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[✕] The studio · Building since 2020

Senior judgment.Close to the work.

x Create is a founder-led software studio. We build the apps, platforms and websites businesses run on, from family transport to legal work, and keep them running after launch. Rijn leads every build. Nick and Chris open doors in the US and across our network, and on bigger builds we bring in partner teams. Our clients are in South Africa, the US and as far as China.

Local time
--:-- SAST
Since
2020
Based
South Africa
The team
RHNKCK
+ partners
Judge us by the work

What we believe

[✕] What we believe

We look before we build. How your day really runs, where it breaks, who's stuck fixing it. Then we build what you'd have built yourself, if you had the time.

How we work with you

  1. The problemExample

    Bookings clash across three calendars.

    • Build a brand-new booking app
    • Hire someone to check the calendars
    • Connect the booking tool you already pay forThe answer

    01

    We start with the problem

    Sometimes the answer is an app. Often it is fixing a tool you already pay for. We tell you which, even when it is the smaller job.

  2. Brief to first working versionExample
    x CreateAbout a week
    The usual agency routeMonths

    02

    Fast, because it's clear

    We agree what we are building before we build it, so you usually see a first working version about a week after the deposit. Speed never skips testing or security.

  3. Who owns whatExample
    Your data
    Yours
    Your domain and brand
    Yours
    Custom code
    Agreed upfront
    Hosting and support
    Ours, while you want it

    03

    You know who owns what

    Before work starts, we write down who owns the data, the domain, the code and the hosting. Leaving us should never be a fight.

  4. This monthExample

    What your fee paid for

    October

    • Hosting and backups
    • Security updates
    • Help when you message
    • Your site report

    04

    Monthly means real work

    If you pay us monthly, it is for something real: hosting, support, reports, or running the product with you. Never a fee for nothing.

The record

How we got here.

  1. 2020, Where it starts: Online stores in Las Vegas

    In the first months of COVID, while he is studying in the US, Rijn starts building online stores in Las Vegas. It is a crash course in what makes people trust a website, find what they want and pay.

    1

    project started in 2020, the first of 88 we have built so far

    then, +3 years

  2. 2023, Back home: Websites for local businesses

    Back in South Africa, the stores turn into websites for local businesses, starting with the Magalies business forum. One thing shows up early: owners don't want a website for its own sake. They want more bookings and less admin.

    Shipped in this period

    1

    project started in 2023

    2

    built by the end of 2023

    then, +1 year

  3. 2024, x Create: A name, here and in the US

    The work becomes x Create. We build and run sites for a bush lodge, riverside cottages and a florist in the US.

    Shipped in this period

    7

    projects started in 2024

    9

    built by the end of 2024

    then, +1 year

  4. 2025, Bigger briefs: Shops, bookings and brands

    The briefs grow past brochure sites: a farm shop that takes orders and farm-visit bookings online, a pub's specials and events in one place, and the first work on a family transport app.

    Shipped in this period

    28

    projects started in 2025

    37

    built by the end of 2025

    then, +1 year

  5. 2026, January to April: From websites to systems

    Clients start asking for the systems behind their websites: a family transport app with a driver app and an operations portal, a platform for a whole region, a custom point of sale, and the system we run x Create on.

    Shipped in this period

    Changes shipped

    January to April, 2026

    798

    • Jan139
    • Feb181
    • Mar272
    • Apr206

    Counted from our git history.

    then, +4 months

  6. 2026, May to August: Building our own

    We start building products of our own and with partners: Moteef, an AI marketing studio; Strivvex, a marketplace for business services; and the offline speech engine that becomes Seshat.

    Shipped in this period

    Changes shipped

    May to August, 2026

    1 476

    • May374
    • Jun339
    • Jul312
    • Aug451

    Counted from our git history.

    then, +4 months

  7. 2026, September to October: Shipping every day

    September is our biggest month yet, with 1 025 changes shipped. Headroom ships 68 updates to its users in 9 days, and Seshat, Casepath and Roomwise follow.

    Shipped in this period

    Changes shipped

    September to October, 2026

    1 809

    • Sep1 025
    • Oct784

    Counted from our git history, to 11 October 2026.

    then, Today

  8. Now, What's next: Same founder, bigger work

    Seshat is coming to Windows and iPhone, and new client platforms are in build. Every project is still led by the person who started x Create.

    Projects built since 2020

    By the year work started

    88

    Projects started each year: 2020, 1; 2021, 0; 2022, 0; 2023, 1; 2024, 7; 2025, 28; 2026, 51.

    Changes shipped

    So far in 2026

    4 083

    Busiest month: September, with 1 025.

    Projects counted from our repos and client files, pilots and internal tools included. Changes counted from git. Both to 11 October 2026.

The people

Founder-led. Built to stay direct.

Rijn leads every build and stays your first call. Nick and Chris widen who we meet, and partner teams join the bigger builds. Nobody sits between you and the work.

South Africa--:-- SAST

Founder · Product, design & engineering

Rijn Hartman

The person you talk to leads the build.

Rijn boarded at Pretoria Boys High School, then studied international business in the US on scholarships. His first online stores, in Las Vegas in 2020, came out of those years.

Today he leads every x Create build: he scopes it with you, shapes the design and the code, and stays on it once it is live. No account manager in between.

  1. 01Scopes itWorks out with you what should exist, and what shouldn't.
  2. 02Designs itThe flows and screens the people using it will touch.
  3. 03Leads the buildThe code, hosting, payments and integrations, with partner teams on bigger builds.
  4. 04Keeps it growingThe team that built it keeps improving it, and brings the next idea.
Talk to Rijn@rijnhartman on X

The wider team

Nick and Chris widen who we meet, in the US and across their networks. On bigger builds, partner teams join us and Rijn leads the work.

The toolbench

The tools behind the work.

We pick tools once the problem is clear, not before. All 51 on this bench are in products we have built, for ourselves or for clients. AI models are on it too: they help us ship faster, and the judgement stays ours. Here is what each one does for you.

[01] Websites & web apps

10 tools

Fast to load. Easy to find.

Marketing sites, online shops, booking flows, client portals and the dashboards behind them. Built to load quickly on a phone, rank on Google and stay easy for your team to update.

  • Next.jsOur default for sites and web apps that need to rank and grow. This site runs on it.
  • ReactThe screens your team works in every day: dashboards, admin panels and portals.
  • TypeScriptTyped from the database to the button, so a change in one place can't quietly break another.
  • Tailwind CSSDesign systems that keep every page on brand as the site grows.
  • AstroContent sites that ship almost no JavaScript, like the Headroom website.
  • ViteQuick single-page apps and internal tools.
  • Three.js3D and WebGL scenes for brands that need to be felt, not just read.
  • GSAPScroll-driven motion and page transitions for lodges, venues and brand sites.
  • WordPressSites your team edits themselves, with updates, backups and security looked after.
  • WooCommerceOnline shops with stock, delivery options and South African checkouts.
See how we build websites

[02] Mobile & desktop apps

8 tools

On their phone. On their desk.

iPhone and Android apps, Mac apps and Windows software. We build them, sign them, ship them through the App Store, Google Play or our own updaters, and keep them working through every OS update.

  • React NativeOne codebase for iPhone and Android, sharing logic with the web app.
  • ExpoBuilds, push notifications and over-the-air fixes for our React Native apps.
  • FlutterShubble's rider and driver apps, live on the App Store and Google Play.
  • SwiftNative Mac apps in SwiftUI, like Headroom and Seshat.
  • RustSeshat's speech engine on Windows: microphone, models and paste, all on the device.
  • TauriLight Windows desktop apps with a web interface and a Rust core.
  • PythonOffline speech workers, data pipelines and build scripts.
  • SparkleSigned automatic updates for Mac apps sold outside the App Store.
See how we build apps

[03] Backends, data & hosting

9 tools

The engine room.

Databases, sign-in, file storage, background jobs and hosting. Real-time where it matters, monitored when it counts, and set up in accounts you own.

  • ConvexReal-time backends for our own products and client platforms: data, jobs and sign-in in one place.
  • SupabasePostgres with sign-in and storage, for projects that want plain SQL.
  • FirebaseSign-in, push notifications and crash reports for mobile apps.
  • ClerkSign-in with Google or an emailed code, for portals and member areas.
  • VercelHosting with a preview link for every change, including this site.
  • CloudflareR2 storage for app downloads, media and backups, plus Workers for scheduled jobs.
  • cPanelManaged WordPress hosting and business mailboxes on servers we look after.
  • SentryError alerts, so we hear about a bug before your customers do.
  • GitHubYour code in a repository you own, with every change on record.
See how we build web apps

[04] Payments, email & SMS

7 tools

Paid. Receipted. Confirmed.

Everything that happens the moment a customer pays, books or signs up: the payment, the receipt in their inbox, the code on their phone. Set up for rand pricing and South African banks, with dollars when you sell abroad.

  • PaystackCard, EFT and subscription payments in rand, in apps and on the web.
  • PayFastCheckouts for WooCommerce shops and online bookings.
  • StripeOnline card payments and subscriptions, when a client sells abroad or already runs on Stripe.
  • PolarSoftware subscriptions billed in dollars to customers abroad.
  • PostmarkReceipts, sign-in codes and reports that land in the inbox, not spam.
  • MXrouteBusiness mailboxes on your own domain, with the DNS records set up right.
  • TwilioSMS sign-in codes and live trip alerts.
See how we set up payments

[05] Maps, search & bookings

5 tools

Found, booked, on the map.

Live maps and address lookup inside apps, search and analytics set up on every site we launch, and the booking and CRM tools your team already runs on.

  • Google MapsLive driver maps, routes and address search in apps and booking flows.
  • MapboxAddress lookup and custom maps when Google's styling or pricing doesn't fit.
  • Google Search ConsoleIndexing, structured data and search performance, checked on every site we launch.
  • Google AnalyticsGA4 with consent built in, tracking the enquiries and bookings that matter.
  • GoHighLevelCalendars, booking widgets and follow-ups wired into the sites we build.
See how we connect your tools

[06] AI models

12 tools

The right model for each job.

We work with a lot of different AI models and pick one per task: one for writing, one for reading documents, one for voice, one that runs on your own computer and never sends data out. You get the result without being locked into one provider.

  • OpenAIText & imagesGPT models for drafting, pulling data out of documents and generating images, in Moteef and client tools.
  • ClaudeTextAnthropic's model for careful reasoning and writing. Our Ask x Create assistant is built on it.
  • GeminiVision & imagesGoogle's model for reading photos and PDFs, and for on-brand images in Moteef.
  • ElevenLabsVoiceSpeech-to-text that copes with Afrikaans and South African accents, plus voiceovers.
  • DeepSeekTextWrites scheduled owner briefs from a day's sales, through Azure AI Foundry.
  • QwenOn-deviceRuns on the Mac to tidy up dictation, so your words never leave the device.
  • WhisperOn-deviceOpenAI's speech model, running offline inside Seshat on Mac and Windows.
  • ReplicateImages & videoHosted image models for upscaling, background removal and short video.
  • MiniMaxTextQuick, low-cost chat for high-volume work like drafting replies to Google reviews.
  • GrokText & videoxAI's models for chat and short video clips in Moteef.
  • KimiTextA backup model, so a scheduled job still runs when the first choice is down.
  • OpenRouterGatewayOne door to hundreds of models. Headroom signs in with it to show your remaining credits.
See how we use AI