# Howard Development & Consulting (HDC)

> High-stakes web & AI development, delivered with precision. HDC builds advanced AI workflows and website solutions for enterprises and entrepreneurs, from a U.S.-based team. Est. 2009, Denver, Colorado.

HDC (hdc.net) is a Denver-based software firm founded in 2009 by Rob Howard. It runs two
practices — AI solutions and web development — stewards two open-source projects, EveryAlt and
Understrap, and offers expert witness and litigation consulting through founding partner Rob
Howard. Rob also founded and runs Innovating with AI, an AI education company reaching 175,000+
readers and 2,000+ students.

## Key facts
- Contact: hello@hdc.net · (720) 900-1030 · 1580 N. Logan St., Ste. 660, Denver, CO 80203
- Pricing: transparent, fixed-fee project pricing (scoped up front; no hourly surprises)
- U.S.-based team; clients include Harvard Law School, MIT Media Lab, Marriott International, The World Bank, the Big Ten, and the U.S. Department of Defense
- Rob Howard's work has appeared in WIRED, Fortune, Forbes, CNET, Barron's, and TechCrunch

## Pages
- [Home](https://hdc.net/): Company overview, the two service lines, client list, the team, and contact details.
- [Expert Witness](https://hdc.net/expert-witness): Rob Howard's expert witness and litigation consulting for software, AI, and technology IP disputes — areas of expertise, matter types, engagement models, and process.
- [EveryAlt](https://hdc.net/everyalt): Free, open-source AI alt-text generator — a WordPress plugin and a Chrome extension. Bring your own OpenAI key (about $1 per 5,000 images).
- [Understrap](https://hdc.net/understrap): Free, open-source WordPress theme framework combining Underscores and Bootstrap. Trusted by 100,000+ sites; maintained by HDC.

## Services
Two disciplines, held to one standard — whether the work is a full-stack platform or an intelligent agent.

- AI solutions — custom agents and private, compliant AI systems tailored to your operations, for enterprises and entrepreneurs: custom AI agents & workflows; private, air-gapped AI systems; systems & API integration; knowledge-base assistants.
- Web development — complex, high-stakes web platforms built to spec and delivered on deadline: enterprise WordPress & Shopify; Laravel, Vue.js & React applications; accessibility & performance audits; legacy rescue & modernization.

## Expert witness services (Rob Howard)
Expert analysis for software, AI, and technology disputes: two decades of building and deploying
high-stakes software, turned into accessible and insightful technical analysis for counsel,
courts, and arbitrators. Denver-based; available nationally for remote and on-site engagements.
CV and rate schedule on request.

Areas of expertise:
- Software development & architecture — how systems are specified, estimated, built, and delivered, and what reasonable practice looks like when a project is late, over budget, or abandoned.
- Source code analysis — review and comparison of codebases: authorship and provenance, version-control history, and similarity.
- Software intellectual property — technical analysis supporting copyright and trade-secret matters: code copying, derivative works, reverse engineering, and the line between protected expression and common practice.
- Artificial intelligence & machine learning — how AI systems are built, trained, and deployed: data sourcing and use, model behavior and limits, and automation claims.
- Web design, development & accessibility — build quality plus WCAG and ADA-related conformance, remediation scope, and prevailing industry practice.
- Open source & licensing — attribution, copyleft and derivative-work questions, and compliance practice.

Types of matters: failed and disputed software projects; copyright and trade-secret disputes; web
accessibility claims; AI and automation disputes; technology due diligence; standard-of-care and
industry-practice opinions.

Engagement models: consulting (non-testifying) expert; testifying expert, including written
reports, declarations, and rebuttal; source code review under protective order; and plain-English
translation of technical material for judges, juries, and arbitrators.

Process: conflicts check and scope agreement, then analysis with documented methodology, then a
written report and testimony as the matter requires.

## People
- Rob Howard — Founding Partner; expert witness for software, AI, and technology IP matters. 20+ years building software; served as CTO guiding two companies through successful exits; board seats at technology, education, and legal defense non-profits; founder of Innovating with AI. Denver. https://www.linkedin.com/in/rfhoward/
- Andrea Vitale — Managing Partner. Phoenix.
- Taylor Wilkinson — Managing Partner. Chicago.
- Teron Bullock — Engineer. Charlotte.

## Related
- [Innovating with AI](https://innovatingwithai.com/): Rob Howard's AI education company (175,000+ readers, 2,000+ students).