About
A productized agency and managed platform — for teams that need both
FencePencil exists because the choice between “hire a dev shop and pray” and “buy a SaaS that almost fits” never actually solved the problem. We pair senior engineers with a managed platform underneath — so you get the build you need and the operating bones of a mature company on day one.
We design, build, ship, host, secure, and operate custom web apps, APIs, platforms, and cloud infrastructure across AWS, Azure, and GCP. No bloated teams, no handoffs, no busywork. Just the people who care about your stack as much as you do.
By the numbers
Real metrics, no fluff
We'll add customer counts, NPS, and uptime here once they're backed by real numbers we can stand behind.
SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, PCI, GDPR, FedRAMP and more — operated end-to-end.
AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud — first-class on each, not a portability layer.
Every prospective customer hears back within one business day, including weekends.
No bench, no juniors-on-the-job, no offshoring of customer code. We staff what we ship.
Why we exist
The middle ground that didn't exist
Most teams pick between two bad options. Option one:hire a dev shop. You get bodies, but you lose continuity the moment the contract ends — and you're still on the hook for hosting, compliance, security, and the boring ongoing work that determines whether your app survives its first year.
Option two: buy a SaaS. You get a platform, but it almost never fits the workflow you actually need. So you bend your business to the tool, glue things together with custom integrations, and end up with a worse version of what you would have built yourself.
We built the middle. Custom builds on top of a managed platform. You get the engineers who will design and ship your specific thing — and they drop it onto an opinionated, multi-cloud platform that already handles hosting, compliance, durable workflows, and the unglamorous operating work. One bill, one team, one accountable phone number.
We're not Vanta. We're not Drata. We're not a 200-person agency pretending to be senior. We're a small team with a sharp focus on doing fewer things well — and a platform that compounds the value of every project we ship.
How we work
Productized agency + managed platform
Four operating principles that show up on every engagement.
Productized agency model
Fixed scopes, transparent pricing, written deliverables. No surprise change orders, no time-and-materials roulette, no offshore delivery teams.
Managed platform underneath
Custom builds run on the FencePencil platform — managed hosting, compliance evidence collection, durable workflows. One subscription, one bill, one team.
Compliance is operational, not a sales line
We meet SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, GDPR, and a dozen more frameworks for ourselves and our customers. Real audits, real evidence, real residuals.
Retained engineers, not contractors
Our team stays with you across the lifecycle — discovery, build, launch, and operate. The same engineers who shipped your code own the pager.
Our values
What guides every project we take on
Ship fast, ship right
We move quickly without cutting corners. Every project ships with CI/CD, tests, and production-grade infrastructure from day one.
Own the stack
We use modern tools that have earned production trust — React, Next.js, TypeScript, Terraform, AWS, Azure, GCP — and we know each one deeply.
Security by default
Every line of code is written with OWASP in mind. Auth, encryption, input validation, and least-privilege access are non-negotiable.
AI as leverage, not replacement
We use AI to accelerate the busywork — drafting evidence, scanning for risk, summarizing changes — so our engineers can focus on the calls that need judgment.
The team
A small senior team that punches above its weight
We staff what we ship. Every customer engagement is led by a senior engineer who stays on through launch and operate.
Shawn Olson
Founder & Principal Engineer
Twenty-plus years building software companies — from early-stage MVPs through public-co platforms. Founded FencePencil to fuse the speed of a senior contractor with the depth of a managed platform. Hands-on across the entire stack: cloud, app, compliance.
You, maybe?
We grow the team deliberately. If you're a senior engineer who cares about the entire lifecycle — not just the code — we want to hear from you.
Ready to work together?
Tell us about your project. We'll get back to you within 24 hours, including weekends.