Skip to content

From idea to production.At AI speed.

Build software that works exactly the way your company works. Custom-engineered around your workflows, powered by AI, and shipped in weeks instead of quarters.

The Tokan Build Log: one engagement, day by day
TOKAN BUILD LOG v1.0
$ tokan init --client your-company
Day 01  Scope locked. Fixed quote signed.
Day 03  Architecture + designs approved.
Day 07  First working demo in your inbox.
Day 14  Feature-complete. Your team testing.
Day 21  Evals, monitoring, and docs in place.
Day 28  Shipped to production. ✓
→ Idea to production. One invoice. Zero surprises.

Why companies choose Tokan Labs

  • AI-powered engineering

    We leverage AI at every step to ship faster and smarter.

  • Fixed price. No surprises.

    One clear quote. One invoice. What we commit, we deliver.

  • Weeks, not quarters

    From first demo to production in weeks, not months.

  • 100% your code

    You own the code, the IP, and the future.

TOKAN /ˈtoʊ·kən/ noun

Every company now runs on two assets: token capital, the AI capability it owns, and human capital, the judgment that directs it. Cheap intelligence is why building to fit is suddenly affordable. Human judgment is why it still works, because no model knows why step four of your process exists. We are named for the multiplication, and built like it.

A THESIS WE SHARE WITH SATYA NADELLA, AND BUILD BY EVERY DAY
Why now

Conforming used to be cheaper than building.

That was a real calculation, and for thirty years it was the right one. Custom software cost more than the process change it saved. The maths has flipped, and most companies are still budgeting for the old one.

1995 – 2023

Buy the platform. Bend the company.

Implementation consultants configure what they can. Everything the platform will not do becomes a spreadsheet, a shared inbox, a group chat, and a person who just knows. The gap never appears on a budget line, so nobody ever prices it.

COST OF THE MISFIT: HIDDEN, PERMANENT, GROWING
2024 – now

Build to the process you already have.

The cost of producing working software fell far enough that fitting your company exactly is now cheaper than the workarounds you are already funding. Not a rewrite of everything. The specific system that closes the specific gap.

COST OF THE FIT: QUOTED, FIXED, AND IT ENDS
Where it leaks

The gap between the software and the work.

Nobody budgets for it, because it never arrives as an invoice. It arrives as headcount, error rates, and the three days a month your controller spends reconciling two systems that were supposed to talk.

Leak 01

The spreadsheet that runs the company

It has a version number in the filename and one person who understands it. It is load bearing. It is also the largest undocumented dependency you have.

Leak 02

Headcount that exists to bridge systems

People whose job is moving data between two products you already pay for. That is not an ops function. That is a missing integration wearing a job title.

Leak 03

Seats you pay for and barely use

You licensed the suite for four features. The rest is shelfware you rent so those four keep working. Renewal arrives regardless.

How we work with you

Map it. Build it. Keep it learning.

Three practices, in sequence. Most clients start with a Map because it is small, fixed-price, and it tells both of us whether there is a project here at all.

01 / Map

Find the real process

Two weeks inside the workflow as it is actually performed, not the org-chart version. Ends with a ranked backlog, the cost of each detour, and one working prototype on your data.

2 weeks · Fixed priceExplore Map
02 / Build

Software shaped like you

Workflow automation, AI agents, internal tools, and legacy replacements. Fixed-scope sprints, a working demo every week, and your repo from day one.

2-week sprints · Fixed priceExplore Build
03 / Loop

Own the machine that learns

Knowledge base, private evals, and agentic workflows that compound on your own data. Swap the model whenever you like. The learning stays yours.

Monthly · Fixed priceExplore Loop

We only do one thing.

What we do
  • +Map the process as actually performed
  • +Workflow automation against your systems of record
  • +AI agents with evals, traces, and guardrails
  • +Internal tools and custom product engineering
  • +Operations for the systems we built
What we do not do
  • Brand, design services, or creative
  • Marketing, paid media, SEO, or content
  • Staff augmentation or bodies on a bench
  • Strategy decks with no working system attached
  • Reselling anyone's platform
If you need those, we will point you at someone good. We would rather lose the scope than dilute the team.
The Tokan protocol

From first call to shipped software,
the clock never hides.

Every engagement runs on day numbers, not “phases.” You always know exactly where your project stands, because the log is shared and it updates daily.

DAY 0

20-minute scoping call

Bring one workflow you know is broken. We ask hard questions. No slideware, no sales choreography.

DAY 2

Fixed quote in your inbox

One page: scope, price, timeline, guarantee. Sign it or don't. Either way you have it in 48 hours.

DAY 7+

Working software, weekly

First demo inside a week, then a shippable increment every Friday until launch. You test as we build.

HANDOVER

Repo, runbook, and out

Documentation, an eval suite, monitoring, and a trained team. Keep us on retainer or don't. Nothing breaks either way.

Proof

We built our own first.

Case 00 · Wokay

A work platform built for how businesses already operate, not how software wished they did.

Millions of small businesses run their entire operation inside WhatsApp. Rather than tell them to stop, we built the system that starts where they already are. Paying customers, near-zero churn, a majority paying annually upfront. Every pattern on this site came out of that build, not out of a framework.

7 days
First working demo, or the sprint is free
100%
IP and code ownership, in writing
Zero
Lock-in layers we install
Who's behind this

Operators.
Not order-takers.

Tokan Labs was founded by a team that has shipped at Google, built and sold a company, and now builds AI-native software products of its own. We are not reselling hours. We run the same stack on our own products before we ever run it on yours.

That is the difference between a firm that talks about AI and one structurally built on it: our margins come from leverage, not headcount. When AI makes something 10x faster, your price drops, not our effort.

Experience17 years building & operating
BackgroundEx-Google · Founder (exited)
ModelSenior humans + AI agents, nothing between
StructureSingapore-incorporated, senior global team
Hours4+ hrs daily overlap with US time zones
IncentiveFixed price. We only win by shipping
How pricing works

No hourly billing. No discovery-phase invoices. Ever.

Map
2 weeks
One fixed price, quoted after scoping

A fixed-price diagnosis of one workflow, ending in a ranked backlog and a working prototype.

  • The process as actually performed, documented
  • Each detour costed against a real baseline
  • One working prototype on your data, yours to keep
  • Credited in full against a build within 90 days
Explore Map
Build
Per sprint
One fixed price, locked before kickoff

A 2-week, fixed-scope sprint that ends in working software. Most systems ship in 2–3 sprints.

  • Fixed price locked before kickoff
  • First demo within 7 days, or the sprint is free
  • Full IP, repo, and documentation handed over
  • Stop after any sprint. No lock-in.
Explore Build
Loop
Monthly
One monthly fee, agreed up front

Your private learning system: knowledge base, evals, and agentic workflows compounding on your data.

  • Model-agnostic: swap vendors, keep the learning
  • Private evals scored on your business outcomes
  • Runs in your cloud, on your data. Your IP, in writing.
  • Quarterly review: what your AI learned, in dollars
Explore Loop
Straight answers

The questions you're actually asking.

Are you telling us to replace our ERP?

Almost never. Ripping out a system of record is expensive and rarely the actual problem. The problem is usually the seven steps around it that the ERP does not cover. We build those and leave the ERP exactly where it is.

Why is custom affordable now when it wasn't before?

The cost of producing working software fell sharply. Not to zero, and not without senior judgment, but far enough that fitting your process exactly now costs less than the workarounds you are already funding. That is the entire thesis of this business.

Is AI-written code actually reliable?

On its own, no. That is why every line ships through a senior engineer's review, with tests and documentation. AI gives us the speed; humans guarantee the quality. You get the repo, so nothing is hidden. Audit it anytime.

Who owns the IP?

You do. 100%, from day one, in writing. Code, designs, data, documentation, the learning system itself. All of it lives in your accounts and your repos. If we part ways tomorrow, you lose nothing.

What if the map says we don't need software?

That happens regularly. Roughly a third of what we map should be a database rule, a better form, or a deleted step. We say so, you keep the report, and the Map has still paid for itself several times over.

Do you do marketing or design work?

No. We build systems. If you need brand, growth, or creative, we will refer you to someone good rather than take the scope. A firm that does everything is trusted with nothing.

Where is your team based?

We are a Singapore-incorporated studio with a senior global team, working US hours. You get 4+ hours of live overlap with your time zone daily, plus async updates every working day. Your point of contact is always a senior operator, never a coordinator.

What if the first sprint doesn't work out?

You keep everything we built and walk away. Every sprint is a clean exit point. And if we miss the 7-day first-demo guarantee, that sprint costs you nothing. We carry the risk, because we are the ones claiming to be fast.

Bring us one workflow you know is broken.

Twenty minutes. We map it live, the way it is actually performed rather than the way it is documented, and tell you honestly whether it needs software or just a decision.

Book a 20-minute scoping call
first demo: 7 days · fixed price before kickoff · your IP: 100%