Field notes on building software that works.
Definitive guides on MVP development, startup technical strategy, and SaaS operations — written by the team running Loomstrat Studio and Labs.
The Complete Guide to MVP Development for Startups
A fully-researched guide to building a minimum viable product: what an MVP actually is, how to scope one, what it costs, how long it takes, and the mistakes that sink most first builds.
How to Build Software Without a Technical Co-Founder
Five real paths to building your first product without a technical co-founder — freelancers, agencies, no-code, fractional CTOs — with real 2026 cost data, IP-ownership pitfalls, and three documented case studies.
How to Choose a Software Development Agency: A Founder's Guide
How to vet, contract with, and manage a software development agency — engagement models compared, real red flags, two documented multi-million-dollar agency lawsuits, and the contract terms that actually protect you.
How to Build and Operate a Multi-Product SaaS Portfolio
The four real portfolio structures, from HubSpot's Hubs to Constellation Software's 1,000+ acquisitions, the organizational patterns that make multi-product work, and the focus argument against it — told through 37signals' own documented reversal.
Product Strategy Frameworks: From Idea to Decision-First Roadmap
The real, correctly-sourced mechanics behind Jobs to Be Done, RICE, Opportunity Solution Trees, OKRs, Working Backwards, and more — and how to combine them into a roadmap built on decisions, not feature requests.
Production-Grade Software: Engineering Practices That Prevent Technical Debt
What Ward Cunningham actually meant by 'technical debt,' the real cost data behind it, and the specific engineering practices that keep it from accumulating, illustrated by the Knight Capital failure that cost $460 million in 45 minutes.
The Operating Model Playbook for Distributed, Multi-Product Companies
How GitLab's handbook-first culture, Conway's Law, and real research on hybrid work combine into an operating model for running multiple products with a distributed team — including the moment Doist's own CEO publicly reversed course on async-only culture.
The Non-Technical Founder's Guide to Building Software
The technical vocabulary, correct uptime math, real requirements-writing history, and a documented fraud case that give a non-technical founder enough literacy to manage a build day-to-day and ask informed questions — without learning to code.
Software Ownership 101: Repository Rights, IP, and Avoiding Vendor Lock-In
What owning your software actually requires beyond a signed IP clause: repository transfer mechanics, the open-source license terms that create surprise disclosure obligations, data portability rights, real disputes when relationships end badly, and vendor lock-in beyond development agencies.
Custom Software Development Costs: Budgets, Timelines, and Contract Models
Full project budgets by scale, the real research on why software timelines slip, how fixed-price, time-and-materials, dedicated-team, and retainer contracts allocate risk differently, scope-creep cost dynamics, and how to structure payment milestones.