Abby Sims
I've spent more than 20 years in software. First writing it, then leading the people who build it, then running my own seven-person generalist firm, and then running engineering at a 30-person fintech firm.
I started out as a developer in Arkansas, building applications and databases for state agencies and a regional power grid operator. In 2010 I moved into leading a development team at an agency in Little Rock.
In 2012 I went out on my own as a contract developer, and in 2014 I founded Idestini, a custom software consultancy for small and midsize businesses, non-profits and startups. It grew from just me to a team of seven, fully self-funded, with a 14 to 17% net margin. It made it through the pandemic to a record year.
In 2021 we were acquihired by a fintech software firm that had been one of our clients. I spent almost five years there, running custom software, then all of engineering, then solutions.
Along the way I've been a mentor at The Venture Center since 2015, helped organize Little Rock Tech Fest, and I serve on the board of the EAST Initiative.
I write here about running a software services firm: what to charge, when to hire, how to keep cash from getting ahead of you, how to manage engagements, and the tools that made it easier. And about which of that still holds up now that AI is changing how the work gets done. It's for founders and principals past the point where everything fits in one head, and short of having a CFO down the hall.
Why "counted work"
Counted cross-stitch is worked on a grid. You follow a pattern, you go slow, you check as you go — and if you don't, the mistakes compound quietly, dozens of stitches before you notice. Then you have to rip those out and redo the work. That's often the failure mode of a services firm. No system. No accountability. The scope nobody stuck to. The project margin nobody kept sight of. The hire made a quarter early. The support processes that never got written down.
Counted work is the practice this blog is built on. It's not about chasing rapid growth or keeping up with the chaotic pace of the times. It's about building a healthy, sustainable company you don't have to run all by yourself, or entirely in your head.
It's also not about following a pattern rigidly. You can start with different linen or threads than the pattern calls for and still end up with carefully crafted, fully finished work, because the practices hold. A firm works the same way: adapt the pattern to your clients and your team, but keep the discipline.
And it's about rejecting toxic hustle culture, and building a place that treats people with integrity and helps everyone succeed, customers and employees alike.