Journal

Notes from the studio.

What we've learned building software for restaurants and small businesses in Laos — written plainly, from experience, for owners who have to make these decisions with real money.

Restaurants · POS

Why everyone uses that POS (and why I built another one anyway)

Loyverse, Square, Oracle Micros and Infrasys, compared honestly by someone who closes the till at midnight. What each is genuinely good at, where it quietly drives you crazy, and the gap KinDee was built to fill.

9 min read · August 2026
Opinion · AI

Everyone Is a Designer Now. Good. Now Let's Talk About Doing It Well.

AI gave every restaurant a designer, a photographer and an analyst overnight. A love letter to the new superpower — with one honest complaint about the missing five minutes of attention.

6 min read · July 2026
Field notes · Restaurants

What running our own restaurant taught us about building software

We write POS software and we stand behind a counter using it. Six lessons from being our own angriest customer — on rush hour, staff turnover, and why nobody reads the screen.

7 min read · July 2026
Engineering · Lao web

Why Lao text looks broken on your website

Lao script has no spaces between words — and most of the web assumes every language does. Field notes on fonts, line-breaking and clipped tone marks, with the actual fixes.

8 min read · July 2026
Hiring · Guides

How to choose a web developer in Laos — 10 questions that reveal everything

Almost none of them are about technology. You're testing for ownership, honesty and staying power — the three things that decide whether your developer still answers messages in a year.

8 min read · July 2026
Restaurants · Reservations

From paper notebook to booking system: reservations done right

In defense of the notebook — and the four failure signs that mean it's full. What a booking system actually fixes, what it doesn't, and how to migrate without burning the notebook on day one.

7 min read · July 2026
Websites · Pricing

How much does a website cost in Laos? Real numbers for 2026

Quotes in Vientiane range from $150 to $15,000 for what sounds like the same thing. Here's what actually drives the price, what you get at each level, and the hidden costs nobody mentions.

7 min read · July 2026
Restaurants · POS

Choosing a POS system for your restaurant in Vientiane — what actually matters

We run food businesses in Vientiane and we build POS software. Most POS comparisons are written by people who have never closed a till at midnight. This one isn't.

8 min read · July 2026
Websites · Strategy

Your customers are on Facebook. So why do you still need a website in Laos?

Facebook built Lao commerce, and it's still where your customers are. But there are four situations where a page can't help you — and they happen to be the moments that decide whether you grow.

6 min read · July 2026
Engineering · Case Study

We tried to build a POS that survives Lao internet outages. Here's what happened.

The honest engineering story: what we built offline-first, why it wasn't ready for the shop floor, and the operator's decision to ship reliability instead of a clever feature that wedged on a Friday.

9 min read · Updated August 2026
Software · Strategy

Custom software vs off-the-shelf: an honest guide for Southeast Asian SMEs

Sometimes a spreadsheet is the right answer. Sometimes a $30/month SaaS is. And sometimes custom software pays for itself in a season. How to tell which one you are — in an afternoon.

7 min read · July 2026