[ For CFOs ]
Answer one question
Yes or no. One click.
SaaS-flation
We can replace parts or entire SaaS tools using our AI-enabled software engineering IP.
SaaS-flation is real: renewals go up every year, whether usage does or not.
You have options. You shouldn’t pay for features nobody uses.
A $1.2M-a-year software bill, replaced for a fraction of the cost.*
* Companies use 54% of the SaaS licenses they pay for. Source: Zylo.
Information worker labor
AI can accurately complete many tasks faster than humans.
Talent is harder to find and costs more every year.
Skilled people spend their week on work software could do.
$2M a year in labor for work AI could do faster, for far less.*
* Office workers estimate about half their hours go to low-value work. Source: HP / Talker Research, 2025.
Operational bottlenecks
Bottlenecks hide inside every line of your P&L.
Freight, approvals and handoffs drain margin that never shows up as one line.
Each one is a pure optimization opportunity, waiting for someone to own it.
Unpaid AR aging in someone’s inbox or accounting software.*
* About 70% of employees spend 20+ hours a week hunting for information. Source: Quickbase, 2023.
[ How it works ]
We identify a meaningful technology or labor cost already sitting on your P&L and determine whether we can permanently remove or materially reduce that cost.
What the line costs today, what drives it and who owns it.
How much can realistically be saved, and how to safely make the change.
Go or no-go. We own the problem, create the roadmap and then get to work for you.
Read more. Get a one-pager or take a step toward adding [value] back to your bottom line.
[01]
Solve an economically significant business problem.
[02]
Run, support and improve the capability after deployment.
[03]
Find and solve the next economic problem when you’re ready.
[ Example tech cost displacement ]
A recent technology cost we helped a customer replace and permanently remove from their P&L.
Margin waterfall · professional services firm, resource-planning license replaced.
If a cost can be removed completely and at low risk, you owe it to your financials to remove it. The goal is to push dollars back to the bottom line.
In this example, our customer flagged a resource-planning license in their tech spend. We rebuilt the tool using our proprietary AI software development engines. The result was faster and more intuitive, with just the capabilities they needed and AI built into the process.
The benefit: software that does a better job at a fraction of the cost, protecting valuable margin dollars.
If the case doesn’t hold, we say so before you spend on it.
[ Customer story · Professional services firm ]
48%
Lower 3-year cost on resource planning
Context
The firm tracked its people, projects and rates in a commercial resource-planning tool. It cost $210K a year, priced per seat, so the bill grew with every hire.
Challenge
The tool couldn’t handle how the firm bills: some clients pay a fixed 160 hours a month, others actual hours. The team ran fake holidays as a workaround and kept timesheets in spreadsheets.
Solution
[up]start.13 built a custom replacement with AI-enabled engineering, shaped around how the firm bills and staffs. The old license retires at renewal.
Impact
$630K for the license over three years against $326K to build and support the replacement. No per-seat fees, so cost no longer grows with headcount.
[ Who we are ]
[up]start.13 finds a meaningful technology or labor cost you already pay and replaces it with AI-enabled software. Economic discovery first, with data, software and AI engineering behind it.
Answer one question
Fix the problem
You choose what happens next.