The Traditional Trade-off
When a business needs software that actually fits how they work, they've historically faced two options, neither of which is ideal.
Option one: Custom development. You hire developers, pay a substantial sum upfront (often six figures or more), and end up owning the code. This gives you complete control, but it also means bearing all the risk. If the project runs over budget, that's your problem. If the software needs ongoing maintenance, you either keep developers on staff or pay for support contracts. And if the business pivots and the software becomes obsolete, that's a sunk cost.
Option two: Off-the-shelf SaaS. You subscribe to existing software and adapt your business processes to fit it. The costs are predictable and the vendor handles maintenance, but you're always compromising. The software does 80% of what you need, so you create workarounds for the rest. You're locked into someone else's roadmap and pricing decisions. And if the vendor gets acquired or shuts down, you scramble to migrate.
Neither option aligns incentives between the business and the people building the software. Custom development frontloads all the risk onto the client. SaaS spreads risk but removes customisation. There had to be a better way.
What is CoSaaS?
Collaborative SaaS—CoSaaS—is our answer to this trade-off. Instead of treating custom software as a one-time transaction or forcing businesses into generic tools, we structure engagements as genuine partnerships.
The model works like this:
- Monthly fee, not upfront capital. Rather than a large initial payment, clients pay a predictable monthly amount. This makes sophisticated custom software accessible to businesses that couldn't afford traditional development costs.
- Yagni owns the software. We retain ownership of the codebase. This might sound counterintuitive, but it fundamentally changes our incentives. Because we own it, we're invested in making it excellent—not just "good enough to ship."
- We share in success. Our agreements include revenue-sharing arrangements where appropriate, meaning we benefit when your business thrives. This aligns our long-term interests completely.
- Minimum three-year commitment. Building serious software requires serious commitment from both sides. The minimum term ensures we can invest properly in getting it right, while giving clients confidence that we're in it for the long haul.
Why This Works Better
The CoSaaS model changes dynamics in subtle but important ways.
Risk is shared, not transferred. In traditional development, clients bear all the risk of cost overruns, changing requirements, and software that doesn't meet expectations. With CoSaaS, we share that risk. If the software isn't delivering value, it hurts us too. This creates a genuine partnership rather than a vendor-client relationship.
We're incentivised to build for the long term. Because we own the software and depend on its ongoing success, we build it properly from the start. No shortcuts to hit a deadline, no technical debt we can walk away from. The software we build today is software we'll be maintaining for years.
Continuous improvement is built in. Unlike traditional projects that "end" at launch, CoSaaS engagements include ongoing development. As your business evolves, the software evolves with it. New features, refinements, integrations—they're part of the relationship, not change orders.
Capital efficiency for clients. Instead of tying up significant capital in software development, businesses can deploy those resources elsewhere while still getting purpose-built systems. The monthly model turns a large CapEx decision into manageable OpEx.
When CoSaaS Makes Sense
CoSaaS isn't right for every situation. It works best when:
- The software will be central to your operations for years, not a short-term project
- Your processes are genuinely unique enough that off-the-shelf solutions require significant compromise
- You want a partner invested in your success, not just a vendor delivering a product
- You prefer predictable ongoing costs to large upfront investments
For short-term projects, simple requirements, or situations where you need complete IP ownership, traditional models may still be appropriate. We offer those too. The key is choosing the right model for your specific situation.
Real-World Results
Our flagship product, Pakk, has been running under this model for over five years. It handles millions in client turnover and has evolved continuously based on real operational feedback. The long-term partnership has allowed us to build something far more sophisticated and refined than a typical project-based engagement would produce.
PWR, a custom ERP for an influencer marketing agency, is another CoSaaS success story. The agency replaced a patchwork of expensive SaaS subscriptions with a single, purpose-built system that runs their entire operation—at a cost that was previously unthinkable for a business their size.
The Future of Custom Software
We believe CoSaaS represents where custom software development is heading. The old model of large upfront investments, adversarial contracts, and fire-and-forget delivery is increasingly obsolete. Businesses want partners, not vendors. They want software that evolves, not projects that end.
Combined with the efficiencies that AI-assisted development brings (more on that in a separate article), CoSaaS makes truly custom software accessible to businesses that would never have considered it before. That's good for businesses, good for us, and good for the industry.
If you'd like to explore whether CoSaaS might work for your situation, we'd be happy to talk.