Technical cofounder alternative
A technical cofounder alternative that costs money instead of equity
You've been looking for a technical cofounder for months. Coffee chats, matching sites, a few people who got excited and then went quiet. There is another way to get the product built. You pay for the engineering, you keep the whole company, and the work starts this month instead of whenever the right person turns up.
The search
Why the search keeps stalling
A technical cofounder is a hiring decision with no salary attached, and undoing it later is messy. The bar is high for good reason, which is exactly why the search drags.
Anyone who has run this search knows the pattern. The strong engineers already have jobs they like. The ones who are free want to see traction first, and traction requires the product you're trying to build. So you wait, and the idea sits.
Paying for the build breaks that loop. The product gets made and your cap table stays where it started. If you still want a technical cofounder later, you'll be recruiting with working software instead of a deck.
Compare
Two ways to get the product built
Finding a technical cofounder
- Months of searching with no guaranteed result
- A permanent share of the company
- Vesting terms, legal paperwork, and a hard conversation about what happens if it does not work out
- Someone whose priorities can change next quarter
Paying for the build
- A written scope and a fixed price before anything starts
- You keep all of your equity
- Repository and infrastructure in your name from the first commit
- Finished software in 4 to 10 weeks
Services
What we build for founders
MVP development
The first working version of your product, built to launch and hold real users. Fixed price.
Custom software
Full applications built to a written specification. Web apps, APIs, and connections to the systems you already pay for.
Code audit
An independent read of a codebase you inherited or paid someone else to write. Written findings in 1 to 2 weeks.
Website design
Marketing pages for a product that has to explain itself in ten seconds.
Terms
What you keep
All of your company
We do not take equity, advisory shares, or a cut of revenue. You pay for the work and that is the whole arrangement.
The source code
Full repository and infrastructure access at handover, so any engineer you bring on later can pick it straight up.
The price you agreed to
Scoped in writing before we start. One fixed number instead of hourly billing, and anything added later gets its own quote for you to approve.
Delivery
How the build runs
Week one is discovery and specification. We map what the product has to do, name every screen and every connection, and put it in writing. You approve it before anyone writes code.
Then we build. You see working software every week rather than status reports. Kickoff to production runs 4 to 10 weeks depending on scope.
At handover you get the running system, the repository, the infrastructure, and documentation written for whoever maintains it next. A 30-day warranty covers anything that breaks after launch.
View case studiesFAQ
Questions founders ask first
No. We charge a fixed price for the work and that is the entire deal. You own the company and you own the code.
In cash, no. A cofounder costs nothing up front. Everything after that depends on what a permanent share of your company is worth to you, and what the months of searching are worth. Projects start at $4,000 and most full builds land between $15,000 and $60,000.
Good. You hand them running software, a clean repository, and documentation instead of a description of what you meant to build. That is a much easier recruiting conversation.
No. Most founders we work with are not. You describe the product and the business rules. We write the specification, tell you which parts are quick and which ones will cost you, and handle the translation.
You do, from the first commit. The repository is yours and the infrastructure runs in your accounts. Nothing about this arrangement makes you depend on us afterwards.
We scope the whole project in writing first. You see every feature and deliverable spelled out against one number. If you want something added later you get a separate price for it and you decide.
Tell us what you're building.
We'll spend 30 minutes on your problem and tell you straight whether we can help. If we're the wrong fit for it, we'll say so on the call.
Book a free 30-minute callProjects start at $4,000 and include a 30-day post-launch warranty.