The trades I have built software inside
A software pitch that cannot name the four tools your trade actually runs on is a pitch for a developer. These five are the sectors I have operated in, and the pages name the tools.
I read every one and reply within the day. When an off-the-shelf product covers it, I tell you which one and stop there.
Precious metalsA metals business runs on numbers that change every minute and paperwork that has to be perfect for years. Off-the-shelf software handles neither. The dealers I know keep the real records in a ledger, a spreadsheet and the owner's head, and the price on the counter is typed in at nine.Luxury retailA luxury store sells a few high-ticket pieces a day and runs hours of back-office work around each one. Client details in a salesperson's phone, repairs on paper tickets, listings written by hand, inventory counted three times. The floor is immaculate. The systems behind it are a notebook.ConstructionA contractor's business lives in four places: the estimate on a legal pad, the schedule on a whiteboard, the draws in the owner's memory and the permits in a truck notebook. The generic construction apps try to replace all four and end up used by nobody. The right tool does the four things, the way your business does them.Legal servicesA firm bills for judgment and spends its days on routine: intake forms, status calls, engagement letters, referral spreadsheets. The practice management software holds the matters and does little else well. The gap between the two is where a small custom tool earns its keep, as long as it respects what a firm cannot expose.Real estateA real estate business runs on checklists and splits, and both live in each agent's own spreadsheet. The brokerage finds out what was missed at closing and what the split was when the invoice is argued. A small system that holds the checklist, the split and the date fixes both, and it stays when the agent leaves.
Tell me what is in the way.
A short form and a same-day reply from the person who would write the code. When buying covers it, the reply says what to buy.