You have an idea. We'll build it with you — not for you.
We work with founders who care deeply about what they're making. We pick a few each year, get our hands dirty, and stay until the thing is real. Sometimes for a fee. Sometimes for a slice of the upside. Always as partners.
Fig. 01 — How we work. Two people, one bench, until it's a product.Drawn from life. Mostly accurate.
§ 02
The belief
Most great products die because the people building them don't really care.They're just shipping a spec.
We're picky about who we build with so we can actually care.
§ 03
How we partner
Three ways in. Same handshake.
We figure out the right shape on the first call. Most partnerships start as one and turn into another.
01 / 03 · Most common.
Cash
We charge a fair price.
You have an idea, you have funding (or you're paying out of pocket), and you want a senior team that gives a damn. Fixed scope, fixed price, real ownership of the outcome.
Fits well for
·Funded startups
·Operators with budget
·Internal product bets
02 / 03 · Our favorite.
Cash + slice
We invest by lowering our price.
You're early, money's tight, the idea is real. We trim our cash rate and take a small slice of equity (typically 1–4%). Skin in the game makes us better partners — that's the whole point.
Fits well for
·Pre-seed founders
·Bootstrapped builders
·Spin-outs from a parent company
03 / 03 · 1–2 per year.
Pure equity
Rare, but real.
Once or twice a year we find an idea we believe in so strongly we work for equity alone — usually as a technical cofounder for the first 3–6 months. Not for everyone (or every quarter).
Fits well for
·Solo non-technical founders
·Ideas we'd quit our jobs to build
·Day-zero co-founding situations
§ 04
What it feels like
The day-to-day. What you actually get.
01
A real human on Slack
Not a project manager. The actual people building. You can DM them. They'll answer.
02
Honest pushback
We tell you when we think the idea is wrong. You tell us when we're being annoying. That's the deal.
03
Friday demos
Every Friday, something real to look at. No status decks. Just the thing, getting better.
04
Strategy, not just tickets
We sit in your roadmap meetings. We help you decide what NOT to build, which is usually the harder call.
05
Hand-off when you're ready
When you hire your first in-house engineer, we help interview, onboard, and document. We're not trying to be sticky.
06
After-hours when it counts
Launch week. Investor demo. Big migration. We show up. (We also rest. So should you.)
§ 05
Is this for you?
We're not for everyone. Here's the honest filter.
✓ GOOD FIT IF…
✓You have an idea you'd genuinely cancel a vacation for.
✓You want partners who push back, not yes-people with invoices.
✓You're okay sharing the desk — making decisions together, not handing off a spec.
✓You're building something that matters to a real group of people, not chasing a trend.
✓You'd rather have one strong partner than ten cheap vendors.
✕ NOT FOR YOU IF…
✕You want a body shop. We're not interested in staff augmentation.
✕You have a 60-page spec and just need hands. Plenty of good shops do that — we don't.
✕You're shopping the cheapest quote. We won't be it.
✕You think 'AI agency' when you read this page. (No hard feelings.)
✕You want us to nod and ship whatever you ask for. We won't.
TAKING ON 2 PARTNERS Q2 2026
§ 06 — Let's talk
Tell us what you're trying to make.
A few sentences is fine. Half-formed is fine. We'll read it and write back — a real human, within one working day. No calendar links until we've actually said hello.