How we work
Fast because it's engineered.
Fast usually means cutting corners. Careful usually means slow. Here is how we are both — shown with real artifacts, not adjectives.
From conversation to certified system.
-
A 45-minute conversation.
You talk; we capture requirements — often literally from a voice recording.
-
A specification you can read.
Product, engineering, and design layers — reviewed with you before a line of code.
-
The phased build, under a cap.
Autonomous implementation with a hard budget ceiling and checks against "looks done but isn't."
-
Certification, not a demo.
The real product driven in a real browser against a real database — graded Bronze, Silver, or Gold.
-
Deployed, documented, handed over.
Running in your accounts or ours, with runbooks and training material your team can actually follow.
Artifacts, not adjectives
The engine behind this process took four generations and eighteen months to build — before any client ever saw it.
AI-native, not AI-trusting.
Models are extraordinary at drafting, reading, and suggesting — and unreliable at deciding. So in everything we build, the AI prescribes, deterministic code executes, a gate validates, and a human approves anything that matters. Three examples from shipped systems:
- Emergency screening that runs before and independently of any model
- Receipt reading that reads twice and flags disagreement
- Payment verification where the AI is an extractor and deterministic checks decide
What an engagement looks like.
-
Bottleneck Audit — free.
A 30-minute conversation. You get a one-page memo: what we'd build, how fast, and what it would cost.
-
MVP Sprint — 2 to 3 days.
A working system your team can use, deployed, with a runbook.
-
Complete Solution — 3 to 4 weeks.
Certified, documented, deployed to your own accounts or ours, with training material your volunteers can actually follow.
-
Care & Hosting.
We keep it running, patched, and backed up, and we're a message away.
-
Growth Partner (small businesses).
Low upfront cost, an ongoing stream of content and tools, and a long-term relationship. Let's talk.
You'll know the price before you commit to anything. Most first engagements are scoped as a 2–3 day MVP sprint.
The assistant on this site.
The Bottleneck Audit assistant was built the way we build for clients: a deterministic intake state machine that uses a language model only to phrase questions and extract answers; a knowledge base limited to this site; a daily spending cap; a plain form underneath it that always works; and a human on our team reading every brief. Try it.
Common questions
Do you only work with nonprofits?
No. Nonprofits and community organizations are where most of our field-tested work comes from, and we also work with schools and small businesses — including a partnership model for small businesses with low upfront cost.
How can you be this fast and still careful?
A delivery engine with budget caps and end-to-end certification, and a rule that AI drafts while deterministic code decides. Every shipped system carries its tests, threat model, and postmortems.
Who owns what you build?
Scoped per engagement; many of our systems are designed so your data lives in accounts you own and control.
Can I see a demo?
Yes — several systems have demo modes that run with no setup. Start an audit and ask.
Tell us where the work gets stuck.
Three minutes with our assistant, and our team will come back with what we'd build, how fast, and what it would cost — before you commit to anything.
Start the Bottleneck Audit