How to De-risk Custom Software for Non-software Companies

Most of the problems that derail custom software projects are the same no matter who’s building them (even for non-software companies). But if you’re a mid-market company whose core business isn’t software, those risks get, well, a lot riskier. You don’t know what you don’t know… and by the time you feel any pain, you’re often knee-deep in a project that’s already on fire.

For software companies (especially early-stage startups), missed deadlines or failed launches hurt. But for an established business, the stakes are higher (especially when you’re a non-software company). You’re often replacing a critical process/workflow or customer-facing product. When you press “go” on that initiative, it’s very likely hundreds of thousands of dollars now flow through that tool/product/process. If that new system fails, it’s not just disappointing… in worst case scenarios, it can cripple the business (and if you’re the CIO/CTO/Head of IT, that kind of miss can end up getting you fired).

That’s why your approach has to be different if you’re a non-software company by nature. You can’t just “launch and learn” the way an early-stage startup might. You need clarity up front on: what you’re building, why you’re building it, and what success looks like. And you need alignment between every stakeholder who has a say in that definition of success. Without it, you’re inviting scope creep, finger-pointing, and expensive do-overs.

The tl;dr for non-software companies

If you want the entire in-depth convo with a lot more analysis and color commentary, check out the video below. Otherwise, read on for the Cliff’s Notes!

Mid-market, non-software companies ≠ growth-stage SaaS

We work with three main partner profiles: early-stage startups, growth-stage SaaS companies, and mid-market leaders in non-software industries. What we tend to see is that growth-stage SaaS companies usually have in-house dev teams; their biggest gaps are almost always strategic bandwidth and speed (in those scenarios, we’re usually serving as strategic consultant and then embedding as a staff augmentation resource).

Mid-market companies are different. They often have IT leadership and technical staff, but those teams are focused on keeping the lights on… not designing and delivering new digital products. They need more of a turnkey partner: strategy, design, build, and launch. And they need help making the mental shift from “maintaining systems” to “building products.”

I liken it to Formula One (I became a big fan during the pandemic + Drive to Survive). Anyway, there’s two operational parts of an F1 team — the design engineers and the race crew.

Design engineers are back in a lab or wind tunnel calculating precise wind resistance, aerodynamic tweaks, downforce, etc. They’re concerned with designing a rocketship on wheels.

The race crew are the performance engineers and pit crew. On race day, one team is watching all the data and analytics on the car, its tires, lap speeds, power unit, drivetrain, etc. The pit crew’s job is to get old tires off and new tires onto that car in <2.5s.

IT departments are usually race crews — they’re there to keep everything humming smoothly while in operation.

Innovation and product design are the design engineers back at headquarters — they’re thinking about how to actually build the thing that delivers results.

The biggest risk factors we see

• Unclear definitions of success — If you can’t articulate what “done” looks like, you can’t measure progress… and you can’t align a team.
  
• Stakeholder misalignment — Different departments pulling in different directions is a recipe for failure.
  
• Build-vs-buy mistakes — If you bet your whole solution on a platform or integration that can’t actually deliver what you need, you can burn a year and a million dollars before you realize it (this is the “knee deep in a project on fire” example I gave in the intro).
  
• Political fallout — In mid-market companies, failed projects often come with blame games. If you haven’t enrolled key stakeholders early, you’re likely to be the one under the bus.
  

How to de-risk your project when you’re a non-software company

• Enroll everyone in the “why” — Make sure every stakeholder understands the business impact you’re aiming for.
  
• Validate early and often — Borrow the startup playbook. Use prototypes, pilots, and validation gates to take risk off the table before you go all-in.
  
• Be ruthless about priorities — If the ROI isn’t there, don’t build it. Saving your team an hour a week isn’t worth half a million dollars.
  
• Measure twice, cut once — Resist the urge to throw developers at the problem before you’ve nailed the plan.
  

We’ve seen this work in practice. For one Dallas-based healthcare system, our Innovation Lab became a repeatable vetting process for every executive idea. In four to six weeks, we’d produce a clear visual prototype, a bankable budget, and a go/no-go decision. Many concepts didn’t make it past that stage — and that was a win, because it saved them from years of wasted effort (plus executives who pitched those ideas felt heard and vindicated, even if the answer was “no”… it beats the hell out of the ‘idea soup’ that can start floating around companies when ideas aren’t actually vetted or stress tested).

In other cases, the lab led straight into execution. One healthcare client came to us with a broken patient onboarding experience. That small, focused engagement expanded into architecture reviews, product design, and eventually a full rebuild (with our team embedded alongside theirs to deliver faster).

The takeaway? If you’re a CIO, CTO, or CEO at a mid-market company, think like a startup when it comes to risk. Validate in small, deliberate steps. Get buy-in at every stage. And remember: in custom software, there’s no prize for starting fast… only for finishing well.