About REV23
Studio software for tattooing, piercing, PMU, and every form of body art, built here since 2010.
It started as one Windows application, became REV23 Desktop, and grew into today's REV23 platform.
The person behind it
Nate Laff
Founder / Developer
Here's where I reluctantly talk about myself. When I first released REV23 in 2010, I never meant to be “the face.” It just kind of happened that way. If you visit the REV23 booth at a convention, send an email, or receive a call from REV23, you're talking to me.
I've been working on REV23 in the tattoo industry since 2007 — most of my adult life. I love this industry and feel grateful to have been involved in it for this long. I still write the software, make the design decisions, write the docs, answer support, and show up at conventions.
I also make and perform music and sing and play lead guitar in my horrorpunk band Pretty With The Lights Out.
The short history
From Tattoo Management Studio to the cloud.
Coding started in the spring of 2007. The first release arrived three years later, built specifically around tattoo and body piercing studio work rather than adapted from salon software.
2007
Nate began writing Tattoo Management Studio.
2010
Version 1.0 was released on March 1 for Windows.
2012
Painful Pleasures acquired REV23 after years of using the software and working with Nate.
2017
Tattoo Management Studio became REV23 Desktop on its seventh anniversary.
2020
Work began on a complete rewrite for tablets and the web.
2024
REV23 Cloud launched on October 18.
2026
REV23 Cloud became REV23, bringing nearly all of the REV23 Desktop feature set to the web and tablets.
Why the name?
“REV23 doesn't really have a literal meaning to me. It's just a sound I've been making for half of my life, but it is always written in uppercase.”
— Nate Laff
REV23 was first the name of Nate's hard rock band in Denver around 2003. He kept using it for software projects because he already owned the domain. When work began on the studio software in 2007, the name stuck.
Watch the Fireside Tattoo Network interviewQuestions go to the person building it.
Support and development still live under the same roof.
Contact REV23