Software, automation, and AI that actually ships — for small businesses.
We build the custom tools, integrations, and AI-assisted workflows that get small businesses out of spreadsheets and copy-paste. Working software every two weeks, from a developer you talk to directly.
Or email hello@fiveamteam.com. We answer every message within one business day.
Who we help
Small businesses in and around Atlanta
We work with owner-operated companies that have outgrown the tools that got them here — mostly in the Atlanta metro, and remotely elsewhere in the U.S.
Professional services
Law, accounting, insurance, and agencies drowning in intake forms, document handoffs, and status emails.
Trades and field services
HVAC, construction, landscaping, and repair shops running scheduling and invoicing across three tools that do not talk.
Clinics and practices
Small healthcare and wellness practices that need scheduling, reminders, and reporting to stop eating front-desk hours.
Local operators
Distributors, franchises, and multi-location owners whose real system of record is a spreadsheet nobody wants to touch.
Most people call us when:
- Someone on your team retypes the same information into two systems every day.
- Your tools do not talk to each other, so the truth lives in a spreadsheet.
- You want to use AI somewhere in the business but do not know where it actually pays off.
- Off-the-shelf software gets you 80% of the way and stalls.
What we do
Four ways we usually help
Most engagements start with one of these and grow from there.
Custom software
The tool your business actually runs on.
When off-the-shelf software almost fits but not quite, we build the piece that does — a portal, a dashboard, an internal app your team opens every morning.
Automation and integrations
Stop retyping the same data into three systems.
We connect the tools you already pay for — QuickBooks, your CRM, scheduling, email, spreadsheets — so information moves without a human copying it.
AI and workflow consulting
A short list of where AI helps, and where it does not.
We audit how work actually flows through your business, then build the two or three AI-assisted steps that save real hours. No chatbot for the sake of a chatbot.
Ongoing support
Someone who answers when it breaks.
Monthly support for what we build and what you already have. Small fixes, updates, and a person who knows your systems on the other end of the email.
How we work
You always know what happens next
No black boxes, no six-month silences, no surprise invoices. Here is the whole process.
- 01
Intro call
20 minutes, free
You describe what is slow, manual, or broken. We tell you honestly whether we can help and roughly what it would take.
- 02
Discovery
1 to 2 weeks, fixed fee
We map the workflow, talk to the people doing the work, and deliver a written plan with scope, cost, and timeline. The plan is yours to keep, even if you build it elsewhere.
- 03
Build
Two-week increments
You see working software every two weeks, not a demo at the end. Priorities can change between increments; nothing is a surprise at the finish line.
- 04
Handoff and support
Ongoing, optional
You get the code, the accounts, and the documentation. Stay on monthly support or take it in-house — your call, no hostage situations.
What we can build
Things we have already shipped to production
Not a list of technologies we read about. These are systems we have built, launched, and kept running.
Accounting and financial integrations
Production QuickBooks Online integrations with OAuth, token refresh, and careful handling of financial data — plus the cash-flow modeling on top of it.
Real-time, multi-user applications
Apps where several people act on the same data at once and everyone stays in sync, built on Firestore and Postgres with tested state layers.
Web and mobile from one codebase
Shipped iOS, Android, and web from a single React Native and Next.js codebase — one product, every device your customers use.
APIs and data plumbing
Node and Postgres services that give your business fast, structured access to its own data instead of exports and pivot tables.
Tested, deployed, maintained
Automated tests, real deploys, and monitoring. We have shipped and maintained products in the App Store and on the web, not just prototypes.
Who you are working with
Small shop, deep bench
I am John Pickett, a software engineer in Georgia who has spent years building and shipping production systems — financial integrations, real-time applications, and mobile and web products that real people use every day.
Five AM Team exists because small businesses keep getting the same two options: enterprise software priced for someone else, or a freelancer who disappears halfway through. I wanted a third option — a small, senior shop that scopes honestly, ships in increments you can see, and hands you something you own.
When a project needs more than one pair of hands, I bring in specialists I have worked with for years — UX designers, API and integration people, and development partners when a build needs more capacity. I scope the work, review everything that ships, and stay accountable for all of it. You get the range of a larger firm without paying for its overhead, and you are never handed off to an account manager or a junior.
We are probably not a fit if…
- You need a marketing website or an SEO campaign — good work, just not ours.
- You want the cheapest possible offshore build; we will lose that bid every time.
- You need a team of ten starting Monday.
- Nobody on your side has 30 minutes a week to answer questions about how the business works.
Straight answers
The questions everyone asks on the second call
We would rather you knew all of this before you spent an hour with us.
What does this cost?
Every engagement is scoped and quoted in writing before it starts, so you never get an open-ended bill. Discovery is a fixed fee in the low thousands; most builds are a five-figure investment, and support is a monthly retainer sized to what we built.
How long until I see something working?
Discovery takes one to two weeks. After that you see working software every two weeks. Most first releases are live within six to ten weeks of starting the build.
Do I own what you build?
Yes. You own the code, the data, and the accounts, and they are in your name from day one. Our contract assigns all of it to you. No licensing fees, no platform that you're tied to forever.
What happens to my data if you use AI tools?
We use business-tier AI services with training disabled, so your data is not used to train anyone's model. We do not paste customer records into consumer chatbots. Credentials live in your accounts and in a password manager, never in code.
Can you work with my existing developer or IT provider?
Regularly. We are often the ones building the new thing next to a system someone else maintains. We will coordinate with them and document what we hand over.
Are you a big firm?
No. Five AM Team is small and deliberately so — you work directly with the person writing the code. That means fast decisions and no account managers, and it means we take on a limited number of clients at a time.
Get in touch
Tell us what is slowing you down
We answer every message within one business day.
Rather just talk it through?
Book a free 20-minute call. No slide deck, no pitch — you describe the problem and we tell you honestly whether we can help.
Book a 20-minute call