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When you look at Claude or Codex, it's tempting to think, “I can build the software myself now.”
As a developer of 20 years, I'd start a little earlier. What work were you going to ask that software to do?
Look at the steps behind the product
The familiar route is to hire an agency or a developer to build a custom product. You get a front end, the part people interact with, and a back end, the machinery behind it. Then you have to keep feeding it security patches and updates.
The cost doesn't end when somebody finishes building it.
But look at what happens inside that product. Something gets downloaded from your CRM. Something gets loaded from your email. There are logical steps and loops that move the work along.
Thinking through those steps gives you another way to approach the problem. You can consider an AI workflow that carries out the sequence, with instructions you control in English.
Give yourself room to experiment
For a small business, I see a lot of value in workflows you can change and experiment with while you find out whether they're giving you the return you want.
You don't have to begin by deciding that you're now a software developer. Begin with the work you want done and the sequence it follows. Then consider whether an AI workflow is a sensible way to do it.
And yes, the developer in me has to put an asterisk beside that advice: just because you can do something yourself doesn't mean you always should.
I'd explore what you can change, test and direct through an AI workflow before committing to a custom software build.