~/specshop/about
// we did the transformation on ourselves first

We help engineering orgs transition
AI-native delivery. 2x faster.

We train the engineers who'll lead it, transform the orgs that need to catch up, and build the products for the ones who'd rather we just did it for them. Same methodology. Four ways in.

Book a discovery call $ read the method
9
years building
120+
products shipped
5
countries
≤3
people per product
2
founders
// 01 — the story

We closed a profitable 40-person agency. Then we rebuilt it for the world that’s actually here.

In 2022 we wrote an internal memo: AI will make traditional software consulting obsolete by 2030. // it happened in 2026.

Beta Launch was Janaka’s first company. Started in Melbourne. Grew to 40 people across the Netherlands, Australia, Oman, and the USA. The Colombo Stock Exchange. USAID CATALYZE. HAL Capital. 120+ products. A decade of evidence that the old model worked.

We were good at it. That’s not why we closed it.

We closed it because the model was designed for a world where the bottleneck was access to skilled engineers. That world is gone. The bottleneck now is thinking — clear product thinking, tight specs, systems-level architecture. Implementation is increasingly automated. Talent is no longer the constraint.

A 40-person consultancy with management overhead and a pipeline optimised for the old world is the wrong shape for this one. A small studio with deep product craft, a rigorous spec-first process, and an AI-native delivery stack is the right one.

We didn’t downsize. We redesigned. And the playbook we built to do it is the one we now install in other engineering organisations.

2017
Beta Launch founded
Janaka starts the company in Melbourne. First clients in education.
2018
Tiran joins, later becoming CTO
Engineering practice gets a formal architecture layer. Product quality steps up.
2019
International expansion
Sri Lanka, Australia, Oman offices. USAID CATALYZE. 40 people across 5 countries.
2020
Remote-first delivery
Five-country operations continue fully remote. No clients lost, no timelines slipped.
2022
The prediction
Internal memo: AI will make traditional consulting obsolete by 2030. We start designing what comes after.
2025
The decision
Transition arrives faster than expected. We close Beta Launch and build the right shape of company for the new world.
2026
specshop.dev launches
Two founders. Four offers. One methodology. Open for transformation engagements May 1.
// 02 — how the business works

Four offers. One methodology. They feed each other.

Specshop isn’t four businesses. It’s four entry points to the same one. Train senior engineers and they become internal champions. Champions open the door to org transformation. Transformations produce case studies. Case studies feed the build practice. The build practice keeps the methodology honest.

01. transform.md
Transform

Your engineering org, AI-native in 3–5 weeks. Audit, redesign, workshop, supervised pilot, measured outcome.

see the method →
02. train.md
Train

Cohort programmes for senior engineers and graduates. Same IP we use in transformations, in seat-based form.

see programmes →
03. build.md
Build

Spec-first software delivery. Fixed price. 2–3 weeks. The proof point that the methodology actually ships.

see engagements →
04. maintain.md
Maintain

Living specs. Compounding products. The boring discipline that keeps shipped software shipped.

see how →
// 03 — pizza-team software

Three people, with the right process, outship fifteen with the wrong one.

Amazon’s two-pizza rule says: if you can’t feed a build team with two pizzas, the team is too big. We took that further.

Three people is enough for any product — if each of them can own a full surface end-to-end. Not three specialists waiting for handoffs. Three generalists with depth. When the spec is tight and the tools are right, team size stops being the constraint. Complexity is.

This is why we cap engagements at three people, and why the entire studio sits under ten. Not because we’re small — because that’s the shape that ships.

// the rule

When the spec is tight and the tools are right, team size stops being the constraint.

// 04 — the founders

Two people. Full coverage.

Janaka Ediriweera
founder · ceo · methodology

Founded Beta Launch in 2017 and ran it for nine years across five countries — USAID, the Colombo Stock Exchange, HAL Capital, 120+ others. Hired, fired, pitched, delivered. Watched the SDLC restructure in real time and chose to act on it before the industry caught up. At specshop.dev, leads transformation engagements, owns the methodology, and writes the thinking behind it. Runs your discovery call, audits your delivery process, presents to your board.

Tiran Praneeth
co-founder · cto · architecture

Joined Beta Launch as senior engineer and grew into running all of engineering. Has architected systems for financial services, government, healthcare, and consumer apps. At specshop.dev, owns the technical architecture on every build engagement and the boundary system that makes AI-agent builds safe to ship. The engineer the client's engineers trust — because he's the one most likely to catch the thing everyone else missed.

// 05 — how we work

Principles we
actually operate by.

These aren’t values on a wall. They’re constraints we built the process around because we learned them the hard way across nine years and 120+ products.

01. journeys.md

Journeys before screens

We don’t start with wireframes or mood boards. We start with who does what, in what order, and what they see at every step. The screens are implied by the journeys — not designed separately from the logic.

02. spec.md

Spec before code

Nothing gets built until the spec is approved. This feels slow. It isn’t. Every hour of spec work saves three hours of rework. If the spec is wrong, code makes it more wrong, faster.

03. signoff.md

Human sign-off is non-negotiable

AI agents handle implementation. Humans sign off on every stage. Not because AI is untrustworthy, but because the thing that needs to be right is understanding — not just correctness.

04. pizza.md

Pizza-team scale is the edge

Three people who each own a full product surface beats ten specialists waiting for handoffs. Generalist depth at pizza-team scale isn’t a constraint — it’s how we outship studios ten times our size.

05. scope.md

Honest scope over optimistic estimates

We tell you on the discovery call what the real cost and timeline looks like. If it doesn’t fit, we’d rather lose the engagement than set up a project to fail.

06. public.md

Build it, then write about it

We build in public. Every decision, failure, and course correction gets published when it happens — not after it’s been polished into a case study. Honesty compounds.

// 06 — work with us

A small studio. Intentionally.

We take a limited number of engagements at a time — not because we're precious, but because we can only do our best work on the things we're fully inside. We tell you on the discovery call whether it's a fit. If it isn't, we'll say so and point you in the right direction. Thirty minutes. No pitch. Just clarity.

Book a discovery call $ email hello@specshop.dev