Running a Small Software Studio

Why We Do It This Way

Twelve years ago, we started building software for other people. Agencies, startups, enterprises—whoever would pay us. Over time, we realized we were building the same thing over and over: solid, reliable systems that solved real problems.

The agency model felt broken. You're either feast or famine. You take projects that aren't interesting because you need the money. You scale up with contractors, then lay them off when contracts end. It's stressful and inefficient.

So we changed. We became a studio instead of an agency. Here's what that means and why it works.

Products Fund Everything

The biggest shift: we build our own products. Voiant and Resonate generate recurring revenue. That changes everything.

When you have product revenue, you don't have to take every client project that comes along. You can say no to bad fits. You can price based on value, not desperation. You can take time to do things right.

Our products don't make us rich—yet. But they cover our burn rate. That gives us freedom.

Client Work Is Selective

We still take client projects. Maybe 4-6 per year. But we're picky:

All four need to be yes. Most inquiries don't make it past the first question.

This means we turn down a lot of work. That's fine. We're optimizing for sustainability, not growth-at-all-costs.

Small Teams, Big Impact

We have four full-time people. That's it. No contractors, no freelancers, no outsourcing.

Small teams have advantages:

The downside is capacity. We can't take every project. We can't work with massive enterprises that need 24/7 support. We're okay with that.

No VC, No Exit Strategy

We've never taken venture capital. We don't have a "10-year exit plan." We're not trying to become a unicorn.

This is a choice. VC money comes with growth expectations. It changes your incentives. Suddenly you're optimizing for metrics that don't matter to your actual customers.

We optimize for sustainability. Can we pay ourselves well? Can we work on interesting problems? Can we still be doing this in 10 years?

That's enough.

How We Price

We don't do hourly billing. It rewards inefficiency and penalizes expertise.

We price based on value. What's this worth to you? What's it worth to us? Let's find a number that works for both.

Sometimes that means a project fee. Sometimes equity. Sometimes a mix. Every engagement is different because every client is different.

The key is: we're partners, not vendors. If you want the cheapest option, hire someone on Upwork. If you want someone who actually cares about outcomes, that's us.

The Hard Parts

It's not all idyllic. Running a studio has challenges:

**Cash flow is unpredictable.** Product revenue is steady but client work is lumpy. You need reserves.

**Saying no is hard.** Especially when the bank account is getting low. But saying yes to bad fits is worse.

**Growth is slow.** We're not doubling headcount every year. We're growing deliberately.

**You wear every hat.** When you're small, everyone does everything. Sales, support, accounting, recruiting. It never ends.

Why It Works For Us

After 12 years, we can't imagine doing it differently. We get to:

That's worth more than growth metrics or investor returns.

If you're thinking about starting a studio, my advice is simple: start. Build something. Get one client. Ship one product. The path reveals itself as you walk it.

There's no playbook. There's just doing the work and learning as you go.