Stop Managing Projects and Start Shipping AI Systems
A freelance AI developer executes a defined task, often requiring significant oversight. An AI automation agency provides project management but may use junior or offshore developers.
We built a document intake system for an 8-person law firm. It uses the Claude API to parse PDFs, classifies them into 14 matter types, and integrates with their Clio practice management software. The entire system was designed, built, and launched in 18 days.
The difference is who owns the outcome. Freelancers require you to be the project manager. Agencies add layers of communication between you and the builder. Syntora is the third option: a single, senior engineer who scopes the project, writes the code, and maintains the system. This done-for-you model is for businesses that need a production system built, not just a task completed.
What Problem Does This Solve?
Most businesses needing custom AI start by hiring a freelancer from a marketplace. The problem is that the person who can write a Python script is rarely the person who can deploy and maintain a production service on AWS. We have seen clients arrive with a GitHub link from a freelancer, but the code only runs on the freelancer's laptop. The business owner, who is not a DevOps expert, is left with a script they cannot deploy or monitor.
The alternative, an AI automation agency, introduces a different failure mode: communication overhead. You have a great discovery call with a senior partner who understands your business. That partner then hands the project to a junior project manager, who translates your needs for an offshore developer who has never used your core tools. An 11-day build for a lead routing engine can balloon into a 6-week project with 40 hours of project management fees.
The core issue is the gap between business context and code execution. When the person who understands the 'why' is not the person writing the code, the project is at risk. You spend more time managing the process than you get value from the result.
How Does It Work?
Our process closes the gap because the founder is the builder. The person on the discovery call writes the production code. We start by mapping your existing workflow, for example, a lead routing process for a 15-person SaaS sales team. We use Supabase, a PostgreSQL database, to store territory rules and sales rep capacity, which can be updated without changing code.
The routing logic is built as a FastAPI service in Python. When HubSpot fires a webhook for a new lead, our service receives the payload. We use Pydantic for data validation, so a malformed request from HubSpot never crashes the system. The territory matching and round-robin assignment logic executes in under 80ms, ensuring reps get notified instantly. This is a 95% reduction in processing time compared to multi-step visual automations.
We package the FastAPI service in a Docker container and deploy it on AWS Lambda. This architecture handles sudden traffic spikes, scaling from zero to 1,000 concurrent requests during a webinar without any manual changes. Vercel manages the public-facing URL for the webhook. This serverless setup keeps infrastructure costs under $20/month, compared to hundreds per month for task-based automation tools.
After launch, you receive full source code in your company's GitHub repo, a runbook explaining the architecture, and a monitoring dashboard built with Streamlit. The dashboard tracks processed leads, error rates, and API latency. Any critical errors trigger a Slack alert, ensuring we can address issues before they impact your sales team.
What Are the Key Benefits?
Your Builder is Your Project Manager
The person on the discovery call writes the code. This eliminates communication overhead and gets your system live in 2-4 weeks, not months.
Pay for Code, Not for Overhead
With no sales team or project managers, your investment goes directly into engineering. After launch, you pay a flat monthly maintenance fee.
You Own the System, Not a Subscription
You receive the full source code in your GitHub repo and a detailed runbook. There is no vendor lock-in. Your future team can extend the system.
Alerts Go to the System's Architect
Monitoring alerts are routed directly to the engineer who built the system. We resolve most production issues in under 2 hours.
Native API Integrations, No Connectors
We build directly against the official APIs for systems like HubSpot and Clio. This avoids the fragility and cost of third-party connector platforms.
What Does the Process Look Like?
Week 1: Discovery and Architecture
You grant read-only access to your systems and walk us through the process. We deliver a technical specification and system diagram for your approval.
Weeks 1-2: Core System Build
We write the production code and deploy it to a staging environment. You receive a secure URL to test the system with non-production data.
Week 3: Production Deployment and Monitoring
We connect the system to your live tools, deploy to production, and monitor performance. You receive access to a live monitoring dashboard.
Post-Launch: Handoff and Maintenance
After a 2-week stabilization period, we transfer the GitHub repository and deliver the runbook. We then transition to the agreed-upon monthly support plan.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How much does a typical project cost?
- Pricing is based on integration complexity and business logic, not hours. A lead router connecting HubSpot to Slack is simpler than a document parser integrating Dropbox, Claude, and Clio. After a 30-minute discovery call, we provide a fixed-price proposal for the entire build. Most projects are completed in 2-4 weeks. To discuss pricing for your project, book a discovery call at cal.com/syntora/discover.
- What happens if the system breaks on a weekend?
- The system runs on AWS Lambda, which has extremely high uptime. The application itself includes automatic retries and error handling. If a persistent failure occurs, like an expired API key, our monitoring sends an immediate alert. The maintenance plan includes 24/7 support for critical failures, and we resolve most issues within two hours, including on weekends.
- How is this different from hiring a senior engineer full-time?
- Hiring is slow and expensive. A full-time senior AI engineer's salary often exceeds the total cost of our project, and finding the right person can take months. We deliver a production-ready system in weeks for a fixed price. We are ideal for businesses that need expert execution now but are not yet ready to support a full-time, in-house engineering role.
- What if my business process changes after you build the system?
- The systems are designed for change. Simple updates, like adding a new sales territory or a new document type, can be done by editing a value in a Supabase table, as documented in your runbook. More complex changes, like integrating a new third-party API, are scoped as a small, separate project, usually requiring just a few days of work.
- Do you use no-code tools like Zapier or Make?
- No. We write every line of production code in Python using professional software development practices. While visual automation tools are good for simple tasks, they become brittle and expensive for business-critical workflows. Our code-based approach is more reliable, faster, and has significantly lower running costs at any meaningful scale. We build production systems from scratch.
- Who is the person building my system?
- Syntora is a one-person consultancy. The founder has over a decade of experience building production data systems. The person you talk to on the discovery call is the same person who architects the system, writes every line of code, deploys it to production, and provides support after launch. There are no project managers and no handoffs between teams.
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