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AI Software DevelopmentFor Small and Mid-Sized Business

We find where AI pays off in your business, build it, secure it, and keep it running. Based in Lake Forest, CA. Starting at $90/hr.

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Technologies we work with

The Problem

Every business knows AI can give them an edge. But building AI products requires specialized knowledge that most teams don't have. Hiring full-time AI engineers is expensive. Generic dev shops learn AI on your dime. You need a partner who already knows how to ship AI.

10AI service areas
48 hrsTo scope and quote
1-2 wksTo first prototype

What We Do

To stay competitive over the next several years, every small and mid-sized business should prioritize these ten areas. We deliver all of them.

01

AI Diagnostic & ROI Study

Find out where AI pays off before you spend on it.

Most owners know AI could help somewhere but cannot say where it pays off first. We sit with your team, map how the business actually runs, and mark every process where AI could cut cost or hours. Each opportunity gets a dollar estimate and an effort estimate, so you invest against a ranked list instead of a hunch.

  • Process-by-process opportunity map
  • Estimated ROI and effort for each use case
  • Prioritized 6 to 12 month implementation plan
02

Agentic Workflow Automation

Hand the recurring work to agents that actually finish it.

Quoting, intake, scheduling, reconciliation, reporting, follow-ups. This work eats a real share of your team's week and almost none of it needs human judgment end to end. We build agents that connect to the tools you already use, carry out the steps a person would, and stop to ask when a decision genuinely needs you.

  • Agents wired into your existing tools and data
  • Human approval gates on the steps that need them
  • Run logs, error handling, and alerting
03

Architecture & SDLC Assessment

Know what in your codebase will slow you down next year.

A review of your codebase, your architecture, and the way your team ships software. We surface the technical debt, single points of failure, and process gaps that will limit you as you grow. We also look at how fluently your engineers use AI tooling day to day, because that gap is now as expensive as the code itself.

  • Codebase and architecture review
  • Risk and technical debt register, ranked by impact
  • Engineering AI fluency assessment
  • Modernization plan with sequencing
04

Security Testing & Patching

Attack your AI features before someone else does.

AI applications fail in ways traditional testing never looks for. A chatbot can be talked into leaking customer records. An agent with tool access can be steered into actions nobody approved. We probe your AI features the way an adversary would, covering prompt injection, data leakage through model output, tool misuse, and jailbreaks, then we fix what we find.

  • Prompt injection and jailbreak testing
  • Data leakage and tool misuse assessment
  • Patches applied and retested, not just a report
05

Security Assessment

See your security, privacy, and compliance gaps in priority order.

A broader look across the systems your business runs on. We find where customer and employee data actually lives, who can reach it, and which gaps would matter in an audit, a client security questionnaire, or a breach. You get a plain-language picture of your exposure and a fix list ordered by real risk rather than by alarm level.

  • Data inventory and access review
  • Privacy and compliance gap analysis
  • Remediation plan ranked by risk
06

Code Modernization

Legacy stacks slow your people down and your AI tools down more.

Old frameworks, thin test coverage, and undocumented code have always cost you speed. They cost more now. AI coding agents work by reading context, and when the context is inconsistent or missing they guess, and guessing produces bugs. We modernize the parts of your stack that create the most drag, so both your engineers and their tooling move faster.

  • Framework and dependency upgrades
  • Test coverage and documentation where it is missing
  • Codebase restructured for AI-assisted development
07

Data Engineering

AI is only as good as the data it can reach.

Most small and mid-sized businesses have the data they need, scattered across a CRM, a few spreadsheets, an accounting system, and someone's inbox. We build the pipelines, integrations, and migrations that bring it together, plus the search and retrieval systems that let models and agents use it accurately instead of guessing.

  • Pipelines, integrations, and migrations
  • Search and retrieval systems (RAG)
  • Knowledge bases your agents can query
08

MCP Gateway

One control point for every model, tool, and dataset your AI touches.

Once several people and several agents are calling models and reaching company data, you need something sitting in the middle. A gateway authenticates who is asking, routes each request to the right model, records every call, and caps spend before a runaway process bills you for a month in an afternoon. It also means you can change model providers without touching every application.

  • Authentication and per-team access control
  • Model routing and failover
  • Usage logging, quotas, and spend caps
09

Model Fine-Tuning

Train a smaller model on your work so it beats a larger general one.

General models are broad and, on your specific tasks, generic. When work is repetitive and particular to your domain, such as classifying your support tickets, reading your document formats, or drafting in your company voice, a smaller model trained on your own examples usually wins on accuracy and costs a fraction to run.

  • Training dataset built from your own data
  • Fine-tuned model with accuracy benchmarks against the baseline
  • Deployment and ongoing monitoring
10

Citizen SDLC

Give non-technical staff a safe path from prototype to production.

Your operations, finance, and marketing people are already building AI prototypes. Most never reach anyone else, and the few that do usually skip review entirely and end up holding real customer data with no owner. We set up a governed path: a sandbox where anyone can build, a review gate before anything touches production, and a route to a supported application with a name on it.

  • Sandbox environment for non-technical builders
  • Review and approval gates with clear criteria
  • Promotion path to supported production applications

Why Tekta

We build with AI every day, in production, for companies your size.

Most dev shops are learning AI as they go. We have been building multi-LLM systems in production for years. That means fewer surprises, faster delivery, and solutions that hold up once real customers touch them.

  • Multi-LLM expertiseClaude, GPT, Gemini, Llama. We pick the right model for your use case
  • Production experienceSystems handling billions of data points, not just demos
  • Sized for SMBsEngagements scoped for teams without a dedicated AI department
  • Local partnerBased in Lake Forest, CA, available for in-person meetings
project_approach.py
# How we approach your project
project = {
    "diagnose": "Find where AI pays off",
    "prototype": "Working proof in 1-2 weeks",
    "iterate": "Refine with your feedback",
    "launch": "Production-ready delivery",
}

# Pick the right AI for the job
models = select_best_fit(
    task=your_requirements,
    options=["Claude", "GPT", "Gemini",
             "Llama", "Mistral"],
    optimize_for=["cost", "quality", "speed"],
)

# Built for production, not demos
deploy(
    solution=models,
    monitoring=True,
    guardrails=True,
    scaling="auto",
)

Who We Serve

Small and mid-sized businesses, from owner-operated shops to established mid-market companies.

Small Businesses

Under 25 people

You have no IT department and no time to evaluate AI vendors. We find the one or two automations that give you back the most hours, build them, and keep them running.

  • AI diagnostic and ROI study
  • Agentic workflow automation
  • Security assessment

Growing Companies

25 to 200 people

Processes that worked at 20 people are breaking at 100. We automate the recurring work, get your data into shape, and put guardrails around the AI tools your team already uses.

  • Data engineering and integrations
  • Code modernization
  • MCP gateway

Established Mid-Market

200 to 1,000 people

You have engineers and systems that already work. We assess architecture and AI security, modernize what slows delivery down, and give non-technical teams a governed way to ship.

  • Architecture and SDLC assessment
  • Security testing and patching
  • Citizen SDLC and fine-tuning

How We Work

01

Discovery Call

Free 30-minute consultation. We learn about your business, understand your goals, and identify where AI can make the biggest impact.

02

Scope & Quote

Within 48 hours, you get a clear scope document with timeline and pricing. Hourly or fixed-price, your choice. No surprises.

03

Iterative Development

We build in short cycles with regular demos. You see progress weekly and can adjust direction at any point. No disappearing for months.

04

Launch & Support

We deploy to production, monitor performance, and provide post-launch support. Your AI solution ships with documentation and training.

Pricing

Transparent pricing, no surprises. Choose the model that works for your project.

Hourly

$90/hr
  • Flexible scope and timeline
  • Weekly progress updates
  • Adjust direction anytime
  • Ideal for ongoing development
  • No long-term commitment
Get Started

Fixed Budget

Custom quote
  • Defined scope and deliverables
  • Fixed price, no overruns
  • Milestone-based payments
  • Ideal for well-defined projects
  • Scope document included
Request a Quote

Frequently Asked Questions

Everything you need to know about working with Tekta.ai on your AI project.

What is Tekta.ai?

Tekta.ai is an AI partner for small and mid-sized businesses. We cover the full range, from working out where AI is worth the investment, through building agents and data systems, to testing and securing what you already run. Based in Lake Forest, CA, with years of production AI experience behind every engagement.

Who is Tekta.ai for?

We work with small and mid-sized businesses, generally in three shapes:

  • Small businesses (under 25 people): No IT department, no time to evaluate AI vendors, and a handful of processes eating the week
  • Growing companies (25 to 200 people): Processes that worked at 20 people are breaking, and data is scattered across too many systems
  • Established mid-market (200 to 1,000 people): Engineers and working systems already in place, with technical debt and AI governance to address

If you want AI working in your business but do not have the in-house expertise to get there, that is the gap we fill.

What makes Tekta different from other dev shops?

Most development agencies are adding AI to their service list and learning as they go. We have been building multi-LLM production systems for years using Claude, GPT, Gemini, and open source models.

That means we know which models fit which problems, how to keep costs down, and where teams new to AI usually get burned. We also work only with companies your size, so engagements are scoped for a business without a dedicated AI department.

What services do you offer?

Ten areas we consider the priorities for any small or mid-sized business over the next several years:

  • AI Diagnostic & ROI Study: Find out where AI pays off before you spend on it.
  • Agentic Workflow Automation: Hand the recurring work to agents that actually finish it.
  • Architecture & SDLC Assessment: Know what in your codebase will slow you down next year.
  • Security Testing & Patching: Attack your AI features before someone else does.
  • Security Assessment: See your security, privacy, and compliance gaps in priority order.
  • Code Modernization: Legacy stacks slow your people down and your AI tools down more.
  • Data Engineering: AI is only as good as the data it can reach.
  • MCP Gateway: One control point for every model, tool, and dataset your AI touches.
  • Model Fine-Tuning: Train a smaller model on your work so it beats a larger general one.
  • Citizen SDLC: Give non-technical staff a safe path from prototype to production.
Where should we start?

For most businesses, the AI Diagnostic and ROI Study. It is short, it is inexpensive relative to a build, and it stops you from spending on the wrong thing. You come out with a ranked list of opportunities with cost and effort attached.

If you already know what you want built, we can skip straight to it. And if you are running AI features in front of customers today, start with security testing instead, because that exposure grows the longer it sits.

What technologies do you use?

We pick the right tools for each project. Our stack includes:

  • LLM APIs: Claude (Anthropic), GPT (OpenAI), Gemini (Google), Together AI
  • Open source models: Llama, Mistral, Qwen, Whisper
  • Frameworks: Next.js, React Native, Python, Node.js, MCP
  • Infrastructure: Vercel, Google Cloud, AWS, PostgreSQL, vector databases
Can you work with our existing systems?

Yes. Most of our work is integration rather than greenfield. We add AI capabilities to the websites, apps, and internal tools you already run, using your current stack and working alongside your team, without disrupting what already works.

How does the process work?

Every project follows four steps:

  • Discovery call: Free 30-minute consultation to understand your needs
  • Scope and quote: Clear proposal with timeline and pricing within 48 hours
  • Iterative development: Weekly demos, regular feedback, adjust as needed
  • Launch and support: Production deployment with documentation and training
How much does it cost?

We offer two pricing models:

  • Hourly: $90/hr, flexible scope, no long-term commitment
  • Fixed budget: Custom quote with defined deliverables and milestone-based payments

The best model depends on your project. Well-defined work such as an assessment or a scoped build fits fixed pricing. Ongoing development or exploratory work fits better hourly.

How long does a typical project take?

It depends on scope. An assessment or ROI study takes 1 to 3 weeks. A proof of concept can be ready in 1 to 2 weeks. A full AI-powered application typically takes 4 to 8 weeks. Larger modernization or data engineering programs run longer and ship in stages.

We always start with a prototype or an assessment to validate the approach before committing to a full build.

Do you require long-term contracts?

No. We work on a project basis. You can engage us for a single assessment or for ongoing development, whichever suits you. No lock-in, no minimums.

I am not sure if AI is right for my business. Can you help me figure that out?

Absolutely. That is what the discovery call and the diagnostic are for. Not every problem needs AI, and we will tell you honestly if a simpler solution would work better or cost less. If AI is the right fit, we will explain exactly how and why, with numbers.

Do you work with clients outside Lake Forest, CA?

Yes. We are based in Lake Forest and available for in-person meetings locally, and we work with clients anywhere. Most collaboration happens over video calls and shared project tools.

Let's Build Something Together

Tell us about your project and we'll get back to you within 1 business day with a free consultation.

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