Own 03

Own Your Software

Juggling spreadsheets and tools that don't quite fit your business? At some point, building your own becomes the smarter investment. We help you figure out when, and then we build it.

The "SaaS tax"

No SaaS tool ever fits exactly. You pay the gap somewhere, usually in three forms at once:

  1. In money. You pay full price for software you use 60% of. The other 40% gets absorbed by spreadsheets and workarounds.
  2. In workarounds. Senior people doing junior work because the tool can't model what actually happens. None of it shows up on an invoice.
  3. In time. Onboarding doubles because new hires learn the tool and the workarounds. Data lives in three places, so decisions wait.

Most companies absorb all three quietly. Eventually one gets too expensive to ignore.

Why now

Custom software used to mean six-figure budgets and 12-month timelines. That kept it locked to enterprises, while everyone else had to go with SaaS.

AI moved that math. The systems we used to reserve for enterprises now work for mid-market operations and small businesses with clear processes.

2–3 years Typical breakeven
0€ Per-seat fees
100% Feature fit

What we build

SaaS Replacements

Custom platforms that replace expensive, ill-fitting SaaS tools. Built to your exact workflow, integrated with the tools you want to keep.

Internal Platforms

Operations tools, admin dashboards, reporting systems. Software that makes your team faster and removes manual work.

Micro-SaaS

Focused, single-purpose tools that solve one problem well. Sometimes these become products of their own.

Legacy Modernization

Replacing outdated systems with modern, maintainable software — without the big-bang rewrite risk.

Who this is for

01

Companies whose work doesn't fit any SaaS. Compliance edges, hybrid workflows, industry-specific operations, etc.

02

Operations teams drowning in workarounds, spreadsheets and manual processes.

03

Mid-market organizations spending €10k+/year on SaaS that covers less than 70% of their needs.

04

Smaller companies who couldn't afford custom three years ago and can now. The minimum viable project size moved.

What this looks like in practice

Dr.Max didn't come to us with a SaaS to replace. They came with a process the market hadn't built a tool for. Every month, two people spent three days producing the marketing leaflet: exporting product data from the sales team's tool, dropping it into spreadsheets, chasing external vendors and designers by email, reconciling versions, then doing it all again 30 days later. Six person-days of manual coordination, every month, on a workflow nobody had thought of as "a system."

So we built one. They hadn't come looking for custom software, just for someone who could help with a process that hurt. Three years ago, building bespoke software for a single internal workflow would have been an absurd answer at the budget and timeline they had. AI moved both. We delivered the system in under two months.

Not every custom build replaces an existing tool. Some of them replace assumptions about what you have to live with. Both count.

IKEA

Bright modern IKEA kitchen interior with white cabinets and wooden countertop

Digitalization and Optimization of Core Sales Process

Common questions

Two questions to start with. First, how much of your day is spent working around a tool? If the answer is "a lot," the fit conversation is worth having regardless of price. Second, are you spending €10k+/year on SaaS that covers less than 70% of your needs? If yes, the cost math is probably already in your favor.

It's almost never a big-bang switch. We start by mapping which parts of the SaaS you actually use, which parts you work around, and which parts the tool does that nobody on your team relies on anymore. Then we build the highest-impact module first, usually the workflow costing you the most in time or workarounds, and run it alongside the old tool. Then we continue in phases.

A typical SaaS replacement runs 2–6 months depending on complexity. We start with the highest-impact module rather than rewriting everything at once. You see real value inside the first quarter.

You own the code. We offer ongoing support retainers, or you can bring it in-house. Either way, you're not locked in.

Yes. Data migration is part of every replacement project. We plan it early and test it thoroughly.

That's actually the most common scenario. We build the custom piece and integrate it with the SaaS tools you want to keep.

Tell us what you're working around. We'll tell you whether building it makes sense.