Rung 3 · Fixed once scoped · 4–8 weeks
The executor or integration the platform doesn't offer.
A guarded merge executor inside HubSpot. A Marketo–Salesforce sync repair. A HubSpot–Dynamics 365 ownership layer. A reverse-ETL reporting spine. Built inside your platform, with the guard set written before a record is touched and a hand-off so your team owns it.
A fit when
- The native tools cap out — no bulk merge, no field-level sync control, no way to enforce a rule at import time.
- You need a piece of custom code or an integration that lives inside the platform and survives staff turnover.
- The build must be auditable: every action logged, every irreversible step guarded, credentials never leaving the platform.
Not a fit when
You want a marketing website, a data warehouse or an app. Not this.
The requirement is a standard connector that a vendor already sells and supports.
The build would need to be operated by us indefinitely — pair it with Embedded Ops or it is not a fit.
What you get
Deliverables, named before you buy.
Guard set first
The rules the build enforces at run time — re-fetch both records, orientation checks, self-reference and type guards, rate limits, retry behaviour — written and agreed before code.
The build
Custom-code actions, workflows, sync configuration or a small service, built inside your platform where possible. Credentials held as platform secrets; nothing leaves the vendor's servers.
Tripwires
Executions must equal enrolments; 429 and 5XX throw rather than swallow; every run reconciled. The failure modes are designed for, not discovered.
Evidence of behaviour
Where the platform's documentation is wrong or silent, the actual behaviour is established on live data and written down — the case study lists five.
Hand-off
Recorded walkthrough, runbook, and a named owner on your side who has run it once with us watching.
Fixed price
Scoped after a 30-minute look and, where needed, a one-week paid scoping; then fixed. Changes in scope are priced, not absorbed silently.
How it runs
The timeline, week by week.
Week 1
Scoping: the mechanism, the guard set, the platform route, the gates. Fixed price issued.
Weeks 2–4
Build in a sandbox or against a non-production copy where the platform allows; the three rows that cannot pass; gate 1 and gate 10 on live data with before-states captured.
Weeks 5–8
Gate 250, production run or go-live, tripwire monitoring for two weeks, hand-off and runbook. Length depends on scope.
What you have at the readout. The guard set is agreed and the build has passed the rows that cannot pass and gate 1 on live data, with the before-state captured. The remaining gates are scheduled.
Two rules on every engagement
Nothing irreversible runs without a captured before-state and your explicit authorisation.
Every engagement leaves recordings and a runbook your team can operate from.
Questions
The ones that actually get asked.
Which platforms?
HubSpot (workflows, custom-code actions, the merge and batch APIs), Marketo (webhooks, program automation, the REST API), Salesforce (flows, Apex where unavoidable, the Marketo and Pardot connectors), Dynamics 365 (Power Automate and the Dataverse API), and the connectors between them.
Do you build outside the platform?
Only when the platform has no route. Even then the credential stays a platform secret and the call path is as short as possible. The case study's executor runs entirely inside HubSpot.
Who owns the code?
You do. It lives in your portal or repository, documented, with a runbook.
What if requirements change mid-build?
Scope changes are written up and priced before they are built. The fixed price covers the scoped build; it does not silently absorb a second feature.
Other rungs
3 weeks · read-only
GTM Systems Audit
Before you trust the stack or rebuild it: a ten-surface, evidence-based map of the automation platform, the CRM and the connectors between them.
From USD $1,500
6 weeks · fixed scope
Systems Rescue Sprint
Dedupe, a lifecycle rebuild, attribution, a migration reconcile, a broken sync. Gated rollout, before-state captured for every irreversible action, and the upstream rule that stops it recurring.
USD $14,500
Monthly · 3-month minimum
Embedded Ops
The senior pair of hands for the backlog: connectors, hygiene, reporting, enablement. Weekly recorded sessions; documentation is the by-product, not a deliverable.
From USD $6,500 / mo
Scope the build.
Thirty minutes, no deck. Bring the portal you inherited and the number nobody trusts; leave with a written scope or a written "leave it alone".
NDA and DPA on request, same business day. Written reply within one business day.