MVP development for founders who need a first release.

Who this is for

You have funding, or customers waiting, and a product that needs to exist before you can hire a team to build it. Hiring a founding engineer can take months, and the first release often can't wait that long.

You might have a design, a prototype, or a few pages of notes. That is enough to start. We work out the rest with you.

What we build

First we agree what the first release has to do and what can wait. That decision does more for the cost and the timing than anything that happens later in the build.

Then we handle the engineering: architecture, the application, cloud hosting, sign-up and billing if the product charges, security, automated deployment and monitoring. Tests and documentation are written as we go, because the next people to work on the code will be the engineers you hire.

How it runs

1. We agree the scope of the first release, what done looks like, and a budget.
2. You see working software within the first few weeks, then a demo every week or two.
3. We launch it to your first customers and watch how it behaves.
4. We keep looking after it, or hand it over to your own engineers with a walkthrough of the code and the decisions behind it.

Work we have done

NistCheck started as a consulting method run in spreadsheets. We built its first release as a subscription product: self-service sign-up, customer accounts, assessments, reports, billing, and the Azure infrastructure it runs on. It is live with a free tier and paid plans.

Paying partly in equity

For funded startups, we sometimes take part of the fee as equity when the product, team and timing fit. It sits alongside a budget and does not replace one. How working for equity works.

Ways to start

Get in touch

Email or call us, or book a chat.

The first release

A defined build with an agreed budget, timeframe and acceptance criteria.

Ongoing development

Time set aside each month after launch, until you have engineers of your own or for as long as it suits you.

Questions

Is an MVP the same as a prototype?

We use MVP to mean the first version real customers use, so it needs security, backups and monitoring from the start. A prototype is useful when it answers a specific question, and we will suggest one if it saves you building the wrong thing.

Who owns the code?

You do. The repository and cloud accounts sit in your organisation from the first commit, and the intellectual property is yours.

What happens when we hire engineers?

We walk them through the code, the infrastructure and the main decisions, and stay available while they settle in. Some founders keep us on for part of the work after that.