Tourism Website • Live
Wild Atlantic Biker
Signature tour pages for the Wild Atlantic Way, an owner-editable journal, and enquiry capture that stores each lead and alerts the business immediately.
Independent software studio · Cork, Ireland
Bring us the awkward part of your business.
Show us the spreadsheet, customer process or specialist workflow that no longer fits. We’ll tell you whether to fix it, automate it, replace it — or leave it alone.
Free decision reviewBuild, buy, automate or waitFixed scope before production code
EXAMPLE INTERFACEYour workflow, simplified
Live
Everything togetherOne viewclear and current
Routine follow-upAutomaticless busywork
WorkflowStatus
01New requestCaptured automaticallyReady
02In progressNothing falls throughActive
✓CompletedCustomer notifiedDone
01
Built around youYour process. Your language.
✓
Working software, fastSee progress in weeks, not months.
GDPR Compliant
EU Based
Secure by Default
Shopify Partners
Sound Familiar?
Which Awkward Bit Sounds Familiar?
You do not need to know what software you need. Start with the part of the business that wastes time, causes mistakes or depends on one person’s memory.
We're running our entire operation on spreadsheets and it's held together with tape
It started as a simple tracker. Now it has 40 tabs, formulas nobody understands, and everyone is terrified of breaking it. Measure what the workaround costs each year.
We got quoted €50,000 and six months for something that should be simple
You do not need a miniature enterprise transformation. You need one focused tool that solves the expensive part first and earns the right to grow.
Generic software understands eighty percent of our work — and misses the important twenty
Specialist businesses are often badly served by general-purpose tools. The missing twenty percent is usually where the delays, margin and customer experience live.
We waste hours every week copying data between systems that don't talk to each other
Someone on your team spends half their day transferring information from one tool to another. Mistakes happen. Things fall through the cracks. Everyone knows there has to be a better way.
Send us one awkward workflow. We will help you decide whether it deserves software at all.
Show us the awkward bitJMS Foundry · Applications open
You understand the problem.
You just cannot build the solution yet.
The Awkward Idea Fellowship gives two exceptional non-technical founders product advice, up to 40 hours of focused development and six months of practical support.
2founding projectsApplications close
30 September 2026
30 September 2026
The Build, Buy, Automate or Wait Review
A Useful Software Decision Before a Software Project
Send us one messy workflow, spreadsheet, website, Shopify issue or app idea. We will reply with the simplest sensible direction: buy something, automate part of it, build something focused or leave it alone.
Build
When the workflow is genuinely distinctive, define the smallest version worth owning.
Buy or automate
When an existing product or one reliable connection solves the expensive part.
Wait
When the problem is not yet costly, frequent or stable enough to justify a project.
Transparent Pricing
Know the Price Before Production Code Is Written
Choose the buying track that matches the problem. Websites start at €500. Focused operational software starts at €3,000. When uncertainty is the real risk, begin with a €490 Working Prototype Sprint, fully credited against a later build.
A professional website
One-Page Site
From €500
A single, polished page to get you online fast. ~1 week.
Small Business Site
From €1,000
Up to 5 pages, SEO, analytics, and contact forms. 1–2 weeks.
Content-Managed Site
From €2,000
~10 pages plus a blog/CMS you can edit yourself. 2–3 weeks.
Fix an expensive operational problem
Starter
From €3,000
Replace a spreadsheet with a proper web application. 3–4 weeks.
Growth
From €6,000
Multi-feature tools, client portals, and integrations. 4–8 weeks.
Scale
From €12,000
End-to-end custom solutions with complex logic. 8–12 weeks.
Our Guarantee: Scope Match or You Don’t Pay
We agree a clear scope before work starts. If the delivered software doesn’t match the agreed scope, you don’t pay the final instalment. Milestone check-ins mean you see working software throughout — not just at the end.
By the Numbers
Evidence That Is Difficult to Manufacture
15
Products we build & operate
Our own products, live and supported by us — on top of the custom software we build for customers.
7
Verified Shopify Listings
StaffHub, SpamShield, GrowthMap, ProfitShield, Jewel Value, RepairDesk & JewelryStudioManager on the Shopify App Store
OSS
Open Source
Evernote to OneNote & Text2Audio tools
EU
Based & GDPR Compliant
Secure by default
A focused studio, not a delivery chain: JMS Dev Lab brings product engineering and real operational experience together in one team. The people discussing your workflow stay close to the people designing and building it, which means fewer handoffs, clearer decisions, and software that matches the brief. Learn how we work.
Selected Customer Work
A Website Built to Sell the Ride
Wild Atlantic Biker needed more than an online brochure. The website had to make guided motorcycle tours of Cork and Kerry feel tangible, turn interest into enquiries, and let the owner publish new stories without waiting for a developer.
What the Build Proves
A small-business website can do real operational work
Sell the experience: routes, landscapes and local knowledge are organised around the visitor’s decision.
Capture every enquiry: submissions are stored as well as emailed, giving the business a reliable record.
Stay owner-editable: new journal content can be published without reopening a development project.
What We Build
Different Shapes for Different Awkward Problems
The answer may be a better public website, a focused internal tool, a customer portal or one reliable connection between existing systems. The shape follows the problem — not the other way around.
Websites & Landing Pages
Fast marketing sites, product sites, campaign pages, and content hubs that explain the offer clearly and are easy to maintain.
Web Apps & Bespoke Systems
Customer portals, app-like internal systems, booking tools, admin dashboards, and software built around unusual workflows.
Client & Customer Portals
Let customers check progress, submit requests, approve work and find documents without phoning to ask a routine question.
Booking & Scheduling
Custom booking flows for your specific service — with the rules, reminders, availability logic, and integrations that generic tools can't handle.
CRMs for Your Industry
Not Salesforce with a thousand fields you don't need. A CRM built around your workflow, your terminology, and the things you actually track.
Job & Project Tracking
Track jobs from intake to completion through your actual workflow stages — not stages someone else designed for a different industry.
Internal Business Tools
Replace the spreadsheet everyone is afraid to touch with a focused tool the whole team can understand.
Automation & Integration
Stop paying people to copy information between screens. Connect the systems you already trust and keep a clear exception path.
Dashboards & Reporting
Operational dashboards, KPI reporting, cashflow visibility, app-health views, and the numbers your team needs without spreadsheet gymnastics.
Our Own Products
We Build Real Software — Here's the Proof
These are public examples of the kind of systems we design, build, maintain, and support: Shopify apps, business tools, dashboards, open-source utilities, and specialist workflow software.
7 of these are approved and live on the Shopify App Store — a public, third-party-reviewed bar — part of a 14-app portfolio we build, ship, and operate ourselves.
One promise across every app: honest, one-line pricing — cancel anytime, no surprise charges after a trial, and a real person answers your email. Most start with a free plan or free trial.
Live on Shopify
JewelryStudioManager
CRM for custom jewelry studios
14-day free trial, from $9.99/mo
Commission tracking, client management, consultation scheduling, and a branded client portal — built specifically for how jewelry designers actually work.
Live on Shopify
StaffHub
Staff training & announcements
Free plan up to 5 staff, then from $129/yr
Training modules, announcements with read receipts, onboarding notes, and shop-floor operating knowledge for Shopify retail teams.
Live on Shopify
SpamShield
Invisible spam protection — no CAPTCHAs
Free plan, paid from $4.99/mo
Blocks contact-form, review, and comment spam on Shopify stores and any website — without CAPTCHAs. Four detection layers run in under 200ms.
Early access
Rian Books
Irish bookkeeping, ready for close
Pilot plans from €19/mo
Turns receipts, bank lines and VAT evidence into an accountant-reviewable close for Irish small businesses — evidence attached to every figure, so year-end stops being an archaeology dig.
JMS-built product
GemReach
Jewelry clienteling & two-way texting
Paid from $49/mo
Remember every client and never miss an occasion — client profiles with ring sizes and key dates, a daily prioritised contact list, two-way SMS with AI-assisted replies, consent and STOP/START compliance, and campaigns.
Live on Shopify
RepairDesk
Repair management for jewellers & watchmakers
14-day free trial, from $9.99/mo
Repair ticket pipeline, itemised quotes, photo documentation, automated customer notifications, parts inventory, and reporting — purpose-built for Shopify merchants who offer repair services.
AI Development
Use AI Where Mistakes Are Cheap, Visible and Reversible
We use AI for bounded work that a person can review: drafting, extraction, classification, search and first-pass analysis. Important customer, financial and professional decisions keep an accountable human in control.
Custom AI Agents & Automations
AI that does the work end-to-end — research, operations, support, data — built to be reliable, not a demo.
AI Into Your Existing Systems
Connect AI safely to your own data, tools, and APIs. Your data stays yours — we don't train models on it.
Honest Feasibility First
We tell you where AI pays off and where a simpler fix is better. The first AI review is free.
How It Works
Three Decisions Between the Problem and the Launch
Understand the costly part, agree the smallest useful scope, then review working software in short cycles.
1
You Tell Us the Problem
Describe what is wasting time, losing money or confusing customers. We map the real workflow before proposing a solution.
2
We Build It With You
You see working software within weeks, not months. We build in short cycles so you can give feedback early and often.
3
You Use It, We Support It
We hand it over, train your team, and stick around. Real support from the people who built it — not a call centre.
Who We Build For
Your Industry Is Not Too Niche. Generic Software Is Too Generic.
Specialist businesses deserve tools that understand their terminology, exceptions and real workflow — without paying for an enterprise transformation.
Trades & Field Services
Professional Services
Healthcare & Wellness
Creative Agencies
Education & Training
Property & Lettings
Manufacturing & Workshops
Membership Organisations
Nonprofits & Charities
Retail & Hospitality
Logistics & Distribution
And Plenty More
From the Blog
Practical Guides for Business Owners
How Much Does Custom Software Actually Cost?
Real price ranges for spreadsheet replacements, client portals, and custom apps. No "it depends" waffle.
Read more →No-Code vs Custom Software
Airtable and Bubble look cheap upfront. Here's the real 3-year cost comparison — with numbers.
Read more →How to Replace a Spreadsheet with an App
A step-by-step guide for business owners who know their spreadsheet is a problem.
Read more →Open Source
Goodwill Projects You Can Inspect, Use, and Improve
We use open-source projects to prove the way we build: practical, documented, safety-conscious, and designed for non-technical users.
Evernote to OneNote Migration Tool
MIT licensed • Desktop app + npm CLI • Windows, macOS, Linux
A free ENEX importer with guided setup, dry-run reports, resumable imports, and verification totals before your notes are moved into Microsoft OneNote.
Text2Audio Audiobook Generator
MIT licensed • Runs fully on your machine • Windows, macOS, Linux
A free, local AI audiobook generator: turn any book into a natural-sounding, chaptered .m4b audiobook entirely on your own computer — no cloud, no accounts, no per-use cost.
Need Something Similar?
Evernote to OneNote is the pattern: take a stressful manual process, make it guided, add safety checks, and produce clear reports. We can apply the same approach to imports, migrations, dashboards, and awkward internal workflows.
Talk about a custom toolFree Tools
Calculators & Checks You Can Use Right Now
Evernote to OneNote Migration Tool
Free open-source ENEX importer with guided setup, dry-run reports, resumable imports, and verification.
Get the tool →Spreadsheet Cost Calculator
Calculate how much your spreadsheet workflows are actually costing you. 2-minute input, hard numbers out.
Run the calculator →Shopify Cashflow Health Check
Two-minute assessment. Flags cashflow risks in your Shopify store and hands back actionable recommendations.
Check my cashflow →Staff Training Cost Calculator
See the hidden cost of unstructured staff training in your retail or Shopify store — and what a system would save.
Run the numbers →Marketing Readiness Score
Is your business ready to start marketing? Two-minute check on whether your foundations are solid before you spend.
Take the assessment →Jewelry Valuation Certificate Checker
Check whether your valuation certificates meet insurance standards. Free checklist for jewellers and appraisers.
Check a certificate →Metal Scrap Value Calculator
Estimate the EUR scrap value of gold, silver, or platinum from weight or dimensions, using live precious-metal spot prices.
Calculate scrap value →Repair Turnaround & Revenue Calculator
Work out how much revenue slow repair turnaround costs your workshop — and what you could recover with a system.
Calculate lost revenue →Community & Good Causes
We Give Back Where We Can
We offer discounted and pro-bono development to charities, nonprofits, community groups, and grassroots sports clubs. We built Pitch Side — a free-to-start coaching app — because volunteer coaches deserve proper tools too.
If your organisation is doing good work in the community and needs software but doesn't have the budget for it, get in touch. We're happy to talk about what's possible.
Tell Us About Your OrganisationCommon Questions
Custom Software FAQ
How much does a custom website or software project cost?
As a guide: websites start from €500, custom tools and apps from €3,000, and most multi-feature builds land between €3,000 and €25,000. You get a fixed price for a defined scope — not open-ended hourly billing.
How long does a build take?
A simple tool is typically 4–8 weeks; larger systems with several workflows and integrations run 8–16 weeks. We agree the timeline alongside the scope before any work starts.
Do I own the code?
Yes. You own what you pay for — the code, the data, and the logins. No platform lock-in, and your data can stay in the EU.
Will you tell me if I don't actually need custom software?
Yes. The first review is free, and it often ends with "use this off-the-shelf tool" or "a small automation will do it." We only recommend a build when it is genuinely the right call.
Where are you based, and who do you work with?
We are based in Cork, Ireland, and work with businesses across Ireland, the UK and the EU. Projects run remotely and are EU-hosted by default.
What if we're not the right fit?
We will tell you early and, where we can, point you somewhere better. A fast, honest "no" beats a bad project for both of us.