Pay for the software you use. Nothing else.

You're paying for someone else's plan.

What the Checkup covers.

A written report 5 business days after I have access, then a 45-minute walkthrough call. The quick cuts are made with you on that call. The report contains:

• An inventory of every recurring software charge, from 12 months of statements
• Spend and renewal dates
• Seats used against seats paid
• The overlaps
• A decision per tool: Keep, Cut, Downgrade, Consolidate or Build, each with the rule behind it
• Quick cuts, with steps and dollar figures
• Build options at fixed prices, with the payback month
• A 12-month renewal calendar

The report's checks: every recurring software charge in your 12 months of statements is in the inventory, every tool has a decision and the rule behind it, and every number can be rebuilt from the spreadsheet you receive.

How I decide.

The rules are public and printed in every report. The first rule that matches wins.

1. 1. Keep.

   Anything on the won't-rebuild list, or a tool you use most of, or need for its certifications or ecosystem.

2. 2. Cut.

   Unused for 60 days, or fully covered by a tool you keep.

3. 3. Consolidate.

   A tool you keep already does it.

4. 4. Downgrade or switch vendor.

   Same job, cheaper plan or product.

5. 5. Build.

   Only when the payback on cash alone is 24 months or less, or 25 to 36 months when the time savings are real and you agree.

What people replace.

Usually not a whole product. Usually the few parts of it a small team uses every day.

Product names belong to their owners and are used only to describe what you might be paying for. KFTCDA isn't affiliated with, or endorsed by, any of them. They're good products, and plenty of businesses should keep them.

What I won't rebuild.

Some software is worth paying a specialist for. I'll connect your tool to these, not replace them.

• Accounting and payroll.

  Tax rules change every year and mistakes are expensive. Keep your accounting and payroll software; I can send it the data.

• Payment processing.

  Card payments go through an established processor on your own account, at their fees. I build the checkout, not the bank.

• Email delivery.

  Getting email into inboxes is a specialist job. Your tool sends through a delivery service on your account.

• E-signature where compliance matters.

  For contracts that must stand up in court, or anything regulated, use a dedicated e-signature provider. I can connect to it.

• Sign-in and security.

  Logins go through an established identity provider, not something home-made.

• Your email, calendar and files.

  Keep your workspace suite. The tool works alongside it.

When to keep what you have.

• You use most of a tool's features.

  Then you're getting what you pay for.

• You depend on its ecosystem.

  Marketplace apps, ready-made integrations, templates, certified consultants, a community that knows the product. A custom tool has none of that.

• You need its certifications.

  If your customers, insurer or regulator need a vendor with formal security certifications, or you handle health or card data, keep the certified vendor.

• You're still working out how you work.

  Off-the-shelf tools let you change your process every week. Build when your process has settled.

• You need a support desk around the clock.

  You get one engineer who knows your system, not a 24-hour support team.

• The numbers don't add up.

  If the calculator says it won't pay for itself, believe it.

What it costs.

• Fix, from $999.

  One simple tool. A booking page or an intake form on your own site.

  Days

  Then $99 a month.

• Build, from $9,999.

  Several tools in one. Enquiries, bookings, a customer list and follow-ups, with your data moved across.

  Weeks

  Then $199 a month.

• Transform, from $49,999.

  The core of how a larger team works. Pipeline, customer questions and projects together, delivered in milestones.

  Months

  Then from $499 a month, quoted.

Upkeep is flat, not per seat. Hosting, backups, security updates, monitoring, fixes when anything breaks, and the yearly Software Checkup (a re-run of the assessment, normally $999), timed before your biggest renewal. Add people without adding cost. Bigger changes are quoted as a Fix. Upkeep is a 12-month commitment, then month to month. You pay your payment processor and email delivery service directly, on your own accounts, at their prices.

Free scoping call · 30 minutes. We name the outcome, pick the tier and I follow up with a fixed price in writing.

Don't cancel anything until it passes.

After the deposit, you pay only for checks that pass. For a replacement, the checks are written in plain words and you can run them yourself:

• Every record you exported from your old tools is in the new one, and the counts match.
• Each task on the agreed list works end to end, on a phone and on a laptop.
• Your team has used it for real work, alongside the old tools, for two weeks.
• You can export everything in it to a spreadsheet, whenever you want.

Your old subscriptions stay on until the last check passes. If the new tool doesn't do the job, you keep your old tools and you haven't paid for the milestones that failed.

I've built this kind of plumbing before: billing, subscriptions, customer support and identity wired into an online game at Electronic Arts, and KruX42, a product of my own with accounts and a keyed public API. More than 30 years shipping software. Director of Engineering at Zynga, CTO at Booyah. You work directly with the engineer doing the work. Full resume →

Questions