Field notes,
in long form.
Build logs, technical write-ups, and the occasional opinion. Mostly about software, sometimes about Hawaii, always from the operator.
Building AI-native products on Claude: a Honolulu studio's playbook
Six products live, all built against the Anthropic Claude API. Here's how we structure AI calls in production, what we cache and what we don't, how we keep latency under 2 seconds for user-facing flows, and the patterns that have actually shipped — not the hype.
Hawaii GET tax on SaaS subscriptions: a practical guide
Hawaii taxes SaaS revenue differently than most US states — and very few founders know the rules until their first G-45 return is overdue. Here's how Hawaii's General Excise Tax actually works for subscription software businesses, with the rates, the forms, and the traps.
From hand-cut joinery to AI-native software
Ikena Design & Build started in Alaska timber-frame and Honolulu finish carpentry. Today it ships software. The standard didn't change — the substrate did. Here's the through-line, and why a contractor's instincts make a good operator-engineer.
Why we charge for discovery (and why $5,000 is the floor)
Most software shops give discovery away for free and lose money on every engagement that doesn't convert. We charge $5,000 to $15,000 for a paid discovery phase, credited toward the build. Here's the math, the reasoning, and the kind of client this filter is built for.
Why we mirrored every TMK in Hawaiʻi as TypeScript
We built a complete, queryable map of every parcel, building footprint, and address in the islands — 56 million lines of typed public-record data. Here's why a Honolulu software studio writes its own GIS layer instead of renting one.