Apps, websites and software for people who would rather speak plainly than manage developers. Tell me what you need, what feels messy, or what is still half-formed. I’ll help shape it into something real you can open, use and show people.
30-minute call. Plain conversation, no obligation.
I’ve been sitting on this idea, but I don’t know where to start.
You know the problem, or at least the direction. We’ll map the first useful version, what it might cost, and what the next step should be.
The agency quotes were more than I expected.
Large teams can be useful, but not every project needs that much machinery. Sometimes you just need one experienced person to understand the work and build carefully.
Someone started it and now it’s a mess.
A half-finished app, a website nobody can update, or a freelancer who stopped replying. I look at what’s there, keep what is useful, and tell you honestly what it takes to finish.
Most projects are some mix of app, website, and business workflow. Tell me what you need, and I’ll help shape the first useful version before building it properly.
A real app for the App Store or Google Play. Something people can install, open, and come back to because it does a useful job.
Fast, clear, good on phones, and easy for visitors to understand. Built to be found on Google and simple for you to keep current.
The work currently spread across spreadsheets, messages, and memory. Bookings, stock, jobs, customers, invoices — brought into one place that fits how you actually work.
A product you can try today, plus a decade of software work inside larger teams. Here are the specifics, without dressing them up too much.
EyeEat is a food app. Point your phone at a menu and it reads it, tells you what each dish actually is, translates it, estimates the calories, and flags anything you’re allergic to.
I designed, built and shipped it myself, start to finish, in one week. It is a small example of how I work when the problem is clear and I can stay close to the details.
Free on iPhone · Android coming soon
It’s free to download, if you want to see the work directly.
Led a team building and maintaining a B2B merchandising platform used by major retailers including Macy’s, Nordstrom, Bloomingdale’s and Saks Fifth Avenue.
Launched unified customer login and SSO across 5 countries, and integrated POS, SAP and WMS for full inventory and customer visibility.
Owned cross-platform analytics across web, mobile, AMP and Facebook Instant Articles, and shipped features for international editions.
EyeEat is my own product. Lightspeed Commerce, IRVINS and HuffPost are previous employers, not clients of my independent practice, and their inclusion isn’t an endorsement.
You don’t need to know software to take part. Here is what happens, and what I need from you at each stage.
About 30 minutes
You describe what you want in whatever words you’ve got. I ask questions, and by the end I’ll tell you honestly whether it’s a big job or a small one — and whether I’m the right person for it.
What you do: turn up and talk. No documents, no spec, no preparation.
Within a few days
I send you a plain-English summary of what I’ll build, what it will cost, and when it should be done. If the price doesn’t work for you, we stop here and it’s cost you nothing.
What you do: read it, ask anything that’s unclear, say yes or no.
Usually 2–6 weeks to something you can use
You get regular updates and, early on, a working version you can click around in. You will see the shape of the work as it forms, while changes are still easy to make.
What you do: about an hour a week — look at what’s there, tell me what’s wrong.
Handed over clearly
It goes live. You get everything — the app, the code, the accounts, all in your name. If you want another developer to take over next year, they can. Nothing is tied to me.
What you do: nothing. I’ll walk you through how it all works.
No account manager passing messages along, no junior developer learning on your budget. You email me, I reply, I build it.
If a feature is expensive and unlikely to help, I’ll say so before you pay for it. That is often where the real savings come from.
You won’t get an email full of acronyms. If I can’t explain what I’m doing in normal words, that’s my problem to fix, not yours.
A decade in companies where mistakes were expensive taught me to build software that can keep working after launch day.
The code, the accounts, the domain — everything ends up in your name. No ongoing fees to me unless we agree on more work.
No committees, no change-request forms. When something needs adjusting, we can usually deal with it quickly and calmly.
These are all reasonable things to understand before you spend money.
One email is enough to start. A couple of sentences about what you need, what is not working, or what you are trying to build is enough for me to tell you whether it is possible, roughly what it involves, and what happens next.
Prefer to contact me directly? me@irvinesoftware.dev · +1 949 346 7578