Question 1

What does an MVP actually cost?

Accepted Answer

It depends almost entirely on scope, and the honest framing is that an MVP is not a cheap version of a full product — it is a smaller product with fewer answers in it. A focused v1 with authentication, one core flow, payments and an admin view is a meaningful engagement measured in weeks of senior work, not days. We give a fixed range after the scoping session, with the cut list attached so you can see exactly what moves the number.

Question 2

How quickly can you start?

Accepted Answer

We are a small senior team and take on a limited number of engagements at once, so start dates depend on what is already running. In practice a scoping session can usually happen within days, and that is where the real decisions are made anyway. If we cannot start when you need to, we will say so at the first call rather than hold the slot.

Question 3

Who owns the code and the infrastructure?

Accepted Answer

You do, from the first commit. Repositories, cloud accounts, domains and third-party services are created under your organisation and your billing, and we work inside them as collaborators. The contract assigns all IP in the delivered work to you, and there is no proprietary framework of ours that you would need to keep licensing.

Question 4

What should we deliberately leave out of version one?

Accepted Answer

Usually more than founders expect: granular permissions, multi-language, a native mobile app when a responsive web app would do, dashboards nobody has asked for, and any integration you can run manually while you have very few customers. Anything that only matters at scale is a candidate for removal, because building for scale you do not have is the most common way early money disappears.

Question 5

We are not technical — how do we know we are being told the truth?

Accepted Answer

That is exactly what fractional CTO work is for, and we do it as a standalone service too. It means an experienced engineer sitting on your side of the table: reading vendor proposals and estimates critically, doing technical due diligence on an existing codebase before you buy or invest, and translating engineering trade-offs into business terms. It is described in full on our Technical CTO page.

Question 6

Do we need to have raised funding first?

Accepted Answer

No, and for many ideas raising first is the wrong order. Investors at pre-seed increasingly want to see something working with real users rather than a deck, so a small self-funded v1 often improves the terms of the round rather than delaying it. What matters is being realistic: a modest budget buys a narrow product, and we would rather scope honestly to that than promise a platform.

Question 7

What happens after launch?

Accepted Answer

Software does not stand still — dependencies age, providers change APIs, and real users find edges you did not plan for. We offer a small ongoing maintenance arrangement covering updates, monitoring and bug fixes, but it is optional by design, and the handover documentation is written so another team or your own first hire can take over. You should never be in a position where only we can keep your product running.

Question 8

Can you help us hire our first engineers?

Accepted Answer

Yes, and it is often the most valuable thing we do for a founding team. That covers writing the role honestly, designing a short practical take-home task instead of a whiteboard quiz, sitting in on technical interviews, and giving you a clear read on whether a candidate can actually do the work. We also help structure the first months so a new hire inherits a documented codebase rather than a mystery.

Question 9

We already have a codebase from another developer — can you take it over?

Accepted Answer

Often yes, but we start with a paid technical review rather than a promise. That review covers what the code does, how risky it is to change, what the security and data situation looks like, and whether continuing is cheaper than rebuilding the core. Sometimes the answer is to keep it and stabilise it; sometimes it is to rewrite one part while the rest keeps running, and we will tell you which.

Question 10

Will you take equity instead of fees?

Accepted Answer

We are a small agency, not a fund, so our default is straightforward paid work with clear scope. Reduced fees combined with a small equity component are possible in rare cases where we know the sector well and believe in the founder, but we will not pitch it as a way to make an underfunded plan look affordable. If the budget does not cover a real v1, the better answer is a smaller v1.

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