Okanagan, BC - building for the people who work outside

Field-grade
software.

A pixel is the smallest piece of a picture. One pre-trip, one receipt, one incident report is the smallest piece of an operation. I build the tools that capture those - with gloves on, in the dust, with no signal - and turn them into something you can actually run a place on.

Aerial
Drone and professional photography
Galleries
Private, by code
Games
In development
Process
Paper records into data

In the shop

What I make.

Games

In development

A platformer that does not care what you are holding

One codebase, one save, one set of controls that reads equally well on a phone screen and a desktop gamepad. Mobile and desktop as the same platform rather than two ports.

Aerial & stills

Selective - ask

Drone and professional photography

Certified aerial work and ground stills - pasture and facility surveys, sale-day cattle imagery, construction progress, the occasional wedding. Available for special circumstances rather than open bookings.

Automation

Ongoing

Process work for operations that run on paper

Scale tickets, fuel logs, dispatch, inventory counts. The pattern is always the same: the record already exists on a clipboard, it just needs to become data without adding a step to anyone's day.

How I work

Three rules I don't break.

  1. 01

    The front line is the design constraint

    If a record takes longer to enter than to write on a glove, it will not get entered. Everything else follows from that.

  2. 02

    Ship to real conditions, not demos

    Cold hands, cracked screens, sunlight, one bar. Software that only works in the office is not finished.

  3. 03

    You own the data

    Plain exports, no hostage-taking, no per-seat tax on your own history.

Chris Stoddard, the builder of PyxRanch, beside a tractor, holding a phone and smiling

A real person replies

Send an email and a person answers. On the phone, we are real people.

Two people, one working ranch

PyxRanch is a two-person operation, grown on a local ranch where production keeps being tested.

Proven elsewhere first

An aviation platform built from the same experience was recently sold and is rolling out across Canada, coast to coast.

From the builder

I'm the same as you. The dirt, grease and manure under my fingernails matches yours.

I build apps from the bottom up, not top down like most platforms these days. I am fortunate to have the experience of working as a regular farm operator, alongside herdspeople, and with upper management. That experience was poured into PyxRanch and shaped it into what it is today.

This isn't like any other system out there. It's a complete replacement for the whiteboards, clipboards, loose paper, spreadsheets, notebooks, logbooks, and every other analog or time-consuming process you are currently suffering through. PyxRanch is the documentation and compliance hub for your entire operation, not just parts of it.

PyxRanch is a two-person operation, with the participation of a local ranching operation where the production environment continues to be tested and grown. The platform was designed to be ultra-easy to use, with a support system that can answer most questions you and your staff will have. If you send us an email, a real person replies. If we speak over the phone, we are real people.

I recently sold an aviation platform built from my experience as an aircraft refueler and FBO line technician, and the buyers are rolling it out across Canada, coast to coast. I'm not just a dork who sits at a desk all day. I sweat in the summer heat operating equipment without air conditioning, and I freeze in the winter outside, same as you. I've been working in a technical and operations role for a local cattle ranching operation for the last two years, which is where PyxRanch was born. Before deciding to work outside, I spent 17 years working for the Vancouver Police Department, where I worked in civilian roles in both their Enterprise IT section and as a Senior Forensic Video Analyst in the Forensic Identification Section. I have been qualified numerous times in the Supreme Court of British Columbia as an Expert Witness. I know what compliance takes, and I know how to make technology do it. My decisions while building this app are always defensible and you can rely on me to ensure your data is safe and protected.

What I offer you are tools that make your life easier, your data capture faster, and let you identify real patterns in your business. The feeling that something isn't right, confirmed. Or the feeling that this is going great, also confirmed.

PyxRanch is easily configured for phased rollouts. All at once can be overwhelming for anyone. You can switch modules on and off as you please, or I can help.

The builder of PyxRanch - Chris StoddardPyxRanch · Okanagan, British Columbia

Contact

Got a process that still runs on a clipboard?

Ranch, farm, yard, or shop - if the record already exists on paper, it can exist as data without adding a step to anyone's day. Tell me what the paper looks like.

Photography and drone work is selective - mention the date and location and I'll tell you straight.