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Boutique software studio

Stop burning budget on
software nobody asked for.

Most software projects fail before a line gets written. The wrong problem gets scoped, the wrong thing gets built, and six months later nobody is using it. CORDA fixes that. Strategy first. Senior engineers throughout. Working software in 60 days.

<8 Clients at once
2 wk Intro to written proposal
60d First working build
0 Middlemen
Tell us your problem See how we work →
Max active clients
<0
A deliberate ceiling. Fewer clients means your project gets real attention, not a slot in a shared queue.
Intro call to written proposal
0 wk
You know exactly what you are buying and what it costs before any build begins. No open-ended agreements to start.
First working build in production
0d
Deployed software, used by real users. Not a prototype or a staging environment nobody has reviewed.
Management layers between you and the engineers
0
Direct access. No account manager translating requirements. No "I'll check with the team."
What the first 10 weeks look like
Week 1 — Diagnosis, not pitch
30-minute call. We ask about the problem, the business context, and what has already been tried. We tell you honestly whether we are the right fit. No deck.
Weeks 2–3 — Paid discovery
Structured sessions produce a scope document, technical plan, build-vs-buy analysis, and a fixed-price proposal. You own the deliverables regardless of what comes next.
Weeks 4–8 — Build with full visibility
Weekly demos, direct Slack access to engineers, milestone check-ins against agreed scope. No surprises. No hidden change orders.
Week 10 — Ship, hand off, and move on
Working software in production with clean documentation and a knowledge-transfer session. Optional 90-day post-launch support retainer.
What poor scoping costs — typical $300K software project
Rework from unclear scope
~$216K
Delay cost (6 months of market time)
~$165K
Cost of a Discovery sprint
~$15K
Discovery is not overhead. It is the highest-ROI line in any software budget.
Services

Four tracks.
One standard.

Each track is designed for a specific situation. If you are not sure which fits, start with Discovery. Deliverables are yours regardless of what comes next.

01
AI Integration
You need AI to do real work in your operation — not a demo that impresses in a boardroom and sits unused six months later. We map the highest-leverage workflows, build the integrations, and make sure your team actually adopts what gets deployed. Every engagement ends with working software in production.
LLM Workflows Automation Internal Tools EHR / CRM Integration
02
Product Co-Build
You have domain expertise and a market with an unsolved problem. No engineering team, no capital for standard agency rates. We structure these as revenue-share: no upfront development fee, we take a percentage of revenue. When you win, we win. That alignment changes every decision we make.
SaaS Revenue Share Full-Stack Go-to-Market
03
Fractional CTO
You need serious technical leadership — architecture decisions, first engineering hires, investor due diligence prep — but a full-time CTO is premature. We embed as that person on a monthly retainer. We attend your standups, review PRs, and show up when the conversation turns technical with investors.
Monthly Retainer Architecture Engineering Hiring Investor Prep
04
Discovery & Strategy
You are about to make a significant software investment. Before you do, spend two weeks getting clarity on what to build, what it will cost, and whether custom software is even the right answer. Written scope, technical architecture, build-vs-buy analysis, phased roadmap. You own everything we produce.
Fixed Price Roadmap Build vs. Buy Deliverables Yours to Keep
Full service details →
Approach

We fix the problem,
not just the symptoms.

Most software projects fail because the scoping conversation never happened properly. Requirements got assumed, the wrong problem got an expensive solution. We close that gap. Every engagement starts with structured diagnostic work before a line of code gets written.

What strategy time produces
Scope accuracy
Very high
Rework probability
Very low
Budget overrun risk
Very low
Define the problem before scoping the solution
The scoping conversation is where most budget gets lost. We run structured diagnostic sessions before committing to anything. That investment pays back in every decision that follows.
Senior engineers from day one, not after handoff
The people in your kickoff meeting are the people writing the code. No account manager in the middle, no team you meet at week six.
Software that gets used, not just shipped
A deployed product nobody uses is not a success. We design for adoption from the first session — understanding who has to use the software and what makes them trust a new system.
Honest advice, even when it costs us the work
If the right answer is an off-the-shelf product or simply not building yet, we say that. We have turned down engagements because it was not the right call for the client. That is part of the service.
Process

From conversation to
working software. No gaps.

01
30-min diagnostic call
No pitch. No deck. We ask about your business problem, what you have already tried, your timeline, and your budget range. We tell you honestly whether we are the right fit.
02
Fixed-price discovery
Two to three weeks: stakeholder interviews, workflow mapping, technical scoping, build-vs-buy analysis. Deliverables are yours to keep — use them with us or any team you choose.
03
Written, fixed-price proposal
Defined deliverables, milestone schedule, and a total cost. No open-ended retainers, no scope that expands silently. You know exactly what you are buying before you commit.
04
Build, ship, hand off cleanly
Weekly demos, direct Slack access, working software at every milestone. Clean documentation and a knowledge-transfer session so your team owns what gets built.
Who we work with

Three situations
where we fit exactly.

Situation 01
You are about to spend serious money on software and want certainty before you commit.
You have budget and a problem, but you are not confident the proposed solution is correct. You need an independent technical perspective. Our Discovery track is built for this moment — fixed price, deliverables in two weeks, no obligation to continue.
Situation 02
You have a specific operational problem that no off-the-shelf product solves.
The products that exist do not fit your workflow, require a migration you cannot absorb, or cost more than building something specific. We build the specific thing you need. We do not try to expand scope or sell you a platform.
Situation 03
You need technical leadership, but a full-time CTO is premature.
The decisions you make in the next six months — stack choices, first hires, architecture — will accelerate or haunt the next three years. You need someone who has been through this before. That is what our Fractional CTO track is for.
Contact

What problem are
you trying to solve?

We open a small number of new client slots each quarter. Describe the actual problem — what it costs your business today, what you have already tried, and what a good outcome looks like. That context makes the first call much more useful.

Email hello@corda.studio
Based Houston, TX. Remote-first delivery.
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