# Ceed

> Ceed runs the money side of a firm that sells its team’s time: the hours the team logs, each client’s budget, the invoices, what contractors are owed, and the month close. If an hour would push a client over budget, Ceed holds it for approval the moment it is logged.

Ceed is built by YSecurity, a security consultancy, to run its own books. It is the firm’s record of hours and money. When a logged hour would push a client over its agreed budget, the hour is held for approval at the moment of entry, not reported after the month is lost and not refused at the door: the hour stays on the record and the account leader or an owner decides. The invoice is computed from the signed agreement (retainer, budget, rates by role, discounts, equity taken as payment), never typed. One set of hours drives the invoice, the contractor payout statements and the commissions. Revenue, cost and margin per client are visible to the owners and whoever they grant, enforced on the server. Closed months do not change, and every change is on an append-only audit trail. Ceed never holds a firm’s money. Clients pay the firm’s own bank.

Pricing: 0.1% of what you invoice. No seats, no tiers, no minimum, no sales call. Invoice $200,000, pay $200. The rate never moves.

For firms that sell their team’s time, up to fifty people, from the day a second person logs an hour to a client: IT managed service providers, security MSSPs, value-added resellers, IT consultancies, security consultancies and vCISO practices, software development shops, data and AI consultancies, engineering staff augmentation and IT staffing firms, defense and government contractors, engineering consulting firms, healthcare staffing and travel nurse agencies, management consulting firms, accounting and fractional CFO firms, fractional executives, professional advisors, law firms, coaching firms, and marketing and creative agencies. Most of them bill a flat retainer sized in hours only the owner knows. Ceed keeps that number, so the client sees the fee and the owner sees the hours. United States first.

Ceed is not project management, CRM, ticketing, chat or payroll. Those stay in the tools a firm already has. It does not yet sync to QuickBooks or Xero. Invoices and statements come out as documents for the ledger the firm already uses, and a sync is planned. It is not yet built for architects (billing by phase and percent complete). For law firms it runs the retainer, the matter budget and the hours behind a flat fee, and leaves the trust ledger, LEDES e-billing and conflict checks in the practice management system. For IT managed service providers, security MSSPs and value-added resellers it runs the hourly side of the business (block hours, prepaid banks, projects, retainers, statements of work) and leaves per-seat and per-device subscriptions in the PSA.

Founders: Jon McLachlan and Sasha Sinkevich, brothers, the founders of YSecurity and Cyberbase. Jon started in security at Apple and led teams at Pure Storage, UnifyID and Robinhood. Sasha built security from the ground up at Robinhood, Yugabyte and Symphony.

## Pages

- [Home](https://ceed.so/): the front page. The headline is "Work the hours. Keep the margin." Under it: the held hour, the numbers (0.1%, no seats, one minute a day, no sales calls), the mechanic (held, not hidden), six parts, the fee and the hours, the price, who it is for, and twelve questions answered.
- [Compare](https://ceed.so/compare): where Ceed stands beside Ignition, Anchor, the time trackers and the suites, one row per step of an engagement, dated and open to correction.
- [About](https://ceed.so/about): what Ceed is, a note from the founders on why YSecurity built it (a month that ran tens of thousands past a client’s budget, found at the invoice, and the hold they built so it could not happen again), who the founders are, and thirty-six questions answered in five groups: what Ceed is (what it replaces, whether it is a time tracker or professional services automation, whether it uses AI, who is legally responsible), who built it (YSecurity, the founders, why trust a security consultancy), how the hold works (hold versus alert versus block, scope creep, over-servicing, flat retainers, block hours and caps, who approves, logging hours from Slack, employee monitoring), invoices and the close (how the invoice is computed, equity as fees, contractor payouts and commissions, margin per client, the closed month, QuickBooks and Xero, collections, importing spreadsheets), and price and access (0.1% of invoices, why not per seat, no minimum, the eighteen kinds of firm, fractional executives with contractors, how to get access, no demo or sales call).
- [Industries](https://ceed.so/industries): the finance department, for firms without one. Eighteen kinds of firm that sell their team’s time, one page each in that firm’s numbers, with a "From the field" section on every page: three or four posts from X quoted verbatim with links, two or three YouTube recordings embedded, and a dated list of Reddit threads and articles, all by people in that industry, and a plain "not yet" for architects.

## Industries

- [IT managed service providers](https://ceed.so/industries/it-msps): For IT managed service providers that sell block hours, prepaid banks, co-managed hour plans and projects beside the per-seat agreement: the block’s balance every morning, the hour that would cross it held for a decision, and the per-seat billing left in the PSA. Search terms: MSP block hours agreement; prepaid hours MSP; block hours vs managed services; MSP project gross margin; co-managed IT block hours; MSP time entry compliance.
- [Security MSSPs](https://ceed.so/industries/mssps): For managed security service providers and detection-and-response providers whose incident-response retainers, vCISO tiers and assessments are sold in hours beside the subscription: the retainer’s hours left every morning, and the surge hour held for a decision during the incident. Search terms: incident response retainer hours rollover; IR retainer pricing tiers; vCISO retainer hours per month; MSSP professional services pricing; unused retainer hours tabletop; surge rate incident response.
- [Value-added resellers](https://ceed.so/industries/vars): For value-added resellers whose implementation hours, prepaid service blocks and statements of work ride beside the hardware quote: the block’s balance every morning, and the hour that would cross it held for a change order instead of the product margin. Search terms: VAR professional services margin; prepaid service credits expire; statement of work implementation hours; block of hours reseller; services attach rate hardware; change order implementation services.
- [IT consulting firms](https://ceed.so/industries/it-consulting): For boutique IT consultancies on time and materials with a cap, fixed-fee projects with an hour budget behind them, and retainers with a 1099 bench: the hour that would cross the cap held the day it is logged, contractors on the same record, and the invoice computed from the statement of work. Search terms: time and materials not to exceed clause; T&M cap monthly hours consulting; consulting project budget overrun tracking; change order process consulting; 1099 subcontractor consultant pay; eat the hours consulting.
- [Security consultancies and vCISOs](https://ceed.so/industries/security): Security consultancies, vCISO practices and penetration-testing boutiques that bill capped retainers. YSecurity built Ceed to run its own books and runs on it today. Search terms: vCISO pricing per month hours; vCISO retainer hours cap overage; penetration test scoping hours estimate; scope creep penetration testing; contract pentester hourly rate 1099; vCISO unused hours rollover.
- [Software development shops](https://ceed.so/industries/software): Software consultancies, dev shops and fractional CTOs whose support retainer is a hundred hours to them and a flat fee to the client. Ceed keeps the hundred and holds the next. Search terms: dev shop support retainer hours; block hours agreement software support; sprint budget overrun client billing; offshore developer contractor payout; fractional CTO retainer hours; scope creep change order software project.
- [Data and AI consultancies](https://ceed.so/industries/data-ai-consultancies): For boutiques that build AI agents, model integrations and data pipelines on fixed-fee pilots sized in hours, monthly retainers and time and materials: the hour that would cross the pilot’s budget held before the eval rerun, contract engineers on the same record, and the invoice computed from the statement of work. Search terms: how to price AI consulting; AI agency retainer pricing; fixed price AI pilot scope; pass through API costs to clients; pilot to production AI cost overrun; AI agency maintenance retainer hours.
- [Engineering staff augmentation](https://ceed.so/industries/staff-augmentation): For engineering staff augmentation and IT staffing firms that bill a contractor’s hours weekly and pay them from the same timesheet: bill rate, pay rate and margin per placement on one record, and the 41st hour held for the client’s approval before it is paid at time and a half. Search terms: bill rate vs pay rate calculator staffing; staffing agency markup IT contractors; gross margin per placement; contractor timesheet approval external approver; overtime approval contract employee; staffing back office timesheets invoicing.
- [Defense and government contractors](https://ceed.so/industries/defense-contractors): For small federal contractors on time-and-materials and cost-plus task orders: hours logged daily by the person who worked them on an append-only record, and the hour that would cross the funded ceiling held for a decision before the voucher. Search terms: DCAA compliant timekeeping software small business; T&M ceiling burn rate tracking; limitation of funds notice 75 percent; funded hours by task order; wrap rate government contractor; daily timesheet requirement DCAA.
- [Engineering consulting firms](https://ceed.so/industries/engineering-firms): For civil, structural, MEP and environmental engineering consultancies on hourly not-to-exceed agreements and lump-sum phases sized in hours: the hour that would cross the not-to-exceed held for the project manager the day it is logged, sub-consultants on the same record, and the invoice computed from the agreement and its supplements. Search terms: hourly not to exceed contract engineering; engineering firm project budget tracking; net multiplier engineering firm; sub-consultant invoice pass through; project over budget hours engineering firm; engineering timesheet software small firm.
- [Healthcare staffing and travel nurse agencies](https://ceed.so/industries/healthcare-staffing): For travel nurse, allied health and locum tenens agencies: 36 guaranteed hours a week at the bill rate, the traveler’s weekly statement computed from the same entries as the facility invoice, margin per contract, and the 37th hour held for the facility’s approval. Search terms: travel nurse bill rate vs pay rate; healthcare staffing agency gross margin; travel nurse guaranteed hours contract; travel nurse timesheet approval; staffing agency invoice from timesheets; per diem staffing agency billing.
- [Management consulting firms](https://ceed.so/industries/consulting): Boutique management and strategy consultancies that price the retainer on value and size it in hours. Ceed keeps the hours and holds the one that would go over. Search terms: consulting retainer agreement hours per month; how to price a consulting retainer; how to handle scope creep consulting; unused retainer hours rollover; billable hours tracking for consultants; consulting firm margin per client.
- [Accounting and fractional CFO firms](https://ceed.so/industries/fractional-cfo): Fractional CFO, accounting and bookkeeping practices on fixed fees sized in hours only the owner knows. Ceed keeps the number and holds the hour that would cross it. Search terms: scope creep accounting firm; how to price bookkeeping services per month; fixed fee vs hourly bookkeeping; out of scope work engagement letter; fractional CFO pricing per month hours; time tracking for accountants fixed fee.
- [Fractional executives](https://ceed.so/industries/fractional-executives): Fractional CMO, CTO, COO and general counsel practices where each client pays a monthly fee for about ten hours a week. Ceed counts the hours per client and holds the one that would go over. Search terms: fractional CMO retainer hours per week; fractional executive rates 2026; fractional executive contract template retainer; scope creep fractional executive; track hours across multiple clients fractional; fractional exec equity compensation.
- [Professional advisors](https://ceed.so/industries/advisors): For advisory practices on retainer, from exit and M&A advisors to board advisors and advice-only planners: the retainer drawn down at rates by role as hours are logged, the hour that would exhaust it held for a decision, one invoice and several statements for a collective, and never custody of client money. Search terms: advice-only financial planner pricing; flat fee financial planning retainer; how to bill hourly financial planning; M&A advisor retainer and success fee; retainer scope creep advisory; time tracking for financial advisors.
- [Law firms](https://ceed.so/industries/law-firms): For law firms of two to fifty lawyers on evergreen retainers, matter budgets under outside counsel guidelines and flat fees sized in hours: every tenth counted against the retainer as it is logged, the hour that would cross it held for the billing partner the same day, contract attorneys and of counsel on the same record, the invoice computed from the engagement letter, and the trust ledger, LEDES e-billing and conflict checks left in the practice management system. Search terms: evergreen retainer agreement; law firm realization rate benchmark; how to track billable hours as a lawyer; law firm write-offs pre-bill; outside counsel guidelines budget; contract attorney hourly rate.
- [Coaches](https://ceed.so/industries/coaches): For executive, leadership and business coaching firms with associate coaches: a package of six sessions as a budget, the seventh held for the sponsor’s yes, the corporate invoice computed from the engagement letter, and each associate’s statement from the same sessions. Search terms: how to price coaching packages; executive coaching fees corporate; track coaching sessions used; how to pay associate coaches; coaching retainer vs package; invoice corporate coaching client.
- [Marketing and creative agencies](https://ceed.so/industries/agencies): Marketing, creative, PR and digital agencies whose $6,000 retainer is 40 hours to them and a flat fee to the client. Ceed keeps the 40 and holds the 41st. Search terms: agency over-servicing; how to track retainer hours by client; agency scope creep billing; unbilled hours agency; delivery margin agency; retainer overage hours clause.

## Blog

- [Blog](https://ceed.so/blog): notes on the money side of firms that sell their team’s time. Atom feed at https://ceed.so/blog/feed.xml.
- [The invoice told us last. Why we built Ceed.](https://ceed.so/blog/why-we-built-ceed): We ran a security consultancy on a spreadsheet. One month it ran tens of thousands of dollars past the hours a client had bought, and we found out when we wrote the invoice. What over-servicing and unbilled hours look like from inside a firm that sells its team’s time, and what we built to stop it. With five cited recordings, four figures, pictures of the product, two posts from X, five threads, seven books and three episodes of The Security Podcast of Silicon Valley. Updated 11 September 2026.
- [They see the fee. You see the hours.](https://ceed.so/blog/the-client-sees-the-fee): A flat retainer is a fixed fee sized in hours only the owner knows. What happens to the margin when nobody watches that number, and what changes when the hour past it waits for a decision. With six cited recordings, two posts from X, a figure, pictures of the product, eight books and three episodes of The Security Podcast of Silicon Valley. Updated 11 September 2026.
- [Held. Not hidden.](https://ceed.so/blog/held-not-hidden): When an hour crosses a client’s budget, software can tell you later, refuse the hour, or hold it for a decision. Only one of those keeps both the hour and the decision in the record. With five cited recordings, four posts from X, four threads, a figure on employee monitoring, pictures of the product, six books and three episodes of The Security Podcast of Silicon Valley. Updated 11 September 2026.
- [The client paid late. The invoice was later.](https://ceed.so/blog/late-paying-clients): The average US small business invoice is paid nine days late and the wait is growing. What late payment looks like inside a firm that sells its team’s time, the four things practitioners agree on, the part of the delay that belongs to the firm, and the stop loss that lives at the hour. With seven embedded recordings, three figures, two pictures of the product, four books, and three episodes of The Security Podcast of Silicon Valley.
- [The rate was set on day one. The client grew.](https://ceed.so/blog/the-rate-that-never-moved): An $1,800 client that doubled. A $1,000 retainer while the client grew tenfold. A contract that said $40 while the invoices said $45 for eighteen months. Undercharging is a number nobody re-read. What the threads say, what the pricing people say, and how a firm sees margin per client before the invoice does. With nine embedded recordings from The Futur, Harvard Business Review, Boston Consulting Group, 2Bobs and CNBC, three figures, two pictures of the product, nine books, and three episodes of The Security Podcast of Silicon Valley.
- [The agreement said 40 hours. The month said 47.](https://ceed.so/blog/scope-creep-and-the-agreement): A 40-hour retainer that delivered 47, only 32 of them in the statement of work. What scope creep looks like inside a firm that sells time, where the agreement goes after it is signed, whether retainer hours roll over, and how a firm makes the agreement hold at the hour. With nine embedded recordings, three figures, two pictures of the product, seven books, and three episodes of The Security Podcast of Silicon Valley.

## Optional

- [Atom feed](https://ceed.so/blog/feed.xml): the posts in full.
- [Sitemap](https://ceed.so/sitemap.xml): every public page with the date its copy last changed.

Every other route needs a session. Ceed is selecting the firms it starts with. A firm that should be on it writes to hello@ceed.so and a person replies.

## Company

- YSecurity, LLC d/b/a Ceed. https://ysecurity.io · https://www.linkedin.com/company/ysecurity/ · hello@ceed.so