Coniferous

We design and build calm, durable software.

We help teams navigate complexity and ship products people enjoy using.

The StudioServicesProductsContact
The StudioServicesProductsContact

The Studio

Small by design. Senior by default.

Coniferous is a worker-owned studio of experienced engineers and product builders based in Minneapolis, MN. We value craft, clarity, and the people we work with.

What we believe:

  • Simplicity beats cleverness
  • People matter more than process
  • Well-built software should feel obvious
  • Small teams make better decisions
  • Systems should age gracefully

No fluff. No frameworks for the sake of frameworks. Just good work.

The Coniferous team

Meet the team

Dan Barthell

Co-Founder & Product Manager

Dan brings 9+ years of experience owning large-scale, mission-critical platforms at Amazon, spanning logistics, routing, identity, fraud prevention, and compliance. He holds an MBA from the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management.

Jake Arntson

Co-Founder & Software Engineer

Jake brings 15+ years of software engineering experience spanning embedded systems, mobile, services, and web applications, with 8+ years at Amazon as a Principal Software Development Engineer. He holds an M.S. in Software Engineering from the University of Minnesota.

Dylan McGuire

Co-Founder & Software Engineer

Dylan brings 10+ years of experience in network security and logistics, including building and operating production systems at Amazon. He holds a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Minnesota Duluth.

Services

We help teams reduce complexity and ship.

Typical engagements include:

  • System simplification and consolidation
  • Product engineering from idea to launch
  • UX and interface refinement
  • Technical leadership during transitions
  • Legacy codebase modernization

We work best with teams that want fewer tools, fewer meetings, and clearer ownership.

Products

We build our own tools, too.

Coniferous builds products that value privacy, durability, and thoughtful design. Every product starts from a real problem we've hit while shipping software.

Spruce

Spruce - Product Delivery Suite

Ship software without losing context. Spruce keeps planning, code, and review connected so you can ship faster without losing the thread. Beyond the IDE. Beyond the issue tracker. Everything you need to ship, in one AI-powered workspace.

Coming Soon