Working with us

Why a monthly retainer instead of a fixed quote?

Every engagement is a flat monthly retainer. You pick a mode and a level, and the arrangement stays steady unless you decide to change it. There is no time-and-materials meter running, no change-order negotiation, and no minimum term.

We work this way on purpose. Real products change as you put them in front of real users. A fixed-price quote forces both of us to guess the full scope before anyone has learned anything, and then argue about it later. A retainer keeps the cost predictable while the work stays flexible. You decide each month whether to keep going, pause, or switch.

What are the phases of an engagement?

Four, in order. They repeat as the product moves.

• Align. We agree on the goal, the mode and level, the monthly scope, and the milestones we are aiming for before we begin.
• Decide. We pin down what actually needs building and in what order. Strategy happens through building, not in a vacuum before it.
• Build. We ship working software in weekly increments, with a weekly demo and status call so you steer as you learn.
• Adjust. Real feedback decides the next milestone. You can change scope, switch modes, or pause at any monthly boundary.

Who do I actually work with?

Both founders, directly. Don Bora acts as your Fractional CTO and writes code. Steve Polacek leads product and design. There is no account manager in between and no bench of junior contractors rotating through your project.

That is the trade. You get two senior people rather than a large team, so you are paying for the judgment to get the important calls right the first time, which is usually cheaper than rebuilding later.

What does a normal week look like?

One demo and status call each week. You see working software, not a status deck. Bring anything you want reprioritized; that call is where scope actually changes.

Decisions get recorded on the roadmap, which is the shared list of what is coming and in what order. If you ask for something between calls and it is not an emergency, that is where it lands, so nothing depends on someone remembering it.

Where does this fit best, and where does it not?

The biggest driver of scope is rarely the code. It is how many assumptions you are trying to test at once, and we will push you toward the smallest experiment that answers your real question.

Where founders get the most out of us: a non-technical founder taking a first real product to market, an AI prototype that needs to become something you can safely put in front of users, or a small team that needs senior technical leadership without hiring a full-time CTO.

Where we are the wrong call: if you need a twenty-person engineering organization managed, or you want the cheapest possible hourly rate, another firm fits better and we will say so.