Systems that make your business easier to run.
I build portals, intranets, automations, dashboards, and practical AI workflows for NZ SMBs that have outgrown spreadsheets.
80 -> 4 hrs
Annual process reduced for one client
5 hrs
Build time for that workflow fix
NZ SMB
Built for practical owner-led businesses
$0
Hidden fees or mystery retainers
What I build
The internal systems behind better-run businesses.
Less spreadsheet archaeology. Fewer inbox handovers. More clarity about who owns what and what needs to happen next.
Intranets
Staff dashboards, internal records, compliance logs, activity tracking, and the tools your team actually use.
Client portals
Secure places for clients to view progress, upload documents, approve work, and stop chasing email threads.
Workflow automation
The repeated admin, follow-ups, handovers, and reports that should not need a human every single time.
Dashboards
Operational visibility that shows what changed, what needs attention, and where the bottlenecks are.
Practical AI workflows
AI used where it helps: summaries, triage, extraction, search, drafts, and decision support. Not magic beans.
Production systems
Authentication, permissions, backups, deployment, monitoring, handover, and the unglamorous bits that make software real.
How it works
A clear process from business problem to working system.
The work starts with the process, not a favourite tool. That is how you avoid paying to automate chaos.
Discover
Map the work, the people, the data, and the mess. The tool choice comes later.
Standardise
Turn fuzzy process into something repeatable enough to build around.
Automate
Build the smallest useful system first, then expand from a working base.
Measure
Track whether the system saves time, reduces dropped balls, and improves decisions.
Start here
Choose a starting point based on how clearly you can define the problem.
If the scope is fuzzy, start with clarity. If the pain is obvious, move toward a package.
Strategy before build
Tech Clarity
Use this when the business feels slow, manual, tool-heavy, or AI-curious but the right move is not obvious yet.
Scoped delivery
Build Packages
Use this when you know the problem and want a fixed-scope module, portal, intranet, dashboard, or automation built.
Quick diagnostics
Free Tools
Use calculators, checklists, and worksheets when you want to measure the drag before committing to a bigger conversation.
Why LD
Built from first-hand experience running an operational business.
Lightning Developments was founded by Rupert Gough after building Mortgage Lab from scratch, scaling it across New Zealand, and selling it to Maurice Trapp Group.
Founder-led delivery
You talk to the person doing the work.
No account managers, no offshore handoff, no junior bait-and-switch. The brief you send is the brief I build against, and you will know if the work is on track before it ships.
Read the founder storyNo mystery scope
The first version is deliberately scoped so you can inspect it, use it, and improve it.
No fake transformation theatre
A useful workflow fix beats a glossy deck that nobody knows how to act on.
No AI magic beans
AI is useful when aimed at real work: extraction, summaries, triage, drafting, and search.
Next step
Start with the workflow that is wasting the most time.
You do not need a perfect brief. Bring the messy version and the first step is working out what should exist.