// about · who we are

Engineers, Designers &
Problem Solvers Who'd Rather
Build Than Brainstorm.

We're ~40 people, veteran-owned and Austin-based since 2016. Inventive exists for leaders tired of paying for momentum theater - impressive roadmap, very serious nodding, and six months later a prettier backlog. We'd rather ship the thing.

Tell Us What You're Building
// the receipts
10
Years in Austin
~40
Experts
28
Five-Star Reviews
Forbes
Technology Council

// the story · since 2016

We'd seen the same bad movie too many times.

// why we exist

We built the company we wished existed.

Inventive was founded in 2016 by Andy Siemer and James Shaw in Austin - not to start a consultancy in the abstract, but because they'd watched too many smart teams get burned by firms better at selling software than building it. Great pitch, slick kickoff, color-coded sticky notes… and six months later a Figma file, a few Jira epics, and a low-grade feeling of dread.

So they built the opposite: a team that tells the truth, writes the code, ships the thing, and sticks around when reality gets messy. Even after 10 years we still think of ourselves as a scrappy startup - not the disruptive kind, the still-care-like-founders kind. If we screw up, we own it and tell you immediately.

Tell Us What You're Building, Get A Straight Answer.

Start The Conversation
We'll tell you what we'd build, how long it should take, and whether you even need us. The truth is free.

// the first decade

Ten years, zero pivots into theater.

01

The grudge becomes a company

2016, Austin. Andy and James start Inventive after one too many kickoffs that ended in a Figma file and a low-grade feeling of dread.

02

Clients come back

The early projects ship, the invoices clear, and the referrals start. Turns out telling the truth is a durable growth strategy.

03

The bench gets scary good

Engineers, designers, architects, and the creators of MediatR and AutoMapper. Half a billion downloads ride on this team's open source.

04

We become our own client

ProfitFinder, StudentSignal, and the Foundry launch. Real operations with real bills, so we feel every argument you're about to have.

05

Year ten, still scrappy

Roughly 40 people, remote-first, HQ in Austin. We still get excited when a product ships. That part never changed.

// the receipts

Recognition we earned, not bought.

Four signals that our leadership is in the work - not just on a letterhead.

Forbes Technology Council

Andrew Siemer holds a seat on the invitation-only Forbes Technology Council - a signal that our leadership is actively shaping where technology is headed, not reacting two trend cycles late.

Open-Source Impact

Our team includes Jimmy Bogard, creator of MediatR & AutoMapper - well over 500M NuGet downloads. If you've shipped .NET in the last decade, your software likely depends on our team's work right now.

Veteran-Owned

Not just procurement paperwork. It shows up in how we operate: discipline, accountability, clear communication, and zero tolerance for vague hand-waving. People say what they mean and do what they say. 🎯

Clutch 4.9 / 5.0

28 verified reviews and multiple award badges, with 100% of reviewers rating project management excellent. The score matters less than the pattern behind it: clients return, clients refer.

500M+ downloads of our team's open source. You're likely running it right now.

// the team

Competence and character - we don't trade one for the other.

Leadership is still hands-on: Andrew Siemer (CEO) and James Shaw (COO) are still in the building. Around them is a team of engineers, designers, architects, product managers, and delivery experts. We're headquartered in Austin and built remote-first, so we care less about where someone sits and more about whether they think clearly and make the product better.

We hire people who are great at the work and great to work with - zero tolerance for either/or. Brilliant jerks are expensive. Nice-but-not-quite-there is expensive too. Good teams need both, so we keep the bar high rather than fill a room with people no one wants in the meeting.

// our brands

We don't just build software. We operate it.

A decade of client work teaches you the best partners aren't just builders - they're operators who've lived with the software they made. So we built our own businesses. Not demos - real operations with real clients, real stakes, and real bills to pay.

AI · Operations

ProfitFinder.ai

Serves mid-market companies chasing hidden operational profit through AI automation, data engineering, and software that actually ships.

Higher Ed

StudentSignal.ai

Works with colleges and universities that need more than a generalist agency Googling "FERPA" mid-project.

Venture Studio

Inventive Foundry

Co-builds products with founders who have strong ideas and no interest in letting them die in a Notes app.

Coming soon

When you hire Inventive, you're hiring a team that's already had the arguments you're about to have - about scope, budget, adoption, AI hype, and whether "fast" and "right" can coexist.

// operators, not spectators

Hire A Team That Runs Its Own Software.

ProfitFinder, StudentSignal, and the Foundry - real operations with real stakes, run by the same team you'd hire.

Ship With Us Replies within one business day

// culture · GSD

GSD isn't hustle theater. It's three things.

The real meaning of GSD at Inventive has nothing to do with performative hustle or burnout cosplay. For us it means three things - and we run retrospectives on ourselves to keep them honest.

01

Urgency

We care enough to push. Good ideas don't drift into committee purgatory, and deadlines aren't decorative suggestions. When something matters, we move.

02

Transparency

We say it when something's off. Riskier feature, slipping deadline, wrong call - you hear it early. There's no upside in hiding reality until it becomes expensive.

03

Quality

We don't confuse "shipped" with "done right." Maintainability, user experience, and whether your team can inherit the thing without a strongly worded Slack later - all of it counts.

Austin roots, remote-first reach, and a culture that gives us consistency. We still get excited when a product ships. That hasn't changed.

// people, not just profit

Some of the work we're proudest of isn't about the bottom line.

We choose our clients, not just our stack. A few of the mission-driven teams we've built for:

YOUR6

A veteran-founded nonprofit connecting veterans to a community of six people who have their back.

Task.org

Military community web and mobile design for an organization serving service members and their families.

Leading2Win

A veteran event organization - marketing site built on Webflow and Airtable.

Apostoli Viae

A non-profit native mobile app for a mission-driven Catholic spiritual-formation community.

CATCH Global Foundation

A Thinkific LMS and admin app powering global health education.

One message away.

Tell us what you're building - we reply within one business day.

the honest version

Want to know if we're
the right team?

Tell us what you're building. We'll tell you honestly if we're the right fit - and if we're not, we'll point you in the right direction. We reply within one business day.

Let's Build Something Together Or see our work