We started Yardrail because small businesses deserve better tools.
Founded in Tacoma, WA, building workflow automation that works the way small teams actually work.
Every useful tool starts with a real frustration.
Before Yardrail, we were building enterprise AI infrastructure: governance layers, compliance engines, the kind of software that Fortune 500 companies buy and small businesses never hear about. The deeper we got into that world, the clearer it became that the businesses that needed the most help were the ones with the least access to it.
Small business owners don't have platform teams or integration budgets. They have a handful of people doing the work of twenty, toggling between tabs, copying data from one tool to another, chasing invoices at 10 PM. The "work between the work" was eating their days.
So we stopped building for enterprises and started building for the people who actually needed it. We moved to Tacoma, talked to local business owners, and built Yardrail around what we heard: connect the tools I already use, handle the repetitive stuff in the background, and let me see what's happening in plain language.
That's what we do.
Our mission
Make workflow automation accessible to every small business, not just the ones with a technical team. If you can describe how your work gets done, Yardrail can handle the rest.
Our vision
A world where small businesses spend their time on the work that matters (serving customers, growing their craft, building their community) while the operational busywork runs itself.
What we stand for
Authenticity
We use real photos, real names, and real language. If we haven't built something yet, we say so. The hardhat cursor on our site isn't decoration. We'd rather show you an honest work-in-progress than a polished fiction.
Democratization
The best tools shouldn't be locked behind enterprise contracts and six-figure budgets. We price fairly, explain clearly, and design so the person running the business can also run the automation.
Craft
We care about the details: the UX that saves you a click, the integration that just works, the support response that actually answers the question. Small teams notice when someone cuts corners, and when they don't.
The team
Nigel Sharp
Co-founder & CEO
Nigel Sharp is a four-time founder who has built and scaled businesses from scratch and mentored more than 450 small businesses and startups, giving him firsthand insight into the systems, processes, and growing pains founders face.
Before Yardrail, Nigel ran consulting and service businesses across industries from hospitality to tech, learning firsthand what breaks when small teams try to scale without the right tools.
Experience
- 4x founder across consulting, hospitality & tech
- Mentored 450+ small businesses and startups
- Revenue operations & growth strategy
Brahm Lower
Co-founder & CTO
Software engineer turned founder focused on building tools for the betterment of community.
Brahm has spent a decade building software systems at startups and enterprises alike, from distributed infrastructure to developer tools. At Yardrail he designs the platform architecture and leads engineering.
Experience
- 10+ years in software engineering
- Distributed systems & platform architecture
- Open-source contributor & community builder
Robert Gumeny
Co-founder
Full-stack engineer who turns messy integration problems into clean ones.
Robert specializes in connecting systems that were never designed to talk to each other. He builds the integration layer that lets Yardrail speak the language of every tool in a small business's stack.
Experience
- Full-stack development & system integration
- API design & third-party platform connectors
- Data pipeline architecture
Dustin Dodson
Founding engineer
Desert dweller that likes to tinker.
Dustin brings a builder's mindset to everything he touches, from production systems to weekend side projects. When he's not writing code for Yardrail, he's probably adding something new to his homelab or starting yet another game he swears he'll finish.
Experience
- Backend systems & infrastructure
- Node/JS/TS/Golang
- Automation & tooling
2026
Founded
Tacoma, WA
Headquarters
4
Founding team
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