Our goal isn't to be your IT vendor, or short term high-expense contractor. We are here to be your map out of the woods.
The best way to describe this, is a modified version of old story - with apologies to Aaron Sorkin from whom we heard this first.
A busy founder/executive/business owner goes for a walk in their neighbourhood.
They're thinking deeply about their operational problems, balancing their cash-flow, and trying to figure out when they'll actually get their next iteration into the hands of customers for feedback, and aren't watching where they are going. So they absentmindedly trip over a minor hazard, (let's call this a regulatory requirement) and fall into a deep dark hole.
For some inexplicable reason their cellphone, iwatch and other common sense solutions aren't working.
It's dark down there, and there seem to be a maze of twisty passages, many alike, and after stumbling around in the dark for a while, they return to where they were before looking up in the darkness at the small opening they fell into.
After a moment of reflection and frustration, they realise they can't simply climb out themselves, so they start to yell out for help in the darkness.
Hearing someone say "is everything ok?", they recognize the face of their lawyer looking down at them.
"Oh thank heavens. Some help at last!" they think.
"No, everything is not ok. I'm in a hole, there's a labyrinth down here, and I don't know how to get out".
The lawyer looks thoughtful, and spends a few minutes thinking, and then offers some well worded advice, that meets the letter and intention of the governing authority -- that a boils down to "you really should climb out of that hole you're in", and then moves on with their day.
Attached to the advice is an invoice. Naturally.
Some time passes, and frustration sets in, but they see another face.
"Help! Help" they yell, recognising the face of their outsourcing partner.
The outsourcing partner looks at the problem, sees the issue clearly, and adopts an iterative approach.
A team of eight is assembled, and many hours of specification and discussion ensue. A decision is made to use a mongo-j2ee-php-laravel-react-native stack twinned with a piece of garden twine they found in a nearby github repo.
The creation of the twine is a convoluted process, and the executive seems to find themselves having to interject and coordinate every step of the activity - whilst pointing out multiple times that garden twine is unlikely to hold their weight when it actually comes to being a meaningful solution to the problem at hand.
"But this seems to be what everyone agreed and the outsourcing partners are the experts", the executive consoles themselves.
Finally, the hour arrives, and the twine is lowered into the hole. It reaches about 60% of the way down, and glistens uselessly just beyond the reach of the executive.
"That was a great success. Our MVP proved the concept solution was fit for the problem. I think this is a great outcome", says the outsourcing partner's relationship manager.
Meanwhile, the executive is getting thirsty, impatient and frustrated.
So eventually the rep says "though that was a great learning, let's whiteboard this out again and get you what you need", and then disappears for a little while as they have another thing and can't start until they finish that. Hours later, they return with two extra people, one of whom is their "Senior Pre-Sales Architect", and an "Enterprise Relationship Manager" who confer for a while.
They then tell the executive, using a 12 page powerpoint, that this is a perfect use case for their business to adopt a sidechain web3 model, but that requires a new SoW and specification, and that the executive needs be ready to disrupt, digitalize and adopt the spotify model.
However, they point out helpfully that at least the executive does now possess a fantastic length of garden twine, as they wave and move on.
The next person to pass is a banker / VC partner. They look at the executive in the hole, and decide to pass. The executive heard the sound of footsteps and their hopes were raised for a moment. But nothing pans out.
The executive is getting as tired of this as you are of reading this story - but decides to stumble around in the dark alone for a while, trying to find a path in the underground cavern.
Tired, lonely, and beginning to see the fateful end of their once beautiful vision - they hear a faint voice from above.
"Hi, do you need any assistance? I'm from ABC"
The executive sighs, and says in a defeated voice "yes, but I don't think you can help me. I'm stuck in this hole and there's no way out. My lawyer and outsourcing partners have answers, but not solutions'.
A moment passes, and then a few seconds later, a dull thud and a light groan is heard, as the principal from ABC stands up next to the executive, having jumped into the hole.
"What? you idiot! Why did you jump into the hole with me, you're trapped now as well - and there's no water, no food, and I don't even know you ...." the executive said, somewhat caught between rage, ridicule and fear of some sort of liability.
The principal from ABC looks at the executive and simply smiles.
"Don't worry. I know it's scary. But we've been down here before, and we know the way out ..."
With apologies to Aaron Sorkin.
Professionally, personally and technically, we've been there and helped many of our clients get out of their dark nightmarish hole.