Custom software development
Custom software, owned from idea to production.
We design, build, verify and run the application your business actually needs. AI agents do the repeatable work inside a fixed process, and you hold the approvals.
Start a project- week of discovery before anything is built
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- sign-offs on every piece of work: design and release
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- handover documents, because there is no handover
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What you get from custom software built this way
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One partner, no handover
Idea, architecture, build, QA, deployment and operation sit with the same people. There is no handover document because there is no handover.
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A record, not a status report
Every requirement, design, implementation, QA result and review is a written document in the engagement. What shipped is what the record says shipped.
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You approve before anything is built
Design approval is a human gate. The work waits for you. Scope creep has nowhere to hide because the PRD is the scope.
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Checked twice before release
Automated QA writes a report, then a person reviews. Failures go back to the team instead of into production.
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Typed, tested, deployed under release controls
Release candidates ship only after both gates pass. Deployment and monitoring are part of the engagement, not an add-on.
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You own all of it
Code in your repository, infrastructure in your accounts, every document in your hands. Nothing we build depends on our tooling.
When custom software is the right call
Off-the-shelf tools do not fail overnight. They show signs as your needs outgrow them.
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Your team works around the software
Spreadsheets, shadow processes and manual re-keying have grown up around a tool that was meant to remove them.
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Integration is a constant battle
Your CRM, billing and operations systems disagree about what is true, and someone reconciles them by hand.
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Per-seat pricing scales against you
The subscription bill grows with headcount while the features your team uses stay the same.
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The process is the product
Your pricing logic, approvals or compliance rules are specific enough that no vendor will ever model them.
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You cannot answer "who changed this, and when"
Audit trails, approvals and data residency are requirements your current tools were not built for.
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The last agency left you a zip file
You own code you cannot operate, with no record of why it was built the way it was.
Do two or more of these apply? Tell us which ones and we reply with how we would run it.
What we build
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Web applications and portals
Customer portals, B2B platforms and back-office systems with the data model, API and interface designed together.
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Internal tools
The operations software your team actually runs the business on, built around the process instead of the other way round.
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APIs and integrations
Documented interfaces that connect the systems you have, so there is one source of truth instead of three.
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AI features and agents
Bounded agents that research, classify, draft and act inside your product, with their work reviewable in the record.
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MVPs and new products
A first release scoped at discovery, verified before launch and built to grow rather than be rewritten.
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Modernization
Legacy systems moved forward in governed steps, each one approved, verified and logged.
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How a custom software engagement runs
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Discovery
A week with the people who own the problem. We write the feature request as the first document of the engagement and agree what done means before anything is designed.
In the record Feature request, scope, success measures
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PRD and design package
Research, requirements and design are produced and land in the record as documents you can read, comment on and reject.
In the record Research report, PRD, design package
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Design approval
A human gate. Work waits until you approve the design package. Nothing is built that the record does not say is being built.
In the record Logged approval, with the approver
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Development
Implementation runs in short cycles against the approved scope. You see progress as it happens, with the implementation package growing in the record.
In the record Implementation package
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Automated QA and manual review
Automated QA runs first and writes a report. Manual review is the second human gate. Failures go to a person instead of slipping through.
In the record QA report, review report
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Release and operation
A release candidate ships only after both gates pass. We deploy it, monitor it and operate it, and the next request starts the next run.
In the record Release candidate, release log
Sydeso against the usual options
An honest look at how an engagement with us compares with a typical agency and with building in-house.
| Item | In-house | Typical agency | Sydeso |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who owns delivery | Your team, alongside everything else | The agency, until handover | Sydeso, through production and after |
| Where the record lives | Tickets, chat and documents | Status reports and a handover document | A written artifact for every stage, with a log of who approved what |
| How AI is used | Whatever each developer uses | Undisclosed, or a pitch | Agents do bounded work inside the process; a person reviews before anything ships |
| Who approves | Whoever is available | The agency PM | You, at two gates on every piece of work |
| After launch | Your on-call rotation | A support contract, if offered | We operate production and start the next run |
| Can you take it in-house later | It already is | Depends on the handover | Yes. You own the code, the accounts and every document |
| Price | Salaries and tooling | Day rates or fixed price | Per project, scoped at discovery |
How an engagement is structured.
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Week one
Discovery
A week with the people who own the problem. We write the feature request, the PRD and the design package, and agree what done means.
- Ends in a PRD and a design package you own
- You approve it before anything is built
- Comes with a price for the build
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After approval
Build
Development in short cycles against the approved scope. Automated QA writes a report on every release candidate and a person reviews it before it ships.
- Priced per project against the PRD
- Changes are new feature requests, priced the same way
- Every document is yours as it is produced
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After launch
Operate
We deploy it, monitor it and run releases, month to month. Production is where the next feature request comes from.
- Monthly, separate from the build
- Take it in-house whenever you are ready
- The record comes with it
Questions
- How much does custom software development cost with Sydeso?
- Per project, against the scope written in the PRD at the end of discovery. Discovery itself is a week. Ongoing operation after launch is a separate monthly engagement. Tell us the scope and we reply with a number.
- How long does a custom software project take?
- Discovery takes a week. From there the work moves through design, approval, development, QA and review in short cycles, and you see which stage it is in at any time. We do not promise a day count before discovery, because the scope does not exist yet.
- Who writes the code, people or AI?
- Both, and the record says which. Agents handle bounded research, design, implementation and QA jobs. People hold the two gates, design approval and manual review, on every piece of work.
- Can we keep our own stack?
- Yes. The process is the method, not a framework. We choose the technology for the application at discovery, with your team and your hiring market in mind.
- How quickly do you reply?
- By email, with how we would run the work, not a call to book a call. Send one paragraph about what should ship first and you get a written answer.
- Where does the work live?
- In your accounts. Code in your repository, infrastructure in your cloud, documents where your team can read them. We bring the process, not a dependency.
- What happens to the work if we stop?
- You keep everything: code, infrastructure, requirements, design packages, QA and review reports. There is no handover because none of it was ever ours.
Tell us the feature.
One paragraph about what should ship first. We reply by email with how we would run it, and what it would cost.
Start a project