Web Applications
Software your team and customers use in a browser, built around your process rather than the average one.
True Cedar builds custom applications for companies that have outgrown their spreadsheets, their off-the-shelf software, or a system built years ago. Most projects ship in two to five weeks, and a single-workflow web application can ship in as little as five business days. The economics of this work changed when AI compressed the implementation layer, and our pricing reflects that.
Timelines are examples, not commitments. Every engagement is governed by its own written statement of work and agreement.
Most people arrive knowing the problem, not the category. Start from what you are living with today.
| If This Sounds Like You | Start Here |
|---|---|
| Three people maintain a spreadsheet by hand, and everyone works around it | Internal tools |
| Clients get their documents and reporting as email attachments | Client portals |
| You have an idea and need to find out whether it works before spending real money | MVP development |
| A system your business runs on was built years ago, and nobody wants to touch it | Legacy modernization |
| Two systems you already pay for do not talk to each other | Integration |
| You need software your customers or staff use in a browser | Web applications |
Not sure custom software is the right answer at all? Start with our build vs. buy guide.
A custom build used to mean a team of five to seven people for three to six months, and most of those hours went into implementation work that required care but not judgment: scaffolding, data layers, forms, test harnesses, integration glue. AI compresses that layer dramatically.
It does not compress architecture, data modeling, security review, or knowing what to build. That work is unchanged, and it is still senior human hours. So a small, experienced team now produces what used to take a much larger one, on the specific categories of work where the compression applies.
This is why AI-accelerated development is not the same as cheap development. Remove the experienced engineer and you get software that demos well and fails in production. The savings are real on greenfield work and standard integrations, and close to zero on migrating data out of an undocumented legacy system or producing compliance evidence. Our pricing page sets out the full ladder and exactly where those limits apply.
Software your team and customers use in a browser, built around your process rather than the average one.
A working MVP in as little as five business days, built to be extended rather than thrown away.
Authenticated access to documents and reporting, with a record of who saw what and when.
Intake, approvals, tracking and reporting that replace the spreadsheet everyone works around.
Connecting the systems you already pay for, so nobody re-keys data between them.
Rebuilding or replacing software your business depends on and can no longer safely change.
All the work is done by the True Cedar team and completed by US-based resources. We do not outsource any of the work. Stephen Backholm, the founder, is personally involved in every engagement and sees it through to completion and delivery.
Stephen has more than twenty years of experience helping organizations use technology to solve business problems. Before focusing full time on True Cedar, he spent five years as Director of Innovation and Technology for the Washington State Investment Board, where his responsibilities included AI and data strategy, cybersecurity, and cloud transition. That background matters most in the work where the stakes are highest: regulated data, financial reporting, and systems a business cannot afford to have fail.
Four things, set out in every statement of work: a delivery date, a fixed price, a status cadence so you are never guessing, and a remedy if we deliver late.
Every statement of work names what we are delivering and the date we are delivering it. If the scope you want does not fit the date you need, we will tell you before you commit rather than explain it afterward.
Fixed price, not hourly. If the work takes longer than we estimated, that is our cost and not yours. Changes are quoted as fixed-fee change orders and approved before any work starts on them.
You see the software working rather than described, typically twice a week. You should never have to ask where the project stands.
Remedy terms vary by engagement and are set out in each statement of work, but every one includes monetary penalties if we deliver late.
These describe how we typically work. They are not a contract; the terms for your project are set out in its own written statement of work and agreement, and those documents govern.
An AI bidding agent built and integrated directly into the Zoho environment the business already runs on.
A production AI portal giving students and administrators controlled access to AI. All 500 users have since been onboarded.
A client-facing portal built and delivered for a financial services firm with a 350-client base.
An AI agent solution designed and delivered against HIPAA requirements.
Selected recent engagements. Client names withheld. Timelines reflect these specific projects and are not a guarantee for every scope.
What the workflow is, who uses it, what it connects to, whether data has to come along, and what compliance applies. We will tell you on that call if you should buy something instead, and if the scope you have in mind does not fit the date you have in mind.
Within a few business days of that call, with a delivery date on it. Fixed price rather than hourly, so the risk of the work taking longer is ours rather than yours. If we deliver late, monetary penalties apply, on terms set out in your statement of work.
You see the software working rather than described, typically twice a week. You should never have to ask where the project stands.
Deployed to your infrastructure, with a walkthrough, written handover, and the source code in a repository you control. Stephen sees every engagement through to this point personally. Nothing is handed off at eighty percent.
All the work is done by the True Cedar team and completed by US-based resources. We do not outsource any of the work. This describes how we typically work; each engagement's terms are set out in its own written statement of work and agreement.
Custom application development is building software for one organization's specific requirements rather than licensing a product built for the widest possible market. It is worth doing when the way you work is a competitive advantage the available software cannot accommodate, or when you are paying for seats to get one feature.
A single-workflow web application can ship in about five business days. A multi-role application or client portal takes two to five weeks. Builds involving legacy data migration or compliance work typically take five to ten weeks. These are examples; each project's timeline is set out in its statement of work.
A single-workflow web application costs under $10,000. Multi-role applications and client portals typically run $18,000 to $45,000, and systems with compliance scope or legacy migration run $45,000 to $90,000. Our pricing page sets out the full ladder and the variables that move a project up it.
No. True Cedar is based in Austin, Texas and works with organizations across the United States and internationally.
All the work is done by the True Cedar team and completed by US-based resources. We do not outsource any of the work. Stephen Backholm, the founder, is personally involved in every engagement and sees it through to completion and delivery.
Every engagement starts with a statement of work that names what we are delivering and the date we are delivering it, at a fixed price. If we miss the date, monetary penalties apply; the exact terms are set out in your statement of work. We would rather tell you a scope does not fit a date before you commit than explain a delay afterward.
Tell us what you want to build, replace, or connect. Thirty minutes is usually enough to tell you which of these it is, and whether custom is the right answer.