Byron Wade Product engineer · Founder

I ran the service business. Now I build the software it needed.

I grew a plumbing company to $2.4M in year two. Then it closed. Dispatch, phones, reputation: I learned the problems firsthand. Today I turn those lessons into products for the trades.

See selected work

Read what went wrong, and what I learned

What I’m building

Thorbis

Software for the people who keep things running.

From the first customer call to the last invoice. Product engineering and a shared design system, grounded in the work of a service business.

Explore Thorbis

Year-two revenue, before closing: $2.4M
Years shipping software: 8+
Projects documented here: 24

Selected work

Proof from products and the service business that shaped them.

All projects →

Thorbis Network / FMSActive
field-service software
Thorbis DesignActive
shared design foundations
SubfieldActive
write-up in progress

Writing

Notes from building products and running a service business.

All posts →

Nexstar Is Teaching Plumbing Companies to Win the Invoice and Lose the Customer
17 minAug 7, 2026
After ten years in plumbing, two master licenses, owning a company, and working inside three shops, I believe the industry’s obsession with average ticket is trading lifetime trust for a one-day sales number.
- Plumbing
- Customer experience
- Sales
What Service Businesses Actually Need From Software
14 minJul 28, 2026
Contractors do not need a larger feature checklist. They need software that protects the chain from first call to collected payment, keeps context attached to the job, and makes operational failure visible early.
- Field service
- Product
- Operations
A Design System Has to Be Enforceable or It Is Just Documentation
13 minJul 12, 2026
Tokens, components, accessibility rules, and motion principles only become a system when products inherit them automatically. AI-generated interfaces make that enforcement more important, not less.
- Design systems
- UI
- Product engineering