We opened the studio

Kingbird Solutions is open.

Kingbird Solutions is a custom software development studio for non-technical founders. The studio takes over stalled software products, runs managed development retainers, and ships fixed-scope custom builds. AI-native from day one, with a senior US operator on every engagement.

We've been sitting on this announcement for months. Every quarter there was a reason to wait. A site revision. A BuddySOS beat to hit first. One more system to sand down before showing anyone else.

This week we stopped waiting.

What Kingbird is, in one page

Three engagement shapes. One service: custom software development.

Takeover. Someone else's unfinished product. A dev left. An agency dropped you. The team you hired couldn't finish. The studio reads the code, runs the roadmap, and ships. Most takeovers release their first meaningful update inside 30 days. From $75/hr, monthly retainer, typically $6k–$18k per month.

Managed retainer. Monthly capacity with a senior US operator owning the work. Weekly releases, honest status, backlog in your tool. You stop worrying about delivery and start choosing what to build next. From $75/hr, typically $8k–$25k per month.

Fixed-scope sprint. New MVP. AI chatbot build. Integration module. Compliance layer. Scoped with a fixed price and a fixed timeline. Typically $15k–$75k over 6–16 weeks. Runbook-first handoff when the sprint closes.

Every engagement ends the same way: working code in your repo, documentation your team can operate without us, and a clean handoff whenever you want one.

Who's in the room

Chris King runs delivery. Fifteen years shipping software and running ops for small teams. Chris is the named US operator on every engagement from kickoff through handoff.

AJ Smith runs scoping and commercial terms. If you already know what you need built, a 30-minute call with AJ is the fastest path from idea to a fixed-price proposal.

Behind the two of us: Newcombin and Enigmatix Global, our vetted delivery partners. They staff engineers onto engagements based on the stack. Every line of code ships through Chris's review before it hits your repo.

Why now

Fifteen years of shipping software for small teams taught us one pattern: non-technical founders keep getting chewed up by agencies that sell a team and deliver a deck, or by full-time hires who take six months to ramp and another six to admit they can't finish.

The middle option barely exists: a small studio with one senior operator in the room, engineers behind them, and a fixed-fee diagnostic at the front. Most founders don't know they can buy it.

BuddySOS taught us the delivery side works. We built a consumer app end to end: naming, App Store listings, partner outreach, community seeding, and weekly growth operations. The shelf we run BuddySOS on is the same shelf we sell engagements from.

What to do next

Four paths. Pick the one that fits the size of your problem.

• You have a stuck software product and want an honest read before booking a call. Run the Stalled Project Diagnostic. Five minutes, seven questions, a real answer. No signup wall. Honest answer even if it's "not us."
• You want a senior operator installed on your product. Book a 30-minute fit call. We'll tell you whether we can help, what a starting engagement looks like, and a rough price. If we're not the right shop, we'll point you somewhere that is.
• You already know what you need built. Skip the fit call and book a scoping call with AJ. Fastest path to a fixed-price proposal.
• You want to kick the tires with something paid but low-risk first. The Stabilization Review is a ten-business-day engagement for $4,500 flat. Written 30/60/90 plan plus a live debrief. You keep the plan and the recording whether or not we keep working together.

Questions we already know are coming

What happened to the AI playbooks and Claude skills? Retired. The studio sells one thing now: custom software development. The pitch is clearer, and so is what we hand back.

Why Phoenix? Chris lives here. The studio is fully remote, but our working hours sync to North American time zones and we default to Mountain time for standing meetings.

Are you taking new clients right now? Yes. Capacity is deliberately tight. Book a fit call and we'll tell you honestly what the next open slot looks like.

Is BuddySOS still a thing? Yes. BuddySOS is live on iOS and Android. It's the consumer app we build and run in-house, and it's sold into event operators, security firms, and insurance partners on the B2B side.

How do I find out if the fit is right? Book a 30-minute fit call. If the fit isn't right, we'll tell you on the call and point you at someone better.

The ask

If you know someone running a small business with a stalled software product, forward this post or send them to the Diagnostic or the services page. Warm intros are how this kind of work moves.

The studio is open. If you've got a product that's stuck, we'd rather hear from you now than six months from now.

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Keep reading: Start with the origin story of BuddySOS, or see how a small studio compares to an agency or a full-time hire.