Studios
All-American software developers trusted by mid-sized distribution, construction, and manufacturing companies that have been burned by agencies before.
Your team is doing manually what software should be doing automatically.
Your team has built workarounds on top of workarounds. Nobody remembers why most of them are there.
Your best people are working around the system, not with it.
The person who built it is gone. They took everything they knew with them. Every change costs more than the last one.
We rebuild your software so your systems finally work for you, not against you.
“I felt heard. I felt validated. And you never made me feel like I needed to learn a whole nother side career just to be able to accomplish this goal.”
— MISTY EBERSOLE, CEO · SASS Watch the full interview →
Most mid-sized distribution, construction, and manufacturing companies aren’t running their software. Their software is running them. Here is what changes.
Most ERP and software firms get paid by the hour, hide their methods, and disappear after launch. We built Pilot West to be the opposite of that — on every dimension that matters.
Before we write code, we identify the one business objective your software should be moving — the “North Star” — and align every decision against it. The result is a working system that meaningfully impacts your business within three to four months, not eighteen.
A senior US developer drops into your business at a flat monthly rate. The rest of our team sits behind them as supporting resources, scaling up or down as the work shifts. The model is built around one experienced engineer who knows your system, not three or four rotating contributors. Same predictability as hiring, without the overhead, payroll, benefits, or year-long commitment to people who may not be the right fit six months in.
When something breaks or a question comes up, you reach a senior developer who knows your system — in under sixty minutes*, during business hours. Not a ticket queue. Not a junior on rotation. Not a chatbot.
*In practice, the average is just a few minutes.
If, in the first sixty days, you decide we’re not the right partner, we refund your first month. As far as we know, no one else in this industry offers this. We do because we’ve never had to honor it — and we’d rather earn your trust than lock you in.
From the first call to the moment your team is using software that finally works for them. Each step has a clear scope, a clear price, and a clear way out if it isn’t working.
A thirty-minute working call. We diagnose your North Star and tell you honestly whether we’re the right partner. If we’re not, we’ll point you in the right direction. You leave the call with clarity either way.
A scoped, focused engagement lasting eight to twelve weeks. We solve a real problem against your North Star, prove how we work, and ship something usable. You own the code from day one. If at any point in the first sixty days you decide we’re not a fit, we refund your first month.
Once we’ve proven the relationship, we move to the team-as-a-subscription model. 100% of our test-phase clients have continued. The average partnership is twelve months and counting — not because they’re locked in, but because there’s always more meaningful work to do.
Mid-sized companies with stuck software, before and after working with us.
Misty’s team had spent two years trying to find developers. Forty years of legacy data. No documentation. We rebuilt the system around their actual workflow — and shipped it eighteen days after launch.
“They made us feel valued and respected, with the intention of building a lasting partnership rather than just collecting a paycheck.”
Amy’s staff was running fifteen different programs daily, copying data between them, auditing manually. We built a custom system from the ground up to eliminate the headaches and let her team focus on clients again.
“Every part of this project has been smooth, with clear communication and frequent check-ins throughout.”
Todd’s scheduling system was aging out. We rebuilt it end-to-end — reservations, partner data, session tracking — and shipped it on time, in production from day one.
“Their ability to consistently connect development work to real business value set them apart.”
Dr. Ian needed a patient app for medication tracking, weight tracking, and inventory. We delivered the MVP in under three months — with 35,000 lines of code and 25,000 lines of tests.
“This would have taken other agencies double or triple the time.”
If you’re reading this, you’ve probably been burned before.
Maybe by a developer who took your money and disappeared. Maybe by an agency that built the wrong thing. Maybe by software that was supposed to make your business run smoother and instead became the thing your team works around, every day.
We started Pilot West because we kept meeting business owners who’d been through some version of that. Smart people running real companies — distributors, manufacturers, contractors — stuck running their operations on systems that nobody had updated in fifteen years.
The name comes from what those clients started calling us: their tech co-pilots. People who understood where the business was trying to go and helped them get there, instead of selling them a destination they didn’t ask for.
That’s still the job. We work with a small number of clients at a time. We charge a flat monthly rate so you always know what you’re paying. And if at any point in the first sixty days you decide we’re not the right fit, we’ll personally make sure you get your first month back.
If any of this sounds like what you’ve been looking for, we’d like to talk to you.
What's on our desks this week. Every flight is a real engagement — in progress or recently shipped — anonymized for privacy. If you see your industry on the board, we’ve solved that exact problem.
All flights anonymized. Industries shown reflect active and recent engagements. Specific client outcomes are documented in case studies.
Discovery starts within the week. Hands-on work begins in days, not months. Most clients see something usable against their North Star objective in three to four months, not the eighteen months other firms quote.
A flat monthly rate, customized to the scope of your engagement. The model is intentionally cheaper than hiring a senior US developer in-house ($120K to $200K plus benefits) and more flexible. You scale up or down month to month. Exact pricing comes out of the free strategy call, once we understand the scope.
Yes. You own everything we ship from day one. No license terms, no buybacks, no holding the codebase hostage if you ever decide to leave. We hand you the keys.
You cancel. There’s no contract, no penalty, no last-month invoice trick. We work month-to-month so the relationship is always your call. The 60-day money-back guarantee applies on top of that for the first sixty days.
Yes. Every developer is based in the US. No offshoring, no overnight handoffs, no time zone friction. You work with senior US engineers who understand your business in plain English.
A senior US developer costs $120K to $200K a year plus benefits, equipment, and recruiting time. With us, a senior US developer drops into your business at a flat monthly rate, with the rest of our team available behind them as supporting resources. No hiring or HR overhead, and you can scale resources up or down as the work shifts. Same predictability without the year-long commitment.
Mid-sized distribution, manufacturing, construction, healthcare, and professional services companies, usually $5M to $100M in revenue. If you’re outside that, the strategy call will tell us quickly whether we’re a fit. We say no when we’re not.
Yes. We integrate with legacy systems (Visual FoxPro, Visual Basic, PHP, Excel-based workflows, take your pick) and we work alongside in-house teams. You don’t need to rip out what’s working. We replace what’s broken and connect what isn’t.
A thirty-minute working call where we diagnose your North Star, the one business objective your software should be moving. Most people arrive asking for a specific thing: a new ERP, a portal, a workflow tool. We help you talk through what you’re actually trying to solve, then walk through whether custom software is the right path at all. If something off-the-shelf would do the job, or if the underlying issue isn’t really a software problem, we tell you that and point you somewhere better. You leave with clarity either way.
If at any point in the first sixty days you decide we’re not the right fit, we refund your first month. No clauses, no carve-outs, in writing on every contract. As far as we know, no one else in this industry offers this.
We’ve worked across industries with compliance baselines, including healthcare data, financial data, and internal audit requirements. On the strategy call we dig into the specifics of your environment and tell you honestly whether we can meet them. If we can’t, we say so.
Your software is running the business instead of the other way around. Your team works around the system, not with it. You’ve been burned before.
Senior US developers rebuild your ERP and business software around one North Star objective — and ship something that moves the business in three to four months.
A free thirty-minute call. We diagnose your North Star and tell you honestly whether we’re the right partner. If we’re not, we’ll point you in the right direction. You leave with clarity either way.