"
We hired three agencies before 802. They're the only one who started by telling us what not to build. Shipped in nine months and still running, untouched, three years later.
Elena Maddox
CTO, Northbridge Health
802 · Software studio · South Burlington, VT
Custom software engineering, built in Vermont to last.
A small studio of senior engineers shipping platform engineering, security, data & AI, cloud, and legacy modernizations. We start in the architecture conversation and stay through the steady state — no offshore handoff, no junior cycles.
Available for Q3 2026 engagements- 100% US-based
- US-based, founder-led
- 38+ platforms shipped
- Since 2022, US-only roster
- 4yr median lifespan
- Median handoff lifespan
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What we take onThe work is mostly
The work is mostly
one of these six things.
New platforms, harder migrations, and the long tail of keeping it all online. Every engagement runs out of one Vermont pod — two to four senior people, no offshore handoff.
In production todayA few we’ll
A few we’ll
talk publicly about.
Most of the platforms we ship belong to clients who prefer we don’t name them. These three we can — all three are running every day, and we’re still on call for two of them.
How an engagement goesSame rhythm every time
Same rhythm every time
until it isn’t.
Every project ends up moving through the same four phases. Each one has a written exit doc, a fixed cost band, and a real off-ramp if it’s the wrong fit. You don’t find out three months in.
01
Discover
Two-week paid discovery. We meet stakeholders, audit existing systems, produce a written architecture.
2 weeks · $24K fixed
02
Architect
Working ADRs, threat models, prototypes. We de-risk the three things most likely to bite — before production code.
3–6 weeks · scoped
03
Build
Two-week iterations, demoed live. Your team ships alongside ours. Tests and docs are non-negotiable.
3–9 months · iterative
04
Steady-state
Knowledge transfer, on-call playbooks, quiet retainer. We aim to be replaceable — by your own team.
Ongoing · monthly
P—01
Boring tech, sharp execution
We bias toward technology with five-year proof in production. No experiments on your dime.
P—02
Tests are non-negotiable
If it's worth building, it's worth testing. Coverage thresholds gate every PR, on day one.
P—03
Privacy by default
Encryption at rest and in transit. Audit logs that survive subpoenas. Data minimization always.
P—04
Documentation is product
Code explains how. Docs explain why. Both ship together — never as a "we'll get to it" task.
P—05
Senior pods, no offshore
Every commit ships from a senior on full-time staff in the US. No agency shell games.
P—06
Replaceable by design
We architect every platform so your in-house team can take over cleanly. That's the goal — not a perpetual retainer.
Studio · South Burlington
Engineering pod
Pairing on architecture
Field deployment
Production at scaleAbout 802A small studio.
More about us
A small studio.
Older than the average startup.
We started 802 in 2022 after one too many engagements ended with us being handed software written by people who had since left the project. The pattern never changed: short timelines, a contractor handoff, and an in-house team left to maintain something they didn’t design.
We do the opposite. Small senior team, US payroll, one phone number for the life of the engagement. Most of the platforms we’ve shipped are still on our retainer, which is how we know they actually held up.
12
Senior staff. No juniors, no offshore
2022
Founded in South Burlington, VT
100%
Founder-owned. No outside capital
~3yr
Avg time a client keeps us on retainer
// 44.4759° N
// 73.2121° W
// S. Burlington, VT
// 73.2121° W
// S. Burlington, VT
One office. One time zone.
One number on the on-call rotation.
One number on the on-call rotation.
Stack we reach for
langTS · Go · Python
dataPostgres · Redis
webNext.js · tRPC
infraAWS · Terraform
mobileExpo · RN
obsOTel · Grafana
designFigma · Tokens
aiAnthropic · pgvector
Said much laterQuotes we asked for
Quotes we asked for
years after launch.
Anyone can pull a happy quote out of a launch week. We waited until the platform had been running, mostly untouched, for a few years before we asked again.
Asked
DateNov 2025
WhereSouth Burlington, VT
Reached out 24 months post-launch. Same questions, same engineers — different time.
802."
Auditor's exact words: "cleanest evidence trail I've reviewed all year." 802 wired SOC 2 readiness in from week one. We passed Type II first attempt.
Jordan Reyes
VP Engineering, Granite Ledger
"
Handed us off cleanly after eighteen months. I haven't called 802 in six months — exactly how they said it would go. Replaceable by design is real.
Sara Kim
Head of Product, Maple Ops