Boutique technical consultancy · Est. 2018 · Lisbon · Braga · London

We build systems that scale.

From RF firmware on embedded appliances to scalable backend architecture, to the brand and the landing page that sells them — we design, build, operate, and advise across the whole stack. One firm, nine disciplines, engineered as a contract.

See the work → What we do
§ Disciplines
9
§ Engagements since '18
47
§ Production uptime (median)
99.986%
§ Time zone overlap (US · EU)
6h / day
§ 01 · Services

What we do.

Nine disciplines · One firm · Run as a single contract
§ 01

Design

Brand, UI, and product design for technical companies. Square, measured, specific.

§ 02

Marketing & growth

Positioning, launch strategy, and growth loops. Copy engineers want to read.

§ 03

Software development

Web, mobile, and back-of-house. Typed languages, small teams, boring technology.

§ 04

Systems architecture

Design for systems that have to keep running at three in the morning on a Sunday.

§ 05

DevOps & sysadmin

Build, ship, observe. We run what we build.

§ 06

Networking & appliances

Building the boxes on the rack, and the firmware that runs on them.

§ 07

RF communications

2.4GHz and sub-GHz. Mesh, point-to-point, long-haul. Spectrum is a resource; we treat it like one.

§ 08

Smart home & automation

Domotics, security, and the wiring that disappears into the walls.

§ 09

Hardware R&D

Prototype boards, enclosures, and the early hours of a product nobody has seen yet.

All services →
§ 02 · Selected work

Ships that sail.

3 of 47 engagements · 2024–2026
§ 01 · Case study2025

Relay/OS — mesh firmware platform

A boring, debuggable firmware target for 2.4GHz industrial mesh. 2,400 nodes; 99.997% uplink.

RFNetworkingSoftware
§ 02 · Case study2024

Zero-downtime Postgres migration

A 14-year monolith sharded into 8 nodes without dropping a single write. 47 min of degraded reads.

ArchitectureDevOpsSoftware
§ 03 · Case study2024

Gateway 1U — fanless edge appliance

From schematic to FCC-certified production unit in 11 months. Designed, fabricated, shipped.

Hardware R&DNetworking
All work →
§ 03 · Prototypes

Built to test.

Internal R&D · Selected experiments
§ P-01 · Firmware2025

Relay/OS testbed

A single-binary simulation harness for 2.4GHz mesh firmware. Runs 512 virtual nodes on one laptop; no hardware required to validate routing logic.

RFCPOSIX
§ P-02 · Infra2025

Zero-config edge proxy

A minimal TLS-terminating reverse proxy that self-configures from environment variables. Under 4 MB binary; deploys to a 1U in under 30 seconds.

GoTLSLinux
§ P-03 · Hardware2024

Gateway 1U — rev 0

The first breadboard iteration of the fanless edge appliance. Four Ethernet ports, one USB-C console, passive cooling. Ran for 11 months before taping out rev 1.

HardwarePCBEmbedded
§ 04 · Approach

How we work.

Principles · Rev 2.1
§ 01

Boring technology.

We pick the well-documented option. The one with the long changelog and the quiet mailing list. Novelty is a tax we pay only when it buys something real.

§ 02

The channel will fail.

RF, networks, disks — we design assuming they break, and recover before anyone notices. Graceful degradation is a product feature, not a stretch goal.

§ 03

One company, not a handoff.

Design, software, and operations are the same project. We run what we build. Anything else is theater, and theater doesn't answer the phone at 3 a.m.

§ 04

Measured in uptime.

We report in numbers that matter: nines, latency, on-call volume, handoff weight. Activity is not progress; shipped reliability is.

§ 05

Hybrid by design.

We work from offices in Lisbon and Braga — and from wherever the work makes sense. Remote-first when concentration demands it, on-site when presence does. We run the same model with partners: sprints in shared spaces, offsite weeks with our partners, and hands-on sessions when the problem is physical.

"Never trust a thought that occurs to you indoors."

— Nietzsche · That's why we spend ~30% of our time outdoors — ideas included.
§ 06

R&D as discipline.

We run a continuous prototype programme — hardware boards, software experiments, AI integrations, RF test rigs, design probes. Most fail. A few become products. The point is the cadence: if you are not testing something new every week, you are falling behind. We do this internally, and we bring partners into the lab when the problem warrants it.

"Is there anyone so wise as to learn by the experience of others?"

— Voltaire
§ 05 · Trusted by2018 — 2026
AVANT ARTE UBBU DARKMATTER AI LABS POLKASTARTER G3 · GAM3S.GG COINVISION PLUM GUIDE POOLSIDE TYLKO FURNITURE LOCKSMITH CONSULTING SABA CONSULTANTS BETTER HALF NOSSA™ VALISPACE HANX MOTLEY LONDON MNW AGENCY SANA · HALLHR MYTAXI · FREENOW REDE MUNDIAL DEL PAPA 15+ R&D PARTNERSHIPS
§ 06 · Engage

Start with a dossier, not a sales call.

Tell us what you're building and what keeps breaking. We'll respond with a written memo, no slides, within five business days.

Open an engagement → Read the work
§ Intake form · ABRIDGEDEST. 5 DAYS
01 · System
What are you building, and for whom?
02 · State
What works today. What doesn't.
03 · Constraints
Budget, timeline, regulatory envelope.
04 · Success
How will you know we succeeded?