Manifesto
Software that serves, built honestly.
The software that runs your operation should work for you. Far too often it's the reverse. Bonsai builds the honest alternative to SaaS lock-in and time-and-materials billing: custom software that you own.
The promise
- Honest
- You know up front what you'll pay and what you'll own. Every service comes with a list of what's in it.
- Dependable
- No cure, no pay per phase, with a go or no-go at every step. Bonsai carries the risk.
- Transparent
- The code, the data and the system are yours. No lock-in, and a way out from day one.
The software that runs your business doesn't work for you.
Daily life in logistics, construction, manufacturing and trade. Chances are you'll know this one.
This isn't down to your bad choices. The whole software industry is built this way. SaaS vendors run 75 to 88 per cent gross margin on packages whose features most customers never touch. Lock-in is the business model, and the price climbs 10 to 30 per cent at every renewal. Custom-software agencies, for their part, bill by the hour, so complexity is exactly how they make their money. You pay too much, own too little and end up dependent.
Your systems don't talk to each other
Orders, packing lists, invoices and requests land by email, Excel, PDF and WhatsApp, then someone keys them in by hand. Your data sits scattered across separate systems, with no single source of truth.
The package forces you into its mould
You bend your process to the software, when it should be the reverse. You use a sliver of the features and pay every month for the rest. And the vendor's roadmap decides what you'll be able to do next year.
You keep paying and own nothing
Licence fees climb at every renewal, you're tied to the vendor, and the thing you use every day is never yours. Walking away is next to impossible, because your data and your process are held hostage.
The real work gets squeezed out
Your people are experts at inspecting, planning, building or selling. Instead they hunt across five screens and key the same data in twice. And the busier it gets, the higher the repetitive work stacks up.
We take that pain away.
Not the software agency that ships a project and walks. We stay on as your Software Operating Partner, in the operation with you.
Bonsai builds custom AI software for companies in logistics, construction, manufacturing and trade. Off-the-shelf packages force your process into their mould; our software shapes itself to how your business actually works. We bring the systems that won't talk to each other onto a single source of truth. The retyping and the hunting around, we clear away, so your people can get back to the real work.
And we turn the ownership question on its head. The code, the data and the system end up with you, free of lock-in and with a way out from day one. We price against the value we deliver, never the complexity we could bill for. People make the calls; the software does the repetitive work.
There's a reason this is possible now. AI-assisted development has cut the price of custom software sharply. What only the big corporates could once afford is now within reach of any Enterprise and mid-market firm from 200 staff up: Europe’s industrial backbone. For us, scale is the means and not the end.
The steam engine made mechanical power cheap. The transistor made computing power cheap. AI-assisted development is doing the same to software: once expensive and exclusive, now affordable and everywhere. That comes around once a generation, and we hand the gain straight to the people who do the work.
The nine principles that turn that mission into reality.
What rugby teaches: play hard and disciplined, nobody too big for the small jobs, fair play every time, and don't stop until the result is in.
Service
Software should serve the business, never the reverse. We build what fits how the business works, and nothing more. The software follows the work; the work never has to follow the software. Same goes for the team: deliver when it counts.
Remove friction
Every process can be better, and we refuse to let it slide when it isn't. We cut out busywork and bin the “that's how we've always done it”. If something creates friction, we fix it, and we're as hard on ourselves as we are on our clients.
Honest software
What you get, what it costs, what you own: all of it out in the open. Every service comes with a list of what's in it. You own the code, the data and the system. No lock-in. We deal in facts and leave the promises to others.
Pressure is a privilege
We set the bar high because the work matters. We build software companies will run on for the next 20 years. Whatever we ship today has to be better tomorrow. Standing still isn't on the table.
Own your work
You own what you deliver, and you answer to the team for it. Nobody is too big for the small jobs. Spot a gap, fill it. Whatever we learn, we pass on.
Keep the ball
We hold the lead. Whatever we send is finished work: every email complete, every document polished. We leave no loose threads and no “I'm still waiting on…”. The moment it goes quiet, you move.
Measure and prove
We decide on the facts, even when the pressure's on. Every fix starts with one question: what does this actually deliver? Data, proof, results. Nobody runs on gut feel here.
Unreasonable ambition
Reasonable thinking gets you reasonable results. We go after what supposedly can't be done and build the system to pull it off. Aim for the stars, land on the moon.
Graft like Rotterdammers
Deliver what you promise. Graft for each other. Your word is your word. Don't stop until the result is in. Park your own interests when the team or the job demands it.
Get started