About Figurus
Figurus is my practice. I’m Ivica Sopkic, and I build custom business systems on Claris FileMaker for owner-operated companies in Toronto and across Ontario: estimating and quoting, CRM, scheduling, production tracking, and the reporting that ties them together.
More of that work now includes AI, wired into the system your team already uses instead of bolted on beside it.
Where I come from
Before I wrote software, I spent eight years on a print production floor as a print coordinator and estimator. I quoted jobs, ran a press and juggled production schedules. That is still the lens I bring to every project: I know what it is like to be the person the software is supposed to help, and how fast a tool gets worked around when it doesn’t fit the job.
I started building in FileMaker in 2011, teaching myself on real problems, and it became the core of my practice. Since then the work has spanned print and packaging, food production and other manufacturing, member organizations, clinics and professional services.
How I work
- The same person, start to finish. You talk to me at discovery, during scoping, while it’s being built and at the year-three check-in. No account manager, no hand-off.
- Extension first. If you have a system that works, I extend it. I respect the decisions that got you here and suggest a rebuild only when it’s clearly the better path.
- Always Be Delivering. Internal software projects rarely fail on the code; they stall. Weekly progress you can see and decisions written down keep them moving.
- Data model first. Business rules live in records you can change, so a new requirement doesn’t mean another round of hard-coded workarounds.
- Small first steps. Mockups and a scoped first phase come before a big budget, so you can judge the work before committing to all of it.
- A network when it’s needed. I work on my own by default and bring in vetted FileMaker developers and a designer when the scope calls for it.
What I build
Most of my work falls into five areas, described on the FileMaker development page: estimating and quoting systems, connected CRM with AI-assisted outreach, scheduling and records systems for clinics, production and project tracking hubs, and loyalty and rewards back-ends.
I also take on software project management and web application projects with partner developers.
Who I work best with
Owner-operated companies with roughly 10 to 200 people, real operational complexity, and a mix of spreadsheets, older systems and tools that don’t talk to each other. Usually there is an owner or operations lead who wants one technical partner they can call for years, rather than a project shop.
Not sure whether you’re there yet? Here are nine signs your business has outgrown spreadsheets.
Why “Figurus”?
My kid came up with the name at age four, during a Lego session: Figurus was a planet where people figure things out and make stuff. That was about all the explanation I got. It stuck because it describes the job: figure out how your company really works, then build the system around it.
Let’s talk
If you’re weighing a new system, stuck partway through a project, or wondering whether an AI idea holds up, I’m happy to give you a candid read before you spend anything.
