The software that runs the business is ten years old, one person understands it, and every change is a risk. Reports take days. Growth means more spreadsheets.
Someone built an app with an AI tool, or a developer who has since left. It runs, but no one can say whether it’s secure, backed up, or maintainable, and customers are about to depend on it.
Build or buy. Which platform. What the board, a funder, or a procurement officer means when they ask about AI. You need a senior answer and nobody on staff can give one.
An agency, a contractor, or an in-house developer built it and moved on. It’s undocumented, nobody understands the architecture, and you don’t know whether to fix it, replace it, or walk away.
You don’t need more developers. You need someone accountable for the answer.
We regularly work with businesses that inherited software from a previous developer, agency, or internal team. We assess what exists, identify what needs attention, and set a practical path forward: repair it, modernize it, or replace it. We don’t assume a rebuild is the answer.
How a rescue worksOne senior technologist, accountable for the outcome. We take on the decisions and the work that AI tools and junior teams get wrong: what to build, what to buy, how it connects to the systems you already run, and how to keep it secure and working for years.
You get a senior technologist in your leadership conversations for a fraction of a full-time hire. We set the technical direction, make the build-versus-buy and platform calls, manage your developers and vendors, write the AI and data policies your board or funders are asking about, and turn plans into budgets you can defend. You always know who is accountable. This isn’t advice from the sidelines: when a decision has to be carried out, we take responsibility for the execution, with your team, your vendors, or ours.
Current and recent engagements span IoT and telemetry, eCommerce, and ERP modernization for companies in energy, food service, and industrial distribution.
Read about the Fractional CTO engagementWe regularly work with businesses that inherited software from a previous developer, agency, or internal team, and with the Access database, the spreadsheet everyone depends on, and the custom app from 2012. We assess what exists, identify what needs attention, and set a practical path forward: repair it, modernize it, or replace it. We don’t assume a rebuild is the answer. Where we do modernize or replace, we work in phases to minimize disruption to the business, with data migration, integrations with your accounting and ERP systems, cloud hosting, and documentation as part of the job. When we’re done, more than one person understands how it works.
More than a decade guiding one industrial distributor’s eCommerce and ERP systems as the business grew, and a troubled technology environment taken over for a CEO and brought to the point where it was bug-free and supporting revenue goals.
Read about modernization and rescuePrompts are easy. The hard part is connecting AI to your documents, your customer records, and your ERP, and keeping it accurate, secure, and inside policy. We work in three situations:
Document and support workflows, custom connectors for Claude and other models, and the data pipelines underneath them.
Multi-tenant products on private data, where accuracy and access control decide whether the thing is usable.
If an app was built with AI tools, we audit it before customers depend on it: authentication, secrets, backups, tests, data handling, and a plain-English report of what we found.
We built and run our own multi-tenant AI platform (MT Chat) with vector search and LLM orchestration, so we know where these systems break.
Web and mobile applications, customer and dealer portals, internal tools, and the integrations that tie them together: payments, accounting, ERP, and third-party APIs. We build on AWS and Azure with a bias toward boring, well-documented technology that the next developer can maintain. You own the code and the data.
A parts inventory system tied into Shopify for an audio manufacturer, a field sales app for a national home security company, and an award-winning website and intranet for an architecture firm.
In two to three weeks, we review the systems that run your organization: the software, the data, the security, the hosting, and the people and vendors who keep it all working. You get a written report in plain English: what’s at risk, what to fix first, what it will cost, and whether to repair, replace, or leave each piece alone. One fixed price, and no obligation to hire us for the work.
For organizations running on aging databases, spreadsheets, or custom software no one fully understands.
For apps built with AI tools, by a contractor, or by a developer who has moved on. We check authentication, secrets, backups, tests, and data handling before customers depend on it.
Evaluating software you’re about to acquire or depend on? Technical Due Diligence is on the assessment page.
A fixed-scope review, not a penetration test, a security certification, or a guarantee that an application is secure. Your engagement letter lists exactly what is reviewed, what access we need, and what is excluded.
We can scope a technology assessment or modernization plan for a grant application, with defined deliverables, a budget, and implementation priorities. Eligibility depends on the specific funding program.
TMS Titanium runs its eCommerce and ERP systems on software Melsson has guided for more than a decade, through catalog, pricing, order flow, and integration changes as the business grew.
Result: a titanium distributor with a custom platform that still fits.
“We have had year over year growth and Melsson has been there every step of the way, helping us evolve and streamline our processes.” Todd Harrison, CEO, TMS
Mariner’s Bow brought in Melsson to take over a troubled technology environment: unreliable software, unclear ownership, and a business depending on both.
Result: in the CEO’s words, a platform that is bug-free and supporting the company’s revenue goals.
“Our technology is finally bug-free and he has helped us achieve our revenue goals many times over.” Leila Belmahi, CEO, Mariner’s Bow
Pacifico Energy, a renewable energy company with more than $4 billion in project financing, came to Melsson with a previous firm’s designs and major gaps in them. We built from what existed instead of starting over, then built data projects that track performance across its solar installations.
Result: an on-time launch, and solar performance issues caught quickly.
“I appreciated the technical expertise, attention to detail, and commitment to bringing our vision to life; being balanced with honest and practical feedback.” Kevin Pratt, President, Pacifico Power
You should know what something costs before you say yes. Assessments and well-defined projects are quoted at a fixed price before work begins. Fractional CTO engagements run on a monthly retainer with agreed responsibilities, availability, and deliverables, billed in advance. Work that can't be scoped up front is billed hourly at the rate in your agreement, against an estimate you approve before it starts. Hosting, monitoring, and maintenance are a flat monthly plan, so what we build stays running after launch.
Code, data, accounts, and documentation are yours from day one.
You work directly with the person making the technical decisions, not an account manager.
Every engagement begins with a signed agreement that spells out scope, ownership, and cost.
Thirty minutes, no pitch. Tell us what you’re running and what’s not working, and you’ll leave with an honest read on where you stand and what we’d do first, whether or not you hire us.
Schedule a free discovery call