Entrepreneurs & Start-ups
Software development for start-ups and founders
Two failure modes account for most early products: over-engineering for scale that has not arrived, and under-engineering so far that the first real traction breaks everything. We scope explicitly to avoid both.
- +15Launched startups
- YouOwn everything
- SeniorNo learning on your budget
What you need at this stage
The right amount of engineering, and no more
A scope you can actually fund
Written, costed, and cut to the smallest thing that tests your riskiest assumption with real users.
Architecture that can grow, cheaply
Boring, standard choices that a future team can hire against, not a clever stack only we understand.
Something investors can see
A working product beats a deck. Sprint demos give you something new to show every two weeks.
Code and accounts in your name
Your repository, your cloud account, your app store accounts. Non-negotiable for due diligence.
A path to your own team
Documentation and conventions that let your first in-house hire be productive rather than archaeological.
Honesty about the idea
If the technical plan does not support the business plan, you need to hear that before the build, not during it.
How a first build runs
From idea to users, in the fewest possible steps
Find the risky assumption
Every early product rests on one thing that might not be true. The first build should test that, not everything.
Scope and cost it
A written plan with a number attached, which is yours to take elsewhere if you would rather.
Build the thin slice
One complete journey a real user can complete unaided, in production. Not a prototype, a small product.
Learn, then decide
Extend, pivot, or stop. All three are legitimate, and only one of them is expensive to discover late.
Common questions
What founders ask us
We're pre-seed. Can we afford you?
Sometimes, and sometimes not. We would rather establish which it is on the first call.
What is nearly always affordable is the scoping engagement: a written technical plan and cost you can take into a funding round, or to a cheaper builder. Several founders have done exactly that, and we would rather be genuinely useful at this stage.
Should we hire a CTO instead?
Eventually, yes, and we will say so. A technical co-founder who owns the product long-term beats any agency. We are the right choice when you need to move before you can attract that person, or when you need something real for them to join.
Will you sign an NDA?
Yes, routinely. Though in our experience execution, rather than the idea itself, is usually the differentiator.
Do you take equity?
No. It sounds founder-friendly, and it would compromise our objectivity at exactly the moments you need us to advise against building something.
What if we get traction and need to scale fast?
That is the outcome we design for, and the architecture phase is where we make sure it stays manageable. We can also scale the team up at a sprint boundary, or help you hire and hand over.
Bring us the idea and the constraints
Including the budget. It shapes the honest answer more than anything else.