Guides
Practical guides for buying software development differently.
Written for the people who decide how software gets built: buyers of large projects, founders, investors, and engineering leaders with a smaller team than their roadmap. Each guide answers one real question with steps you can follow whether or not you work with us. 12 guides, no invented statistics.
Large software projects
Guides for buyers of large software projects
Written for the situation described on Large software projects.
Fixed price vs time and materials for large projects
Who carries the risk under each contract model, when each one is right, and how to make a fixed price work on a large project.
Read the guideHow to write a software scope that can be fixed-priced
The format of a scope document that leads to a fixed price instead of an estimate, with before-and-after examples of vague wording.
Read the guideStartups
Guides for startups building an MVP
Written for the situation described on Startups.
How to build an MVP in days
Scope to one outcome, decide what must survive traction, pick the build route, and avoid the rebuild that most fast MVPs force later.
Read the guideWhat to build first when runway is short
Rank candidate features by the question they answer, cut by the cost of being wrong, and sequence builds so each one informs the next.
Read the guideInvestors and portfolio companies
Guides for investors and portfolio companies
Written for the situation described on Investors and portfolio companies.
Accelerating portfolio company product roadmaps
Diagnose why roadmaps slip, offer a repeatable fixed-price delivery option, keep founders in control, and compare delivery across the portfolio in writing.
Read the guideCode ownership and IP when outsourcing development
Assignment versus licence, possession of the code at every milestone, third-party components, vendor platform lock-in, and the questions to ask before signing.
Read the guideAfter developer layoffs
Guides for companies after developer layoffs
Written for the situation described on After developer layoffs.
How to keep shipping after developer layoffs
Triage the roadmap, protect the remaining team, decide which work to buy as fixed-price scopes, and avoid paying twice for the same capacity.
Read the guideThe real cost of an in-house developer
Acquisition, employment overheads, ramp-up, management, tooling, utilisation and exit: the full cost structure, and how to compare it with a fixed-price result.
Read the guideScale without hiring
Guides for scaling development without hiring
Written for the situation described on Scale without hiring.
Every buyer
Guides on hiring, evaluation, security and the trial build
How to evaluate an autonomous AI development vendor
Who owns the architecture, how quality is gated, how your code is isolated, what you own, how claims can be verified, and how to run a bounded trial.
Read the guideHow to prepare for a 72-hour trial build
Choose the right piece of your plan, write the scope, prepare the material and sample data, name a decision-maker, and know how you will judge the result.
Read the guideSecurity when AI agents build your software
The threat model for autonomous coding agents building a client's software and the controls that address it, from isolation and zero access to client systems to scanned deliveries and provider terms.
Read the guideReady to apply any of this to your own plan?
Describe the project in the form. You receive a written scope description for a trial build, delivered within 72 hours of your confirmation.