Def Method

New York, New York, United States

Modernizes high-risk Rails systems for financial services

Founded in 2014 by Joe Leo, Def Method focuses on modernizing high-risk systems where failure can lead to outages, audit findings, or lost business results. The company is recognized for its expertise in handling complex environments, ensuring that critical systems remain operational and secure. With a strong emphasis on financial and compliance sectors, Def Method has successfully modernized systems for clients such as Orum, Paxos, and Citi.

Each engagement begins with a fixed-scope assessment to identify unsafe areas before proposing changes. This methodical approach helps prevent outages and expensive rollbacks, ensuring that modernization efforts are executed safely and incrementally. The team, with an average of 10. 5 years of experience per employee, prioritizes understanding data, security, and core workflows before making any code changes.

Def Method's commitment to quality is reflected in their high client retention rate, with of clients returning for additional projects. Their successful projects include modernizing a high-risk public-facing assistance platform for FloodHelpNY and a sports data platform at Elias Sports Bureau. By focusing on business results-critical and regulated environments, Def Method continues to demonstrate its capability in handling complex modernization challenges.

12
YEARS IN BUSINESS
1
SERVICE

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Services

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Agency details

Team size
11-50 people
Founded
2014 (12 years)

About this agency on Agency List

Def Method holds an Agency List Score of 92 out of 100.

That score is higher than 76% of the 36,920 agencies Agency List has assessed so far.

The Agency List Score measures how well an agency documents its work in public: named clients, quantified outcomes, and whether those outcomes are attributed to the agency rather than to the client.

It does not measure client satisfaction, price, or availability.

How the Agency List Score is measured

Assessment date

Agency List assessed Def Method in September 2026, reading 7 pages published on defmethod.com.

The score reflects what Def Method had published by that date; anything published since has not been read.

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