feature is the one nobody uses.
- User research: interviews, surveys, field time
- Journeys and workflows before wireframes
- Click-through mockups of the key screens you can put in front of users
- A technical blueprint the engineers can build from
Engineering
Maintainable, extensible, usable software — built one fully-tested feature at a time, most valuable first, so you see working software early and steer while it still costs little to.
- Incremental delivery, visible every week
- Automated tests and CI from day one
- Security and infrastructure as part of the build, not after
- Documented, in your repos, yours
Nine capabilities, one team.
Product strategy
What to build, for whom, and why it will pay.
Project management
Priorities, trade-offs, and a backlog that reflects the business.
User experience & design
Research, workflows, and interfaces people actually like using.
Architecture
A design that carries what you are asking of it, and what you will ask next.
Agile product development
Working software early and often, in short cycles you can see.
QA automation & testing
Tested at every stage, not a phase bolted on at the end.
CloudOps & DevOps
Environments, releases, monitoring, and recovery, run properly.
Application security & compliance
Access, audit trails, encryption, and the evidence to prove them. SOC 2 Type 2.
Enablement
Adoption, training, and change management, so the software gets used and the value shows up.
Four engagement models. We recommend one after the Deep Dive.
How a project is priced depends on how well-defined it is. We recommend one of four models after the Deep Dive (and the VDP Sprint or System Evaluation that follows). You don’t pick from a menu — because picking wrong is how budgets and relationships blow up.
Fixed budget, controlled scope
When: Our default for projects. The budget and the quality are fixed; the scope flexes inside them as we learn.
How: We prioritize together every week to get the most value out of the remaining budget. You make the trade-offs. No surprise invoices.
Fixed price, fixed scope
When: The VDP Sprint or System Evaluation produced a scope we both believe in, and it is unlikely to change.
How: One price, one timeline, change control in writing.
Time & materials, with a cap
When: Scope is still moving, discovery is part of the work, or the work is ongoing or advisory.
How: Billed by role, weekly visibility into hours and progress, a monthly cap, stop whenever you like.
Dedicated team
When: You need sustained build capacity for quarters, not weeks.
How: A named team at a fixed monthly fee, directed by you, with our delivery lead keeping it honest.
Early estimates have the widest range. As we learn more, the range narrows — and we tell you where it stands at every step, not just at the end.
Web. Mobile. Cloud. AI systems.
Platform pages spell out what we build with, what we’ve shipped on each, and where each one fits.
Web App Development
Portals, internal systems, SaaS products — built to be lived in every day.
Mobile App Development
Field, sales, and customer apps that get adopted — one-handed, offline-capable, no training.
Cloud
Infrastructure that scales, monitors itself, and passes the security review.
AI & Agentic Systems
Project-based AI builds — detection, intelligence, agents — as distinct from the AI Office retainer.
Not sure it’s a software project? AI Office is an AI & automation team working on the systems you already run. If the automation you have in mind looks like a platform, it’s a software project — and it starts with a Validation, Design & Planning (VDP) engagement or a System Evaluation.
Become technology-driven instead of technology-frustrated.
Our no-BS, outcome-oriented approach will solve your biggest challenges and help your company do better business now.
Connect your employees, customers, partners, and suppliers to improve collaboration and gather vital insights through data.
Data & Reporting →Manage and automate your key processes or bottlenecks to drive efficiency and cost savings.
AI Office →Make smarter decisions backed by meaningful data and easy-to-use reports and dashboards. True business intelligence.
Data & Reporting →Drive innovation by discovering new revenue opportunities, monetizing data and content, and staying focused on your customer experience.
New Product Development →Built, shipped, still running.
Built From Zero to $14M+ in Funded Growth and Adoption by the World's Top Law Firms
A legal collaboration platform built from the ground up — adopted by Cooley, CMS, and Fortune 500 corporate legal teams, and backed by $14M+ in funding after launch.
An antiquated platform was costing them their biggest clients — so we rebuilt it
A third-generation credit insurance brokerage was losing the close to better-funded competitors. We replaced the antiquated system, and they kept their biggest clients.
15 Disconnected Systems Into One Source of Truth — Month-End Close From 5 Days to 1
A national entertainment operator ran 15 business-critical systems that never talked to each other. We built the integration hub that connected them, cut month-end close from five days to one, and made real-time cross-system reporting possible for the first time.
Partner, not vendor.
An expert team, Frogslayer’s strengths lie not just in development, but in their ability to consult strategically. Throughout, the team has kept the client’s best interests in mind, providing suggestions to elevate both the product and the business. Their dedication and support set them apart.
I’ve worked with many software teams over the past 20 years. I wish I had Frogslayer all along. They’ve never missed a deadline and always get things right the first time.
Culturally, they were a great fit for us and felt like members of an in-house IT team. They blended with us very well.
Five steps, every time.
For software, “Engage” starts with the VDP or the System Evaluation — then the project, on the model we recommended coming out of it.
- 01Discovery Call30–60 min
You tell us the problem in your words. We tell you straight whether — and where — we can help. No slides.
- 02Deep Dive60–90 min
The people closest to the problem, in one room (or one call). We get to the real constraint and the number that matters.
- 03Proposal & Paperworkdays, not weeks
Scope, price, and timeline in writing. A standard MSA and a short SOW — no 50-page lock-up.
- 04Prep & Kickoffweek 1
Access, environments, and a kickoff with everyone who touches the work. You know who’s on it and what ships first.
- 05Engageongoing
The work itself — visible every week, in your environment, with your people in the loop.
Straight answers.
How do you price a software project?
Four models — fixed budget with controlled scope (our default), fixed price with fixed scope, time & materials with a monthly cap, or a dedicated team — and we recommend one after the Deep Dive and the VDP or System Evaluation that follows. Early estimates have the widest range; they narrow as we learn. You never pick a pricing model from a menu on this site.
Do we own what you build?
Entirely: code, designs, documentation, data — in your repositories and accounts. No lock-in and no per-seat tax on your own product.
What’s the difference between this and AI Office?
AI Office is an AI & automation team on retainer, working on the systems you already run. Custom Software Development + Design is when we design and build you a system or product — or take over one you already have. If the automation you’re picturing looks like a platform, it’s a software project, and it starts with a VDP or a System Evaluation.
Why is the VDP required for new builds?
Because the industry’s failure rate — roughly 70% of software and data projects fail or run over — comes from building the wrong thing well. A VDP validates the scope, puts a prototype in front of real users, and produces a plan with a cost. Our 96.5% success rate is what that discipline looks like over hundreds of projects.
Do you take over code from other firms or freelancers?
Yes — and from AI tools. It starts with a System Evaluation so we know what we’re taking on. See Modernization and Project Rescue.
Who does the work, and where?
Senior engineers, designers, and strategists in Texas. No offshore, no body shop. The team you meet on the Deep Dive is the team on the project.
Have a system in mind — or a system in trouble? Start with the right first step.
New build: a VDP. Existing system: a System Evaluation. Not sure which? Book a 30-minute intro and we’ll tell you.