Getting Your Startup to Market

You have an idea, maybe some early customers, and a limited amount of time and money to prove it works. What you need is a working product in front of real users - built quickly, but built properly, so that success doesn't mean starting again.

That's what we do. We're a small, senior development team that has been helping businesses launch and grow their software for over 20 years.

We've done it before

We've seen startups from the first conversation right through to scale-up and sale:

• Online4Baby started as an eBay seller run by two sisters and their partners. We built the systems that took them to a £40M multi-channel retailer, one bottleneck at a time. Read the case study.
• Forensic Testing Services was founded by someone we first worked with in 2006 on a previous startup. We helped design the system that runs the business, helped hire their in-house developer when it was time to bring it in-house, and the company was later successfully sold.
• Wiki Solutions needed a new kind of moderated, semi-anonymous forum platform - used by Age UK during the merger of Age Concern and Help the Aged.

Over 120 clients in 20 years means we've made most of the mistakes already, on someone else's time. See more of our clients.

We're startup sized

There are two of us: Richard and Mandy. That's not a limitation, it's the point.

• You talk to the people writing the code. No account managers, no hand-offs, nothing lost in translation.
• We move at your speed. Decisions get made in a conversation, not a round of meetings.
• We understand small budgets. We run a small business too, so we know every pound has to earn its place.
• Senior people only. You won't be training a junior developer on your budget.

An MVP you don't have to throw away

A lot of MVPs are built as disposable prototypes. They get the product launched, then the moment it gains traction it has to be rewritten - just when you can least afford to stop and rebuild.

We build the minimum product, not the minimum code quality. That means:

• Mainstream, proven technology. We build on Laravel, Livewire and Filament - widely used, well supported, and easy to hire for when you grow your own team.
• Small scope, solid foundations. We cut features, not corners. The data model, security and structure are built to last; the feature list is kept deliberately short.
• Automated tests from the start, so new features can be added quickly without breaking what already works.
• Room to grow. Background queues, sensible database design and proper hosting mean the system copes as usage grows, and the parts that need to scale can be scaled on their own.
• Admin tools included. A back office for you and your team to manage customers and data, so you're not asking a developer to change things by hand.

Figuring out what to build

The hardest part of an MVP is deciding what to leave out. We'll help you work out the smallest thing that tests your idea with real customers, and be honest when a feature can wait - or when something doesn't need custom software at all.

Where it helps, we'll start with prototypes or a technical brief, so you can see what you're getting and show it to investors or early customers before committing to the full build.

Technical leadership without a full-time CTO

Most early-stage startups don't need, and can't afford, a full-time CTO. We can act as your fractional CTO: advising on technical decisions, talking to investors about the technology, reviewing suppliers, and helping you hire when the time comes to build an in-house team.

No lock-in

Your product is your business, and you shouldn't be dependent on any one supplier for it. The code is yours, it's built with standard tools other developers already know, and if you decide to take development in-house we'll help with the handover - just as we did for Forensic Testing Services.

After launch

Launch is the start, not the end. We stay on to fix what real users find, add what they ask for, and keep things secure and running. We can look after hosting, performance monitoring and technical SEO, and connect your product to the services it needs, from payments to third-party APIs and AI.

Many of our clients have stayed with us for over a decade. We'd like to grow with you too.