Software studio · Est. 2011

Software that small businesses
actually finish.

Quadrastar is a remote-first South African studio. We do Forward Deployed Engineering and Information Architecture for people and SMEs who know what they need — but not how to execute.

Fixed-price scopes. Working software in weekly demos. Free PDF tools you can keep. Deliverables that still run when the lights go out.

Friday ship
WEEKLY DEMO
  • Stock intake form live
  • Pastel / Sage sync live
  • Friday demo scheduled
  • PDFEdit build shipped
  • Next iteration booked

Working software — never slideware.

14+
Years in business
100%
South African
Weekly
Demos, not decks
Established 2011 / FDE & IA / POPIA Compliant / Fixed-price scopes / Remote-first ZA
Free tools · proof we ship

The PDF utilities you can keep for free.

Real software people keep using — not freemium traps. We ship them because South African SMEs keep asking.

🌐

CoolPDF

Online · Free

PDF tools in your browser

Merge, split, OCR, compress and more — nothing to install. Files are processed securely on our server and deleted right after download.

  • Merge, split, OCR & compress
  • Works on phone, tablet & desktop
  • Processed securely, deleted after download

Your files are not stored, sold, or used for training.

Use CoolPDF Free
🖥️

PDFEdit

Windows app · Free

Full toolkit, 100% offline

Install once and run on your PC — nothing is ever uploaded. Live page editing, batch jobs and AES-256. Works during load shedding.

  • Works completely offline
  • Page editing with live preview
  • Windows 10 & 11 — free, no limits

Offline is a feature: client sites, no signal, strict confidentiality.

Get PDFEdit
Also built by us
R

ReserveMe

Booking forms & reservation workflows for service businesses. Built by Quadrastar.

TV

QStarTV

qstartv.com — built by Quadrastar. Link live when the public site is ready.

Forward Deployed Engineering

We build what
you can't execute alone.

Most small and medium businesses don't fail for lack of ideas — they stall on architecture, integration, and shipping. We sit with your team, design the system (Information Architecture), then build it as Forward Deployed Engineers until it runs in your world.

No six-month rollouts. No per-seat cliff after the contract is signed. Scoped tight, demoed weekly, supported locally.

Request a fixed-price scope
🏗️

Information Architecture

Map how data, people and processes actually flow — before a line of code. Clear structure so the software matches the business, not the other way around.

🧠

Forward Deployed Engineering

We embed with your team for the build. Working software every week, pressure-tested on your data — not a roadmap deck in a shared drive.

🤖

AI agents & automation

Assistants grounded in your documents, policies and catalogue. Automations that plug into tools you already use — not a generic chatbot.

🛠️

Bespoke workflows

Stock intake, quote-to-cash, client portals, weekly recon — whatever you have been doing in spreadsheets, finished as real software.

🔗

Integrations

Wire accounting, payments, e-commerce and CRM so systems talk to each other. One source of truth, clean reporting on top.

🛡️

POPIA-ready delivery

Design so we never see personal information we do not need. SA-aware hosting choices and DPAs when the engagement needs them.

Systems we wire into

Tools South African businesses already use.

Shopify Xero Zoho Sage PayFast Stripe Ozow

Plus hand-written bridges for the systems that never show up on a connector marketplace.

How we work

Scoped tight. Built in the open. Demoed weekly.

No agency theatre. No 80-page proposals. Discovery, a fixed quote, weekly demos, then support that stays.

01

Discovery call

We scope the problem, the must-haves and the budget — honestly. You leave knowing whether we are the right fit.

02

Fixed-price proposal

A clear quote with milestones and deliverables. No hourly surprises, no open-ended retainers by default.

03

Build + weekly demos

Working software you can try — not slideware. You see progress on a weekly cadence while we build.

04

Local support

Real people, ZA timezone. We stay on after launch — the relationship is not just the invoice.

Why South African SMEs choose us

Bill it like an appliance — not a seat.

We pitch against per-seat SaaS that spirals with every hire, and against consultancies that ship in eighteen months what we finish in focused sprints.

Typical industry pitch

Per-seat SaaS

  • × R420 / user / month, billed annually (illustrative)
  • × Invoice scales with every hire
  • × Onboarding decks, ticket queues, success managers you never meet
  • × Features disappear when you downgrade a plan
  • × Vendor-hosted — outages and load shedding are their problem until they are yours
What we ship

Quadrastar deliverable

  • One scope, one fixed price, clear milestones
  • Software that runs for your team — no per-seat math by default
  • Local-timezone support, in your timezone
  • POPIA-aware delivery from day one
  • Weekly demos while we build — you run it on real data
Delivery cadence

Working software in your hands — not a roadmap deck.

Software that waits six months for a launch event is software nobody has used. We commit to a weekly demo rhythm while we build, so you can stress-test on real work before we iterate.

  • 01 Notes and priorities after each demo
  • 02 Scope stays tight — fixed price holds
  • 03 Staging links and short demo walkthroughs
  • 04 You run it on real data before the next chunk
Mon
Notes
Tue
Scope
Wed
Build
Thu
Build
Fri
Demo
Frequently asked

Straight answers, written down once.

Not here? Email hello@quadrastar.co.za.

Yes. CoolPDF and PDFEdit are designed and built by Quadrastar. CoolPDF processes files securely on our server and deletes them after download. PDFEdit runs fully offline on Windows. Both are free because SMEs kept asking — and they prove we ship real software, not just proposals.
We do not throw a brief over a wall. An engineer works with your people, understands the workflow, designs the Information Architecture, and builds until the software runs in your environment. You see weekly demos; you are not waiting for a big-bang go-live six months later.
Project-based builds: AI agents and automation, integrations (Shopify, Xero, Zoho, Sage, PayFast, Stripe, Ozow and more), internal tools that replace spreadsheets, client portals, and workflows unique to your business. If it is pure open-ended staff-aug with no outcome, we will say so and decline.
Fixed-price scopes after discovery. You get clear milestones and deliverables. We avoid surprise hourly bills and default per-seat SaaS math. Ongoing support is agreed separately when you need it after launch.
We design and deliver with South African POPIA in mind — minimise personal data we handle, process lawfully, and support DPAs when the engagement requires them. Product tools like CoolPDF delete files after processing; PDFEdit never uploads your documents.
Offline-capable tools (PDFEdit) keep working without the cloud. For custom systems we design for intermittent connectivity where it matters — local-first patterns, queue jobs, and hosting choices that match how SA businesses actually operate.
Product support: use our Support page or email hello@quadrastar.co.za. Project clients get agreed support channels after launch — local timezone, same people who built it when possible.
Start here

Tell us what is broken.
We will say if we can fix it.

A short message is enough. We reply within one working day with whether we are the right fit — and if we are, a path to discovery and a fixed-price scope.

Where
South Africa · Remote-first · Software studio since 2011
No sales pressure
If we are not the right fit, we will tell you honestly.

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