When Jake Shelley and Joseph Pons, former senior leaders at Deputy, launched their Sydney startup Jiffi in 2023, they started with a simple thesis: the tech industry is broken.
Software oversaturation has left companies burdened with fragmented systems and inefficient processes that technology alone cannot repair.
So as tech set out to build yet another AI product on top of existing software, the duo took a different path; embedding inside businesses to fix the operational chaos that software and AI keeps promising to solve but doesn’t.
It’s resonated – in just two years, Jiffi has grown to $2 million in annual recurring revenue.
Shelley’s belief is that the future of tech isn’t about more code, it’s about fixing the chaos software leaves behind.
“AI is making it easier than ever to build software, but harderthan everto fix the mess underneath it,” he said.
“We’re entering an era where every business thinks it can build its own tools, and the chaos is about to get exponentially worse.”
Pons, Jiffi’s head of engineering, believes that as AI accelerates the pace of software creation, the ability to diagnose and rebuild systems that actually work will become the most valuable skill in technology.
“You can prompt your way to a prototype in minutes now,” he said .
“But can you sit with a finance team and understand why their month-end process keeps breaking? That’s not an AI problem. That’s a human problem.”
Shelley points to CPA Australia’s Asia-Pacific Small Business Survey 2024-25, where less than a quarter of business said their technology investments made them more profitable.
“Don’t be the company that builds software just because you can,” he said.
“It’s soulless, and people are done with it. The future isn’t about adding noise, it’s about solving real-world chaos and turning those solutions into products that matter.
Shelley said they’re rebuilding how businesses think, operate and communicate.
Clients started telling us we were giving them clarity, not consulting, and they were right,” he said.
Pons has now begun work on Jiffi’s first proprietary tools, built from the recurring patterns the team uncovered working with clients
“We’re building products that only exist because we’ve experienced the pain firsthand,” he said.
“That’s the difference. We’re not vibe-coding features, we’re engineering clarity. Traditional consultancies point out problems and hand over a plan. We do the opposite. We stay until it works. That’s why our clients don’t get decks,they get results.”
The duo are now considering external investment to fuel its next phase, evolving into a product-led agency at scale. The company plans to expand beyond Sydney, double headcount within 12 months, and accelerate development of its first software releases in 2026.
“This is a new age of tech agency,” Shelley said.
“We’ve proven the model works, we’ve proven the growth is real, and now we’re moving fast to build the kind of company that doesn’t just consult on today’s problems, but engineers the solutions fortomorrow.”
