Frequently Asked Questions

No. ChatGPT cannot read your helpdesk, update your DNS, or file a ticket, and it forgets you between sessions. An AI operating system has real access to your systems through their APIs and keeps a written record of how your business works, so it does not start from nothing every time.

An AI operating system is your tools connected through their APIs, how your business works written down as instructions the AI follows, corrections captured so mistakes stop recurring, and a person approving anything that matters. We install it and operate it for you. The four parts are connections, knowledge, memory and gates.

It shows up as a draft nobody approved, not as an email a customer received. Anything leaving your business is staged for a person to approve. When you correct it, that correction becomes a rule the system reads next time rather than something you fix again next week.

Into an environment that is yours, hosted by us and separate from every other client. We walk through exactly which systems the AI can reach before it reaches any of them. The AI vendor's API sees what it is working on and does not train on it under the business terms we use.

Yes, and we would rather say so than imply otherwise. Today it runs on Claude. What is portable is the part that matters: the connections, the written process files and the captured corrections are yours. The model is a component, not the system.

If you are the bottleneck, you are the right size. The system described on this site runs a business with one owner and a small team. Small is the point: there is no ops department to absorb the routine work, which is exactly why automating it is worth something.

It is priced in phases, like a website, not as an open-ended AI project. Discovery is a fixed price and produces a plan you keep whatever you decide next. The first workflow is a fixed price after that. Ongoing operation runs from $500 to $5,000 a month depending on how many systems are connected and how many workflows are live.

That step either stays manual or needs browser automation, and we will tell you which during scoping rather than after you have paid for it. Browser automation is more fragile than an API and we would rather set that expectation early than build something that breaks quietly in month three.

An app is software that does something, as opposed to a website that publishes something. If a user logs in, submits data, or gets interactive functionality back, it is an app. Communication tools, quizzes, and anything running as a dedicated application on a phone all count.

Most apps take three to six months from kickoff to launch. What moves it is the number of features, how many platforms you need, and whether the design and requirements already exist. A prototype first usually shortens the build rather than adding to it.

Custom app costs are driven by four things: how many features, how many platforms, how much design work, and how many of your existing systems it has to talk to. The last one is the most commonly underestimated. We scope before quoting rather than publishing a number that would not survive contact with your project.

Our design team has years of experience designing mobile apps and can help with branding, colors, and everything necessary to make sure your app looks good and performs well.

You should always expect your app developer to be there for the long haul. If not, that implies maybe they don’t care about your app’s success, or they’re afraid to engage in supporting your app because of inherent problems with the design. We provide services for support , including a recurring retainer model that ensures your app is always up to date with the latest updates on any dependencies, OS updates, etc.

A native app is an app that runs locally on your device, whether it’s a laptop, tablet, or mobile device. A web-based app is an app that is accessed via a web browser.

Charging for you app is a part of your marketing strategy for the app. If you partner with us, we can help you answer those questions. In some cases, an app can be used as a marketing tool for other products and services within a brand (for example, Opentable providing a free mobile app to make reservations easier for users). In other cases, you might be building an app like a grocery shopping list where your main revenue generation is through the purchase of the app.

App downloads come from the store listing and from your own audience, in that order. The listing itself is the lever most people ignore: title, description, screenshots and reviews all affect whether someone who finds you installs. Paid acquisition works but rarely pays for itself early.

For most apps there is no functional difference between iPhone and Android, though each platform has its own language (Swift for iOS, Kotlin for Android). In some cases building in the native language is preferable, particularly for advanced device-specific features. In others we build for both platforms at once with a cross-platform framework like React Native or Flutter.

No. When we build with a cross-platform framework like React Native or Flutter, you essentially build the app once and it runs on both iPhone and Android. There is some extra overhead in testing and publishing to both stores, but not a second full build.

Caffeine was founded in 2013 as a web development and app development agency. That said, members of our development team have been coding long before that, and a few of our developers have over 20 years of experience.

We build all of our websites and make updates to websites on a what is known as a “staging site” which allows you to see progress and test things privately. A staging site is a clone of your live website and is used to test themes, functionality, plugins, etc….long before the public can see changes!

Websites start at $5,000, and most land between $10,000 and $15,000. Complex builds with substantial custom functionality have gone up to $50,000 or $60,000. What moves the number is how many of your systems it connects to, whether the content already exists, and how much custom design is involved.

We can build an online store for your ecommerce business.

We can make updates to your existing site in the vast majority of cases. If for some odd chance this isn’t possible, we will work with you to devise a plan of attack to make your updates or fix your bugs.

We build most sites in WordPress, but we stay neutral and use the best tool for the job. We have worked with Drupal, Magento, Shopify, Python/Django, Laravel, and modern JavaScript frameworks like React, among others.

You may be most familiar with WordPress as a blog, but it is also a Content Management System that can be used to create and manage digital content (a website). In fact, we build most websites in WordPress.

We have a talented team of designers that can assist and/or guide the styling of your website. We make sure your website truly represents your brand and that the vibe matches your expectations.

Most websites take six to twelve weeks. Content is the usual delay, not development: projects that stall almost always stall waiting for copy and images rather than for code. If your content is ready, the faster end of that range is realistic.

CSS (Cascading Style Sheets): How your website looks…all the fun stuff: colors, fonts and layout! CMS (Content Management Software): The program or software used to create and manage digital content….so WordPress for example! DNS (Domain Name Servers): The internet’s directory of domain names associated IP addresses….basically the internet’s phonebook!

Our clients are located both locally and throughout the US, and in a few rare cases, other parts of the world like Europe and Australia. We have the tools to work with clients anywhere in the world, but also enjoy meeting local clients for a cup of coffee.

Yes, we offer a basic website audit tool for anyone to use. It will check for mobile friendliness, Social Media Friendliness, SEO Analysis & Speed/Performance.

Google usually indexes a new site within a few days to a couple of weeks. You can speed it up by submitting the sitemap in Search Console, which we set up as part of every build. Ranking is a separate and much slower question from indexing.

A prototype is a representation of your final app project. In this case it is a set of designs that are interconnected with hotspots. A hotspot is an area of a graphic that activates a function when selected. There is no coding or structure to the interconnected screens.

Wireframes are a non-stylized (black and white) layout of the major components of a screen. Wireframes typically show general screen layout and placeholder copy & images are often used.

Mockups are also referred to as designs. These are the final stylized screens used for your project. The mockups should closely match your fully-built website or app.

A style guide is a list of the colors, fonts, font types, button styles and other design elements used for your particular app or website. This document is necessary in keeping the branding of your app consistent across multiple medium (For example: website pages or app screens, emails, print material, business cards).

Personas are people profiles of your different users of your app. Creating personas will help you and your investors to understand users behaviors.

A user story is written from the point of view of the different users of your app and how they interact with each of the features presents on a screen. Requirements are a set of rules and processes that define how your app functions and is displayed.

A prototype can take as little as a week or as long as a couple of months to assemble. Our basic prototype offering falls in the 3-6 week range.

Prototype cost is driven by the number of screens and interactive paths, not by how long the project lasts. A focused prototype covering the core flow costs considerably less than one that tries to cover every screen in the eventual product, and it usually teaches you the same things.

Yes, most of it carries forward. The screens, user stories and design decisions from the prototype become the specification for the build, so you are not paying twice for the same thinking. What does not carry over is the throwaway interactivity used to make the prototype clickable.

If you need more screens for your app we can accomodate that request for an additional fee.

Your app will be provided as a URL link. You are free to share that through email, documents or any other method that fits your needs.

A developer can take your prototype along with user stories (or requirements) and create your fully functional app. You may need a designer to help with additional screens not included in your prototype.

When you contract with a third party to fulfill a task instead of hiring an individual, that’s Staff Augmentation! Caffeine Interactive has successfully helped multiple companies in a crunch when their hiring was not producing the candidates (nor the quality of work) they needed.

Most engagements are one to three people, scaled to the work rather than to a minimum contract. We would rather put two people who fit on your project than five who pad the invoice, and the number can move as the project does.

Staff augmentation is billed on a monthly rate per person, set by role and seniority. It is usually less than the loaded cost of an equivalent hire once recruiting, benefits and ramp-up are counted, and considerably faster to start and to stop.

Caffeine Interactive knows how valuable your unique ideas are to your business. Therefore NDA’s are available for peace of mind and confidentiality.

Hiring is an art and when you find the good ones you make sure to keep the relationship strong so everyone at Caffeine Interactive feels valued and thrives.

Yes, Caffeine Interactive offers product planning as we have a team of Business Analysts and Product Managers available. Strong requirements gathering and product roadmaps are key components of the vast majority of our project base.

Clear, transparent communication is a core value of Caffeine Interactive. Depending on the project, Caffeine Interactive is available for video calls, traditional calls, and emails, and has a support ticketing system. The frequency of calls is up to you!

Caffeine Interactive has experience working with companies across many industries including real estate, telecommunications, semiconductor, automotive, e-commerce, non-profit, insurance, medical, education, and the list goes on.

Caffeine Interactive is flexible and will find a way to work with you using a combination of your processes and tools and ours to maintain our internal standards.

QA is an important part of all projects and Caffeine Interactive’s team includes QA analysts.