About
Twelve years building one software platform that 7,500 companies depend on.
Ebenstone is a software studio in Oceanside, California, founded by Andrew Lathrop. Its premise is simple: the engineering that keeps a platform working for 7,500 customers is the same engineering that makes a small system worth trusting.
- on one platform
- 12 years
- annual revenue, helped build
- $0 → $20M+
- built and owned
- 3 products
One real portrait of Andrew, looking at the camera. Not stock, not a desk shot.
Background
Where the experience comes from
Andrew Lathrop, founder
I spent twelve years building the platform that about 7,500 companies use to collect data in the field: forms filled in on phones by inspectors, technicians and crews, out where the job happens.
I was one of the first five people there. I started by answering support tickets and finished running releases. In between I managed support, led the team that built complex forms for customers, and worked in product. It was the same system the whole time, through the startup years, profitability and an acquisition.
Most people in software have shipped many things once. I shipped one thing continuously and then had to live with it. I have been the person supporting a clever feature three years after someone shipped it and moved on, and it changed how I design.
Ebenstone brings that experience to organizations that could never have hired it: schools, congregations and small businesses running on a spreadsheet that stopped fitting two years ago.
What it means for you
What that experience means for your project
I’ve seen what breaks as a system grows.
That platform grew from twenty customers to 7,500. Yours doesn’t need to do that. But it will outlast the person who asked for it. The volunteer coordinator moves away, the office manager retires, and somebody new has to open it and understand what it’s for. Ebenstone builds for that next person.
I’ve answered security questionnaires from the vendor’s side.
For years I was the person a customer’s vendor review landed on. I know which rows are boilerplate and which ones your office needs a real answer to.
I build for people with no signal.
Your volunteers are in a parking lot. Your coaches are on a sideline. Your maintenance crew is in a basement. Software that assumes a connection fails when someone is depending on it.
I know what a feature costs after it ships.
Somebody has to explain every feature, fix it, and later explain why it works the way it does. You’ll be talked out of features more often than into them, because a system you still understand in three years is worth more than one that did everything in the first month.
How work is chosen
Ebenstone takes a small number of projects at a time.
That keeps everything on the Work page running and supported.
Some projects are turned down: work an existing product already does for forty dollars a month, or design work with very little software in it. You’ll hear that on the first call, with the reason.
What you get in return is continuity. The person who heard the problem writes the software, answers your security questionnaire, and is the one you reach for support.
About the name
A cornerstone is the first block set in a building. Every block after it is squared against that one, which is why getting it right matters more than getting it done fast. The mark is an E built from blocks, with the corner block set apart.
On paper
The details your purchasing office asks for
- Business
- Andrew Lathrop, doing business as Ebenstone
- Based in
- Oceanside, California. Remote across the US, and on site in San Diego County when it helps.
- Contracts
- A signed master services agreement, plus a statement of work for each project. Redlines welcome.
- Paperwork
- W-9 on request, the same day.
- Reach Ebenstone
- [email protected]. Email goes straight to Andrew.
What can I help you build?
If this isn’t the right fit, you’ll hear that plainly.
or write to [email protected]