Built by someone who has run the mess.
I'm Rupert Gough. I built and sold Mortgage Lab, then started Lightning Developments to build the systems I wished I had earlier: portals, intranets, automations, dashboards, and practical AI tools for NZ businesses.
Founder proof
Business reality before technical theatre.
Mortgage Lab gave me the operator scar tissue: scattered client data, manual reporting, spreadsheet handoffs, and processes that depended on people remembering everything. Lightning Developments exists to remove that drag.
2022
Mortgage Lab sale completed
80 -> 4
Hours reduced in one annual process
NZ SMB
The businesses this is built for
1 module
The usual best place to start
How I work
Clear problem. Useful module. Measurable lift.
The aim is not to make your business feel more technical. It is to make it easier to run.
Operator first
The first question is not what can be built. It is what keeps stealing time, trust, and attention.
Practical systems
Portals, intranets, workflows, dashboards, and AI tools need to make daily work calmer, not just look impressive.
Small enough to ship
Good builds start with one valuable module, prove the lift, then expand from real usage.
Based in Tauranga
Local, practical, and allergic to agency theatre.
Lightning Developments works with businesses across New Zealand that need useful software without the enterprise circus. The work is direct, scoped around outcomes, and grounded in how your team actually operates.
Read the business automation approachStart here
Bring the messy process. I’ll help find the first useful build.
A good first conversation usually turns a vague software idea into a clear workflow, module, or package.