Megan Warren ·
Custom Software Commissions
Commission a tool that does one thing well.
Megan Warren is an independent designer and software developer in Boston, Massachusetts, who builds custom software on commission for classrooms, nonprofits, and small brands. The work is small, focused web tools and internal tools, delivered at a fixed price. Most commissions land between $1,500 and $10,000 and ship in one to three weeks. Remote by default, in person around Boston when it helps.
What I build on commission
Classroom and teaching tools
A grouper, an icebreaker, a warm-up, a tracker, a projector view: the specific thing your room needs that no edtech company sells. Twelve years of standing in these rooms is why they land.
Internal tools for small teams
The spreadsheet that has outgrown itself. A research or intake tool that does the tedious part. Small business and nonprofit software that fits one workflow exactly instead of ninety percent of everyone's.
Brand systems as working documents
Not a PDF style guide nobody opens. A brand book that runs offline in a browser, with the assets, templates, and copy rules built in and downloadable from inside it.
Marketing sites
A small, fast, hand-built website for a practice or a shop, with the free tool on it that makes people stay. Built end to end, no template, no page builder.
Design audits
You already have the thing. It works, but it does not feel finished. A written pass on what is quietly costing you: contrast, hierarchy, dark mode, empty states, the exact word on the button.
Offline first, by default
Everything here runs as one HTML file with zero network calls after it loads. No wifi, no login, no install, nothing to break mid-class or mid-meeting. If your project needs to be connected instead, that works too.
How a commission works
1. One email
Describe the thing you wish existed. Rough is fine. You get an honest read on fit, and if it is not a fit you hear that fast, not three weeks in.
2. A real number and a real date
Fixed price, quoted by scope, before anything starts. No hourly billing and no surprise invoice at the end. You approve the number before I write a line.
3. Built and handed over
You talk to the person who actually builds it, the whole way through. At the end you own the file and the source, and it keeps working whether or not I do.
Plainly
Price
Most software commissions land between $1,500 and $10,000, priced by scope, never by the hour. You know the number before I start.
Timing
Tools the size of the ones already live on this site ship in one to three weeks. I take a small number of commissions at a time, since the school year starts again in September.
What I don't take on
Enterprise software, anything that needs a standing engineering team, and open-ended "figure it out as we go" projects. You will hear that in the first reply.
Where I work
Boston, Massachusetts, and remote everywhere else. Location does not change the price, and most of the work happens over email either way.
Open one before you hire me
Every one of these is live, public, and built the way a commission of yours would be. Nothing here is a mockup or a case study with the screenshots cropped.
In daily use in a real classroom. Saved rosters, no-repeat memory across rounds, real roles, a built-in timer, and a separate projector view.
190 questions pulled from real podcast transcripts and rewritten so anyone can answer them, filterable by show or by mood.
Upload a photo and it names the exact markers from your own set to reach for. Built because marker caps lie about the ink inside them.
A full marketing website for a Boston nonprofit fundraising consultancy founded by my husband, built end to end, including a page of free working calculators most firms keep behind a login.
Questions people actually ask
What does it cost?
Most commissions land between $1,500 and $10,000. Fixed and quoted by scope before any work starts, never by the hour, so you know the number and the date before you commit.
How long does it take?
Tools the size of the ones above ship in one to three weeks, start to finish. Anything larger gets a real date in the quote instead of an estimate.
Who actually builds it?
I do. There is no agency, no account manager, and no subcontractor. You talk to the person writing the code, start to finish.
Do I need wifi or a login?
No. One HTML file, zero network calls after it loads, so it works on a bad school network or on a plane. If your project needs to be connected instead, that works too.
What is not a good fit?
Enterprise software, anything needing an ongoing engineering team, and open-ended projects with no defined finish. You will hear so in the first reply.
Do you work outside Boston?
Yes. Remote by default, and the location does not change the price. I am based in Boston, Massachusetts, and meet in person there when it is useful.
Start here
Have something you wish already existed?
Tell me what it is. I will tell you honestly whether it is a good fit, and if it is, you get a real number and a real timeline before we start.