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For over ten years, companies have brought us the projects they can't afford to get wrong: new software that has to ship, aging systems that have to be modernized, and now, AI that has to show a return.
The tools have changed. The core hasn't. Senior US-based engineers, craftsmanship over cookie-cutter solutions, and work we stand behind in writing: a fixed price, a guaranteed outcome, and a 12-month bug-free warranty.
100+ projects, $50M+ in product development
No B-teams. No handoffs. Just expertise.
Fixed price. Guaranteed outcome. 12-month warranty.

Co-Founders Nick and Mike cut their teeth in enterprise health-tech, where the software has to work. In 2015 they launched The Gnar on a simple idea: a senior team with the right amount of process can deliver high-quality work fast.
The job has been the same ever since. Build something new a client couldn't build alone, or modernize the codebase holding them back. A decade of shipping both made us a trusted innovation partner for companies like AARP Foundation, WHOOP, and Mass General Brigham.
Then the tools changed. We rebuilt delivery around AI with Context-Driven Development, certified by Anthropic as a Claude partner. The core didn't: senior people, disciplined process, and guarantees with teeth.
The tools change. The core is the same.

Mike oversees operations and project delivery at The Gnar, backed by over a decade of software engineering experience and multiple startup co-founding roles. His background as a professional athlete instilled a deep understanding of high-performing teams, which he applies to building cohesive engineering groups that deliver practical solutions with reliable execution. This team-first approach ensures clients receive solution-oriented collaboration, stay aligned on priorities to avoid wasted effort, and achieve consistent on-time delivery across projects of any complexity.
Since those early days, we’ve assembled a tight-knit development team of senior product professionals, each laser-focused on a single project at a time, ensuring faster builds, fewer mistakes, and scalable solutions that stand the test of time.

What We Do
Every engagement is delivered by senior US-based engineers through AI-Native delivery, and every build carries the triple guarantee.
The board wants AI and the pilots haven't paid off. We deliver a board-grade strategy, train your team to fluency, and ship the first automation into production.
Build the software your business runs on, with a guaranteed price set before we write a line of code. Plan it right, build it once.
Keep the system of record, modernize the experience your team lives in every day. Or replatform when the old stack can't be saved. A fixed-price Discovery decides which.
Already have a team? Gnar Embed adds senior US-based engineers directly to it when you need velocity or a specific skill set. We reinforce your team; you run the project.
Fixed milestone pricing, a guaranteed outcome, and a 12-month bug-free warranty. Most agencies ask you to trust their pitch. We'd rather you trust the contract.
No offshore teams, no junior bench staffed on after a senior pitch. A founder has eyes on every engagement, from kickoff to launch.
Clean, tested, maintainable code that your team can own. The codebase is yours, documented for hand-off, with no lock-in by default.
We anticipate problems before they happen and tell you the truth about trade-offs, even when the answer is "you don't need us for that part."
"We weren't just a project to them. Even now, they catch up and ask how the app is running, and not from a sales standpoint. They really care about our end-users. Project management was key to them, as we wanted to meet some conference and launch-plan deadlines."
If you're obsessed with building high-quality, no-nonsense software, The Gnar might be the place for you. We're a team of senior engineers, designers, and problem solvers who believe in clean code, real collaboration, and shipping with AI as a teammate, not a shortcut.
Want to work with us?
Tell us where you are and what you're trying to do. We'll point you to the right starting line, even if it isn't us.
Unlike most custom software development companies, we put guarantees behind our claims. Guaranteed outcomes—if we don't deliver what we promised, you don't pay for it. Guaranteed price—no hourly billing that spirals into surprise invoices. Guaranteed quality—a 12-month bug-free warranty on everything we ship. Most agencies ask you to trust their pitch. We'd rather you trust the contract.
We don't spend money on "Top Agency" awards or pay for directory placements. What we do have: a decade of shipping production software, clients like AARP Foundation and WHOOP, and a 12-month warranty we actually honor. Our reputation comes from referrals—companies who worked with us and then told other companies to do the same. That matters more to us than a badge on a website.
Hiring takes time—typically 3-6 months to find, interview, and onboard a senior software developer. And you're competing with Google, Meta, and every funded startup for that talent. A software development agency gives you immediate access to experienced development teams without the recruiting headache. It also gives you flexibility: you can scale up for a big initiative and scale down when it's done, without layoffs or carrying costs.
We've built software for healthcare (AARP Foundation, Johns Hopkins), fitness tech (WHOOP, Fitbit), food delivery (GrubHub), consumer apps (Qeepsake), and B2B platforms across logistics, staffing, and professional services. The common thread isn't industry—it's complexity. We work with companies whose software needs are too nuanced for off-the-shelf solutions and too critical to trust to the lowest bidder.
When people say "software development," they usually mean the coding part. But building software like web and mobile apps that actually work involves a lot more: requirements gathering, architecture planning, UI/UX design, development, testing, deployment, and ongoing maintenance. At The Gnar, we handle the full lifecycle. That's why we call ourselves a product development team, not just a dev shop.
We start with discovery, which we call the Ideate Phase—understanding what you're building, who it's for, and what success looks like. Then we map requirements in detail before writing code (this is where most projects go wrong, so we invest heavily here). Development runs in focused sprints with weekly demos so you see real progress, not just status reports. After launch, our 12-month warranty kicks in. If something we built doesn't work as specified, we fix it free.
Yes—we've done it dozens of times. We call these "rescue projects," and they follow a predictable pattern: another software development agency got 60-80% through the work, then fell apart when things got hard. We assess what's salvageable, stabilize the codebase, build a realistic plan to finish, and execute.