Software development company for startups and startup MVP development
For a startup, a software development company should give you three things before you sign: a price you can put in the pitch deck, a launch date, and the right to stop after any stage. In our model a lean paid MVP costs $34,500 to $42,500 and ships in 7 to 8 weeks, and a post-seed version one with teams, roles and a CRM connection costs $67,500 to $94,000. You see your own range in about a minute, before any call.
No call, no card, no email needed to see your estimate.
MVP
Hours per feature
Typical range
$25,000 to $60,000
What startups build with us, and what it costs
Every row is a result of the same estimate model you can run yourself, with the features listed. Each includes design, QA and project management at $89 per hour of team time.
- Pre-seed, first paying users
- What gets builtWeb MVP with accounts, subscriptions and email
- Hours389 to 476
- Cost$34,500 to $42,500
- Timeline7 to 8 weeks
- Pre-seed, you already have designs
- What gets builtThe same MVP built from your Figma files
- Hours335 to 410
- Cost$30,000 to $36,500
- Timeline6 to 7 weeks
- B2B pilot customers
- What gets builtMVP with team accounts, subscriptions, admin panel and email
- Hours481 to 650
- Cost$43,000 to $58,000
- Timeline6 to 8 weeks
- AI startup
- What gets builtMVP with an AI assistant on customer files, uploads, subscriptions
- Hours476 to 650
- Cost$42,500 to $58,000
- Timeline6 to 8 weeks
- Two-sided marketplace
- What gets builtMVP with search, in-app chat, payments and admin panel
- Hours528 to 766
- Cost$47,000 to $68,000
- Timeline6 to 9 weeks
- Mobile-first consumer app
- What gets builtiPhone and Android from one React Native codebase, push, payments
- Hours769 to 873
- Cost$68,500 to $77,500
- Timeline9 to 10 weeks
- Post-seed version one
- What gets builtRoles, teams, subscriptions, admin, dashboard, analytics, CRM connection
- Hours760 to 1,056
- Cost$67,500 to $94,000
- Timeline9 to 12 weeks
| Startup stage | What gets built | Hours | Cost | Timeline |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-seed, first paying users | Web MVP with accounts, subscriptions and email | 389 to 476 | $34,500 to $42,500 | 7 to 8 weeks |
| Pre-seed, you already have designs | The same MVP built from your Figma files | 335 to 410 | $30,000 to $36,500 | 6 to 7 weeks |
| B2B pilot customers | MVP with team accounts, subscriptions, admin panel and email | 481 to 650 | $43,000 to $58,000 | 6 to 8 weeks |
| AI startup | MVP with an AI assistant on customer files, uploads, subscriptions | 476 to 650 | $42,500 to $58,000 | 6 to 8 weeks |
| Two-sided marketplace | MVP with search, in-app chat, payments and admin panel | 528 to 766 | $47,000 to $68,000 | 6 to 9 weeks |
| Mobile-first consumer app | iPhone and Android from one React Native codebase, push, payments | 769 to 873 | $68,500 to $77,500 | 9 to 10 weeks |
| Post-seed version one | Roles, teams, subscriptions, admin, dashboard, analytics, CRM connection | 760 to 1,056 | $67,500 to $94,000 | 9 to 12 weeks |
The ranges are model results, not quotes. Discovery confirms the scope and fixes the price of each later stage before you pay for it.
Why founders pick a startup software development company over freelancers or a first hire
A first engineering hire in the US takes months to recruit and still needs a designer, a tester and someone to plan the work. Freelancers are cheaper per hour, but you become the project manager and the integrator. A startup development company sells you the finished result: a team that already works together, a fixed price per stage and one point of contact.
- 01 Price before commitment. You see hours, team size, timeline and cost per feature before any meeting, so you can decide what fits the round.
- 02 Stage payments. Discovery costs 10 percent of the estimate with a minimum of $1,900. Design, build sprints and launch are each paid before they start, and you can stop after any of them.
- 03 Your code from day one. Everything goes into a repository you own, and the rights transfer to you as each stage is paid.
- 04 No rebuild later. MVPs are built on the same stack and standards as full products, with tests, so version two extends the code.
- 05 One team after launch. The people who built it can stay on through a software maintenance and support plan or a dedicated developer by the month.
How startup MVP development works with us
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01
Run the estimate. Pick the project type, the features you need for launch and the integrations, and see the range in about a minute.
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02
Discovery and scope, about one week. We write the user stories, data model and integration list, and fix the price of every later stage.
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03
Design, about two weeks. Flows and screens for every page in scope, unless you bring your own designs.
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04
Build in two week sprints. You click through a live build at the end of every sprint and can reorder the backlog between sprints.
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05
Launch and handover. Production release, analytics, documentation and the code in your account.
How to cut startup software development cost without cutting the product
The most expensive line in any startup estimate is the feature nobody uses in the first three months. We push the scope toward the one job your first customers pay for, and the estimate makes every trade-off visible in hours.
For a deeper look at scoping a first release, read MVP development cost and timeline or see our MVP development services.
- 01 Keep signup, payments and an admin panel, because you need them to sell and to support customers.
- 02 Run rare workflows by hand behind the scenes for the first months instead of automating them.
- 03 Use email notifications first. They take 12 to 24 hours, while real-time in-app chat takes 40 to 80.
- 04 Launch on the web before native apps, unless your product only makes sense on a phone.
- 05 Bring designs if you have them. That removes the 20 percent design overhead, which took the lean MVP above from $34,500 to $42,500 down to $30,000 to $36,500.
Who this is for
- 01 Non-technical founders who need a product built and a technical partner who explains decisions in plain English.
- 02 Technical founders who want to keep architecture decisions but need a team to ship faster than they can hire.
- 03 B2B startups heading into pilots, where team accounts, roles and an admin panel decide whether the pilot can start.
- 04 AI startups that need document extraction or an assistant on customer data wrapped in a product people pay for. See AI development.
- 05 Funded startups planning version one of a SaaS product after the MVP has proven demand.
Startup development company, freelancers or an in-house team
- Time to start
- Development companyDays, after Discovery
- FreelancersDays to weeks per person
- First in-house hiresMonths of recruiting
- Price certainty
- Development companyFixed price per stage
- FreelancersHourly, open ended
- First in-house hiresSalaries plus benefits and equity
- Who manages the work
- Development companyProject manager on the team
- FreelancersYou
- First in-house hiresYou or a future CTO
- Design and QA
- Development companyIncluded in the estimate
- FreelancersHired separately
- First in-house hiresHired separately
- Best for
- Development companyGetting to launch on a known budget
- FreelancersSmall, well defined tasks
- First in-house hiresLong term core product team
| Development company | Freelancers | First in-house hires | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Time to start | Days, after Discovery | Days to weeks per person | Months of recruiting |
| Price certainty | Fixed price per stage | Hourly, open ended | Salaries plus benefits and equity |
| Who manages the work | Project manager on the team | You | You or a future CTO |
| Design and QA | Included in the estimate | Hired separately | Hired separately |
| Best for | Getting to launch on a known budget | Small, well defined tasks | Long term core product team |
Freelancers win for one clear task with a technical founder overseeing it. In-house hires win once the product is proven and you are building a long term team. Many founders do both in order: a company for the MVP, then their own engineers who take over a clean, documented codebase. The longer comparison is in hire developers vs agency.
Questions founders ask before hiring a development company
In our model, a startup MVP that customers can sign up for and pay for costs $34,500 to $42,500, and a B2B MVP with teams and an admin panel costs $43,000 to $58,000. A post-seed version one with roles, a dashboard and a CRM connection runs $67,500 to $94,000. Your own features set your own range in the calculator.
Outsourcing makes sense when you need to launch on a known budget before you can hire a full team. You get design, development, QA and project management at once, and you keep the code. Once the product is proven, many startups bring development in-house and take over the codebase.
Most startup MVPs in our model take 6 to 9 weeks of build after a one week Discovery. A lean web MVP takes 7 to 8 weeks, a marketplace 6 to 9 weeks and a mobile-first app on iPhone and Android 9 to 10 weeks.
No. Discovery turns your idea into written user stories and a data model you can review, and every sprint ends with a live build you can click through. A technical co-founder helps later, when you build your own team, and our documentation makes that handover straightforward.
You do. Everything is built in your repository, and the rights to each stage transfer to you when that stage is paid. Investors doing due diligence will find the code, infrastructure and accounts in your name.
Yes. Discovery costs 10 percent of the estimate, at least $1,900. Every later stage is paid before it starts, and after each one you can continue, change the plan or stop and keep what was delivered. The full schedule is on software development pricing.
Price your startup MVP before the next investor meeting
Pick the features you need to launch and see the hours, team, timeline and cost in about a minute.