Software that runs the business
The back office: billing, bookings, inventory, payroll, built around how your business actually works and wired into the tools you already use.
Like Potomac Security Systems has run on one since 2012.
Taking on a few new projects
Russell Richardson
There are a lot of us. I'm the one who builds the software businesses run on. My own first: a sushi restaurant in San Francisco, a soccer training app, a vacation rental on Kauaʻi, and an alarm company that has run on it since 2012. Now yours.
Plate I · Definition
russell richardson
verb /ˈrʌs.əl ˈrɪtʃ.ərd.sən/
- To replace the spreadsheets, inbox threads and late-night admin a business runs on with software that runs it properly.
- To grow a business without growing the paperwork.
“We russell-richardsoned the billing. Now it chases itself.”
Software that makes a business work.
I've spent years building the systems behind businesses I own and run. The same work, for yours: less time on the busywork, fewer things falling through the cracks, and room to grow.
The busywork, automated
Invoices that send and chase themselves, receipts that file themselves, messages matched to the right customer. The hours come back every week.
Like Umi's payroll fills itself in from the timecards.
Apps and websites
Apps for iOS and Android, and websites that stay current because they run off your real systems instead of a copy someone forgets to update.
Like Techne Futbol is used by players, clubs and schools.
AI, put to work
AI where it genuinely earns its keep, set up carefully, and your team shown how to keep improving things with it after I've gone.
Like Well Booked has Claude reading receipt photos.
Especially good with
- Restaurants and cafés
- Vacation rentals
- Service companies and trades
- Clubs, coaches and schools
- Family businesses with decades of habits
Plate II · The proof
I built mine first.
A restaurant, an app business, a vacation rental and an alarm company, run from Kauaʻi. Each one runs on software I designed and built, and the oldest has for well over a decade.
Owner
Umi Sushi & Sake
Sushi and sake in Potrero Hill, San Francisco, since 2008.
Fish filleted in house, Japanese specials, no omakase, and real crab in the California roll. Its website and back office run directly off Square: menu, specials, prices and payroll.
umisf.comApp business
Techne Futbol
The soccer training app designed by pros.
For players who train on their own: weekly guided sessions, skill tests, leaderboards and a belt-style sock system earned by the hour, from white to black. Used by players, families, clubs and schools, on iOS and Android.
technefutbol.comManages it
Mauna Kai, Princeville
A vacation rental on Kauaʻi's North Shore.
Three bedrooms, sleeps six, near Anini Beach, with air conditioning throughout, a private lanai and a pool. Self-managed, which is how Well Booked began.
staynorthshorekauai.comFounder
Well Booked
Know what your rental keeps.
Bookkeeping for owners of a self-managed Hawaiʻi vacation rental: bank and card feeds, itemized receipts, GET and TAT by filing period, turnovers and inventory, and a year-end package for the CPA.
wellbookedstays.comRuns on what I built, since 2012
Potomac Security Systems
A family-owned alarm company serving Montgomery County, Maryland, since 1984.
The whole company works from one system I built and still run: the website, customer accounts, scheduling the technicians, quarterly invoices and autopay, collections, the office's email and voicemail, and the books.
potomacalarms.comPlate III · The work behind the work
Built properly. Lately, with AI.
Billing, bookkeeping, point-of-sale integrations, mobile apps: each of these businesses runs on systems I designed and built. AI has made me a great deal faster without making me any less careful.
396
commits, shipped one small change at a time
1,877
automated tests keeping it honest
48k
lines of code doing real bookkeeping
Recent work
For the businesses above, built over the past year.
-
Umi
A restaurant website that runs off the till
The menu, prices, sold-out items and tonight's specials come straight from Square. A price changed on the website goes back to the iPad. Payroll fills itself in from timecards, California overtime and tips included.
-
Well Booked
Bookkeeping that mostly does itself
Bank feeds, payouts matched to the stays they pay for, Costco, Amazon and Home Depot receipts itemized line by line, Claude reading receipt photos, Hawaiʻi GET and TAT by period, and a tidy package for the accountant at year end.
-
Techne
An engineering team that lives in Slack
Ask for a change in Slack and it comes back as a pull request. Claude and Codex plan, build and review each other's work, and nothing reaches the app until they all agree. Scheduled AI reviews read App Store reviews, account health and accessibility.
-
Potomac Security Systems
Voicemail that knows who's calling
Messages from the alarm monitoring center are transcribed and matched to the right customer's account, even when the operator spells the name phonetically.
-
Potomac Security Systems
An office that doesn't miss things
Unanswered emails, estimate requests from the website and monitoring that needs canceling all land on one follow-up list, so nothing waits for days by accident.
-
Techne
Robots that test the app
Automated runs through the iOS and Android apps, 34 scenarios at a time, taking screenshots for an AI to review for anything that looks off.
If your business runs on spreadsheets, inboxes and good intentions, I can help.
I take on a small number of projects at a time. The first conversation is about your business, not a package.
-
01
Find where the hours go
Which work is worth a person's time, and which a system should be doing.
-
02
Build the real thing
Working software with tests and a deploy, connected to the tools you already use.
-
03
Hand you the keys
Set you or your team up to run it, and to keep improving it with AI.
Plate IV · Identification
Not to be confused with the others
The common Russell Richardson is widespread and easily confused. All of the specimens below are excellent. Only one of them will build your software.
The rugby one
- Habitat
- Newcastle, New South Wales
- Known for
- Rugby league for Cronulla, South Sydney and the Newcastle Knights, 1996–2004. Now a Newcastle publican.
- Field mark
- Has been tackled professionally. I have taken pains to avoid it.
The Hollywood actor
- Habitat
- The credits of Iron Man and Tigerland
- Known for
- Film, television and Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.
- Field mark
- Appears in Iron Man. I have only watched it.
The novelist
- Habitat
- Binghamton, New York
- Known for
- The YA novel Level Up and Die! (2021), and children's books for kids with cancer.
- Field mark
- Has finished a novel, which puts him well ahead of most of us.
The British actor
- Habitat
- Todmorden, West Yorkshire
- Known for
- Poirot, Emmerdale, Last Tango in Halifax and The City and the City, plus directing and voice work.
- Field mark
- Has been in Poirot. I can't solve anything without a spreadsheet.
The car one
- Habitat
- Dealership lots, and almost half a million Instagram feeds
- Known for
- Teaching car salespeople to close deals with video, as Russ Flips Whips and through RFW Training.
- Field mark
- Can sell you a car in a 30-second video. I'd build you the app that books the test drive.
The company
- Habitat
- Sheffield, South Yorkshire, until 2026
- Known for
- Russell Richardson & Sons: more than twenty years of confidential shredding, archiving and recycling, until Restore Datashred bought it in 2026 and the gates closed.
- Field mark
- Was a whole company, and has been acquired. I'm not for sale, but I am for hire.
The one who builds software
- Habitat
- Kauaʻi's North Shore
- Known for
- The software behind a restaurant, an app business, a vacation rental and an alarm company. Available for yours.
- Field mark
- Will have built the app before you've finished explaining the spreadsheet.
Spotted a Russell Richardson that isn't listed? Report a sighting.
Plate V · Kin
Are you a Russell Richardson?
Then you found the right page after all. I'm keeping a register. There are no dues, no meetings and, as yet, no bylaws. Say hello and tell me which one you are.
2 Russell Richardsons on the register so far, including me.
Claim your membershipThe Russell Richardson Society
Est. 2026 · Membership by name only
- Name
- Russell Richardson
- Member No.
- 003
- Which one
- You tell me
Russell Richardson, founder (the one with the website)
Plate VI · Questions
Before you ask
What kind of businesses do you work with?
Over the years, mostly startups and people prototyping new ideas. These days, with AI, I can help most by making existing businesses run better with custom software built for them. If people are copying things from one spreadsheet into another, I can probably help.
Do I need to be technical?
No. You know your business, which is the hard part. I'll ask how the work really gets done, and explain everything in plain English.
How long does it take?
Weeks, not months, for a first useful piece.
What does it cost?
It depends on what we build. After a first conversation I'll tell you what I'd do first and what it would cost, before you commit to anything.
Will I be stuck needing you forever?
No. You get working software with tests and a proper deploy, and I'll set you or your team up to run it, and to keep improving it with AI.
Where are you?
On Kauaʻi's North Shore. Clients can be anywhere: Techne Futbol is spread across New Jersey, Virginia and Kauaʻi, Potomac Security Systems is in Maryland, and Umi is in San Francisco.
Plate VII · Correspondence
Tell me about your business.
What it does, and where the week goes. I'll write back with questions, or with what I'd tackle first. Fellow Russell Richardsons and everyone else are welcome too.