02 · Automation & Apps · CoBuild
We build it with you.
CoBuild is how custom automations and internal apps get built at Civic Dialog. Your stakeholders are in the room from the first requirement to the last release. Anywhere from none to four of your people build alongside us, in your existing tools or on a hosted app you own, one project at a time.
- 0 to 4 people
- from your team build with us
- Stakeholders
- in the room from requirements on
- Your tools
- or a hosted app on accounts you own
- You own it
- code, data, accounts, and the know-how
01Who it is for
Teams that need it built, whether or not they can spare a builder.
The team with no one to spare
You need it built and you do not have a person to put on it. Your stakeholders define the requirements, test each release, and own the result. We do the building.
The solo operator
You run the whole thing and you know exactly what is eating your time. You want someone to build it with you, fast, and teach you enough to own it.
The lean team
Two to five people, one of them half-technical. You do not want a black box from a consultant. You want a partner who builds in the open.
The owner who stays hands-on
You want to understand what got built so you can adjust it next quarter when the business changes.
02What gets built
The shapes that come up again and again.
Most of what an organization needs is one of these six, wired to the tools it already pays for.
Intake and routing
Forms, inboxes, and portals that classify what comes in and put it where the work happens.
Approval and review workflows
Invoices, requests, and documents that move themselves, with the audit trail leadership asks for.
Reporting pipelines
The weekly report that assembles itself from the systems you already have.
Client, participant, and partner portals
A place for the people you serve to register, pay, see status, and upload what you need.
Multi-tenant platforms
When what you built for yourself is worth offering to others: grants platforms, cohort platforms, county tools.
Integrations
The connection between two tools you already pay for that no one sells.
03How it works
A sprint, a build, a go-live.
You can stop after the sprint with the map and the baseline in hand. Most people do not.
Step 01: Tell us the vision
A short intake. We read it and call you back.
Step 02: Scope together
A fixed-fee scoping sprint of two to four weeks. We map the process with your stakeholders, baseline the hours, agree who from your team builds, and write a statement of work with a number in it. You can stop here with the map in hand.
Step 03: Build side by side
A working session every week and working software every week. Whoever builds from your team drives, with us guiding. When no one does, we build and your stakeholders test each release on real records. Everything is documented as it is built.
Step 04: Own it
It goes live against the baseline and the log starts. You own the code, the data, and the accounts. Take it over, or keep us on month to month under the Fractional CAIO agreement.
04Your options
Four ways to get automation done.
Each one is right for someone. CoBuild is right when you want it built now, on accounts you own, with as much of your team involved as you can spare.
CoBuild
- None to four of your people build with us.
- Stakeholders shape the requirements and test every release.
- One real project at a time, with a number in the statement of work.
Hire a dev shop
- They build it and they know it. You do not.
- Every change goes back through them.
- High cost, little knowledge transfer.
Hire an engineer
- A full-time salary and months to ramp.
- Right for a product company.
- Overkill for most internal automations.
Do it yourself
- Cheapest and slowest.
- Easy to stall without a guide.
- No one checking the architecture.
05What you walk away with
Working software, in your name, and the people who understand it.
For your business
- One to three live automations, or an internal app
- Documentation for each one
- The code, the data, and the accounts, in your name
- A measured baseline and the hours returned
- A prioritized backlog of the next builds
For you
- Hands-on skill with AI and automation tools, if you built alongside us
- Confidence evaluating vendors and their claims
- A working sense of what is worth automating next
- Something real you had a hand in building
06Recent work
Built this way.
Client names withheld; references on a call.
Fractional CAIO
Grants platform for a nonprofit advisory firm
A multi-tenant, white-label platform: AI-matched funding, funder research with citations, go/no-go scoring, a pipeline, and a client portal. Built as a CoBuild with the firm’s partners defining requirements; live in production and run under the monthly agreement.
LiveCoBuild
Registration and learning platform for a leadership program
Replaces a WordPress and LearnDash stack. Built with the program’s director defining requirements and testing each release. Registration records the actual fee per seat, so revenue can be verified against the platform instead of a spreadsheet. The first cohort runs on it this month.
Launching September 2026CoBuild
Operations platform for a three-person government contractor
Their operations lead builds. We review the architecture, set weekly milestones, and keep the pace. A fixed-fee scoping sprint first, then month to month.
In progress
Building for a nonprofit? Start at 501 Labs, where the Lab takes on pro bono builds. When a nonprofit needs a paid build on a deadline, Civic Dialog does the work and the measured savings are reported to the 501 Labs scoreboard.
Common questions
What if nobody on our team has time to build?
Then none of your people build, and we do. Your stakeholders still define the requirements, review the architecture, and test each release on real records, so what goes live has already been used. Most of the platforms we have shipped took this shape.
How is this different from the Cohort?
CoBuild is one project at a time, built by us with up to four of your people. The Cohort is a structured twelve-week program for 4 to 12 people with workshops, a DMAIC frame, and a demo day, where your team does all the building.
How long does an engagement take?
A scoping sprint of two to four weeks first. A single automation is then usually about four weeks. A block of two or three, or an internal app, is closer to eight. The sprint sets the number before either of us commits.
What does it cost?
The sprint fee is stated up front. The build is quoted in writing after the sprint, as a flat fee or, when we build something you sell, as a share of collected revenue.
Where does it run?
In your existing tools when that is enough: Gmail, HubSpot, and Sheets; Outlook, Salesforce, and Notion; Power Apps and SharePoint. When it needs its own home, on a hosted stack (Vercel, Neon Postgres, Clerk) under accounts you own, so you are never locked to us.
Can you keep running it after it goes live?
Yes. Under the Fractional CAIO agreement we host, monitor, make small changes, and report the Savings Ledger every month. Or take it over; CoBuild leaves you able to.
Do I need to be technical?
No. If you use email and spreadsheets you can build with us. When code is the right tool, we set you up with an AI coding assistant and review what you make. And if you would rather not build at all, see the first question.
Who does the work
The person who scopes the work does the work.
Civic Dialog is a small practice. Our founder scopes every engagement, builds or coaches the build, and reads the Savings Ledger with you, so nothing gets lost between the first call and the finished work.
Erik OehlerFounder, Civic Dialog
- 20 years
- across technology, data strategy, and organizational development
- B.S. and MBA
- computer science, then business
- Salesforce
- former administrator who built and led enterprise automations and integrations
- $19,945
- saved or generated for nonprofits so far through 501 Labs, the nonprofit our founder started
Ready to build?
Tell us the vision in a short intake. We read every one and reply within two business days.
Prefer email? erik@civic-dialog.com