Who we work with
Operating companies between 50 and 500 people — firms that build, install, deliver, distribute or service something physical — with one workflow that everybody already complains about and a senior person who can authorise changing it. If you cannot name the workflow, the first job is not engineering.
Why 50 to 500
It is not a preference, it is where the arithmetic works.
Below about 50 people, the expensive workflows usually are not expensive enough. Two people spending part of their week on something painful is genuinely painful and usually is not a $75,000-a-year problem. Off-the-shelf software is the right answer and we will say so — and for marketing, that is what our small-business plans are for.
Above about 500, you can afford to hire the capability permanently, you probably have an internal platform team, and procurement will want a vendor with a compliance department. Frankly, you should hire.
In between is the gap: expensive enough workflows, no internal capacity to fix them, not enough continuous deployment work to justify a permanent hire. That gap is the entire business.
The four conditions
All four, not three:
- A named workflow. Quote-to-invoice, dispatch, intake, RFQ response, claims, onboarding. Something you could point at on a whiteboard.
- Systems already in place. You have a CRM, an ERP, a scheduler. The problem is the seams between them and the humans stitching those seams by hand. If you have no systems at all, the first project is different work.
- An authoriser. One senior person who can say “yes, the process may change.” Automation that is only permitted to preserve the existing process removes maybe a fifth of the cost.
- Tolerance for a hard answer. In week four we hand you a number. Sometimes that number says do not proceed.
Where we do this most naturally
- Construction and the trades → — estimating, quote-to-invoice, field-to-office
- Distribution and wholesale → — order entry, quoting, inventory reconciliation
- Field service → — dispatch, intake, scheduling, parts
- Professional services → — intake, matter setup, document handling
Not on the list is not a no. The pattern travels: a workflow with humans copying data between systems, under time pressure, where mistakes are expensive.
Where we are honestly not the right call
- Regulated environments needing a compliance apparatus — healthcare data, financial services, defence. Real requirements we do not currently carry.
- You want ongoing feature development. Hire developers.
- Twenty small problems rather than one big one. That is an operations hire.
- The real problem is people. Some broken workflows are broken because two departments do not talk. Software makes that measurably worse.
Who we work with for marketing
The 50-to-500 rule is for the engineering work. Marketing is a separate lane with a different fit, and it is built for small businesses.
- Local service businesses — contractors, trades and other service businesses whose customers search nearby, then call, text or fill in a form.
- Owner-run teams, usually well under 50 people, where the owner is often also the person answering the enquiries.
- Anyone losing leads between channels — enquiries arriving by phone, text, form and message, and nobody sure every one got an answer.
Two ways in. Pick one of three software plans, tell us about your business, and we set it up around it. Or a monthly marketing retainer, measured against a baseline we record before we touch anything.
It is not a fit if what you want is volume — more posts, more emails, more impressions — with no interest in what happens after an enquiry arrives.
Marketing for small businesses → · Compare the three plans →
Geography
The measurement phase happens on site, wherever you are. The build is remote. We return for deployment. Based in Colorado; we travel for the phases that need a person in the room.
How an engagement runs → · Start with the measurement →
How an engagement runs · What is a forward deployed engineer? · What it costs · Marketing for small businesses
Get in touch
Email solutions@ikonic303.dev to start with the measurement. ikonic303 is based in Colorado and works with clients nationwide.