Frequently asked questions/ chapter · FAQ

The questions people ask.

The answers we give on the phone, written down. If yours is missing, write to us.

/ Method

How we work

How much does custom software development cost?

There is no price list: it depends on what the software has to do, who will use it and how many systems it has to touch. We give you a written quote after the first call, which is free, and it says what is included and what is not.

How long does building a custom business system take?

It depends on what you need, and we put it in writing after the first call. What weighs is the decisions to make and the old data to move across, more than the code.

How does the first call work, and does it cost anything?

It is free and there are no strings. You tell us what you need to build, we ask questions, and at the end we tell you what is worth doing, what is not, and in what order, even when the answer is not to do it. Video call, or in person if you are nearby.

How quickly do you reply to an enquiry?

Quickly, including when the answer is no. Whoever reads it and replies is the one who would then write the code.

Where are you, and which areas do you work in?

We are in Città di Castello, in the province of Perugia, in the upper Tiber Valley. We work face to face with companies across the Umbrian and Tuscan Valtiberina, Sansepolcro, San Giustino, Umbertide, Anghiari, and the provinces of Perugia and Arezzo. Everywhere else we work remotely, and an in-person meeting gets arranged when it matters.

Do you work with small companies?

Yes, and it is a good part of the work. A small company with a clear problem is a better client than a large one that does not know what it wants. All we ask is that someone on your side can decide: without that, any project stretches.

Who runs the project? Do I always talk to the same person?

Yes. Whoever answers your first call is whoever writes the code, and whoever answers when something breaks. There is no salesperson who closes you and a team that inherits the project without ever hearing your voice.

You have products of your own: is there time left for my project?

Yes, and it is the same craft. Our products start from an idea of ours and we develop them end to end: interfaces, recurring payments, app-store releases. They are where we try ideas out before taking them to a client. If there were no room for your project, we would tell you on the first call.

/ Contracts

Contracts, code and ownership

Do I own the source code?

Yes, in writing. At the end you get the full repository, the documentation and the credentials for every service. If one day you want to take it elsewhere you can, without asking us, and we walk whoever takes over through it.

Are there compulsory monthly fees?

No, we do not sell subscriptions whose job is to keep you attached. If you want a maintenance agreement we will write one, but it is your choice and it can end. What remains are the third-party services the product uses, like hosting and the domain, and those are in your name.

What happens after launch? Do you do maintenance and support?

Yes, and we care about it, because that is where software lives. You can take a block of hours or call when you need to. Either way the person who answers is the one who wrote the code, not a ticket touring the departments.

Can you act as an outsourced CTO or technical advisor?

Yes, and it is a service of its own. We come in as a technical lead by the hour, as many as you decide: what to do first, what technology to use, how to judge quotes and vendors. It helps people with the idea but not the skills, and companies with developers but nobody deciding.

/ Services

What we do and what we don't

What kind of software do you build?

Custom business systems and web apps, dashboards and reports, platforms, websites and e-commerce, mobile apps and AI integrations. We also do the creative side: naming, logo, visual identity and interface design.

Do you build dashboards and reports? With which tools?

Yes. We work with Power BI and Tableau: we connect the sources, build the data model and the measures, and design the reports for the people who actually read them. If the dashboard belongs inside the software you use every day, we build it there.

Search on my site finds nothing. Can it be fixed?

Yes, and it loses more orders than people think. We work with Algolia: an index built on your catalogue, results as you type, typos forgiven, synonyms from your industry, filters and ranking you decide. On small catalogues far less is often enough, and we say so.

How much does a website cost?

It depends on how many different pages you need, and on whether the site has to sell. A company site costs less than an e-commerce, and an e-commerce wired to your back office costs more than one standing alone. We give you the number after the first call, in writing, along with what it will cost to keep running over the years.

Do you build e-commerce sites?

Yes, both from scratch and on Shopify or a CMS where that makes sense. We take the whole thing: brand, content, product pages, checkout, warehouse and accounting integrations, and the launch. If you also sell on Amazon, eBay or Decathlon, we connect those too.

Do you build iPhone and Android apps?

Yes, native with Swift and Kotlin when the app has to use the phone, or as an installable web app when that is enough. We make that call together after working out what the app is for, because it is the decision that moves the cost most.

Do I need an app, or is the website enough?

If it has to use the phone, notifications, camera, working with no signal, you need an app. If it does what the site does, you need the site done well for a small screen.

Does an installable web app come from the store?

No: it opens from the browser and is added to the phone's home screen with its own icon. It updates on its own, with no store review in between.

How much does an app cost?

There is no price list. What weighs most is the choice between native and installable web, and we make it together before the quote, which comes in writing after the first call, free.

Do you handle online advertising and social media?

No, and we would rather say it up front: buying the space and running social accounts is a different trade, and a media partner we work with does it. We do what comes before and after the click: the ad, the page that catches it and the site the AI has to be able to cite.

What technologies do you use?

We choose from the problem and from who will have to maintain it, not from what we resell best. In our projects it is mostly Angular and TypeScript for the part you see, PHP with Slim or Node with NestJS for the part behind it, PostgreSQL and MySQL for data, Swift and Kotlin for phone apps.

Do you work in English?

Yes. The site, the documentation and the calls all work in Italian and in English.

/ AI in the business

AI

What does bringing AI into a business mean?

It means putting it inside work you already do, not adding a chat bubble to the site. The cases that work most often: searching your own documents and getting an answer with its source, answering and sorting what arrives by email, and pulling data out of documents someone currently retypes by hand.

Do I need AI?

Often not, and we say so. For plenty of projects a proper search, a better form or a person answering is cheaper and gives the same answer every time. AI earns its cost when the work is made of text, of requests written in ever different ways, and of cases no rule covers.

How can AI answer questions about my company's documents?

Before answering, it looks inside your documents and uses what it finds there. So it answers from your own current data and tells you which file the answer came from, and you can check it. Without that step an AI answers from memory, and sometimes makes things up.

Does my data end up training the model?

No, when the project is set up properly, and we put that in writing. We use providers and plans that exclude training on submitted data, or models running on dedicated infrastructure. It is one of the first things to decide.

/ Getting found

GEO and AI visibility

What is GEO, Generative Engine Optimization?

It is the work of getting named when an AI writes the answer instead of a list of links. It means a site the AI can read, content written so it can be quoted, and a check on whether and how your name comes up in answers.

What is the difference between SEO and GEO?

SEO puts you in a list of links and makes you compete for position. GEO puts you inside the answer, where there is one place, or nearly. They do not exclude each other: a fast, well-structured site serves both, but what you measure and what you write change.

Can ChatGPT and Perplexity see my site?

That is quick to check. The most common case is a site that looks perfect in a browser but arrives nearly empty at the AI: that happens with sites built as applications. After that, it comes down to pages saying something precise and to the site stating plainly who you are and what you do.

Can you guarantee ChatGPT will cite me?

No, and be wary of anyone who guarantees it: generated answers keep changing and nobody controls those models. What can be done is making the site readable, writing content that earns a citation, and coming back to measure whether the mentions move.

/ Integrations

Integrations and marketplaces

Can you connect my ERP to Amazon or eBay?

Almost always. Most systems expose an API or at least an export format: from there we build the sync for products, stock, prices and orders. When there is no API we work with files, less elegant but it holds.

How long does opening a marketplace channel take?

The technical part is usually the short one. The time goes into the data: complete listings, EAN codes, marketplace categories and shipping rules. How long depends on the state of the catalogue: we put it in writing after the first call.

Do you use ready-made connectors or write everything yourself?

Whatever exists and works, we use: for multichannel publishing, tools like Channable and SellRapido cover a lot. We write code where the connector stops: pricing rules, warehouse logic, returns, and the odd cases of your industry.

What happens if an integration stops?

It has to tell you. Everything we hand over has readable logs and an alert when a sync fails or stalls. A connection that dies quietly is the fastest way to sell stock you do not have.

We are here after the handover too

Tell us what's on your mind.

First call free. You leave knowing what's worth doing, and what isn't.