Fourteen years of taking software seriously.

Kestrel started as three engineers tired of watching agencies bill for hours instead of outcomes. We're still small enough that the person who scopes your project is the person who ships it.

Founded 2012, Chicago

Built to stay in the room after launch

Most software firms are staffed to sell the next contract, not maintain the last one. We built Kestrel around the opposite incentive: engineers stay assigned to a product for as long as the client wants them there, sometimes years past the original scope.

That means fewer logos on our site than agencies twice our size, and clients who've been with us since the first version of their product. We're comfortable with that trade.

14Years operating
63Products shipped
8Industries served
91%Client retention

What we actually believe

Not a poster in the office. The things that change how we scope, staff, and bill work.

01

Ownership over hours billed

We quote outcomes wherever the work allows it, so nobody's incentive is to slow down.

02

Say no early

If a scope is wrong, we tell you in week one, not in the invoice at month six.

03

Boring technology, interesting problems

We reach for new frameworks rarely. We reach for a correct data model constantly.

04

Documentation is not optional

Every engagement ends with a handoff your next hire can read without calling us.

The people doing the work

Nineteen engineers, designers, and delivery leads across three offices.

Meet the team
OA

Owen Achebe

Founder, Engineering

Leads architecture reviews on every engagement over six weeks.

SL

Sofia Lindqvist

Head of Design

Fifteen years turning ambiguous requests into shippable interfaces.

DK

Devesh Kulkarni

Director of Delivery

Keeps every engagement's scope honest, including ours.

RM

Renata Marques

Principal Engineer

Our first call for anything touching payments or compliance.

Want to know if we're the right fit?

A thirty-minute call tells us both, before anyone writes a proposal.

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