How to Choose a Development Partner for Your AI Startup
Questions to ask, red flags to watch for, and what a good fixed-price engagement looks like.
If you're evaluating development partners for your AI-built startup, whether for a one-time production push or ongoing work, the questions that actually matter are usually different from the ones that get asked. This guide covers what to look for, and what we think a good engagement looks like.
Some of this is, unavoidably, a description of how we work. We've tried to keep it useful even if you end up working with someone else.
Fixed Price vs Hourly: What's Actually Better for You
Hourly billing is flexible for the agency and risky for you — if scope grows, so does the bill, often without a natural point to push back. Fixed pricing forces the scope to be defined upfront, which protects you from surprises but requires the partner to actually understand your codebase before quoting.
Questions to Ask Before You Sign
A few questions tend to surface how a potential partner actually works, beyond what's on their website.
- What does your review process look like before you give a price or timeline?
- What happens if you find more issues than expected once work begins?
- Will the same people who scope the work also do it?
- What do I own at the end — code, documentation, access to everything?
Red Flags in a Development Proposal
A few patterns are worth treating as warning signs: a price or timeline given before anyone has looked at your actual code, vague deliverables like "general improvements," or a structure where ongoing work is required to access what was already built.
What a Good Scoping Process Looks Like
A good scoping process starts with access to, or a walkthrough of, your actual codebase, identifies specific issues and changes, and results in a concrete list of what will be delivered — not a vague commitment to "make it better."
Why We Work the Way We Do
We scope every engagement against the actual codebase first, price it as a fixed amount, and deliver a specific, agreed list of changes, usually within two weeks. It's a narrower offer than "anything you need," but it means the price and scope you're quoted are the price and scope you get.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you require an ongoing contract?
No — engagements are scoped individually. If you want ongoing work afterward, that can be discussed separately, but it's never required.
What if we don't know exactly what we need?
That's normal, and what the initial review is for — we'll look at what you have and tell you what we think matters most, with reasoning you can evaluate.
Do we keep full ownership of the code afterward?
Yes — you own the codebase before, during, and after the engagement. Nothing is held back.
Related Reading
Ready to talk about your project?
Tell us what you're working with — we'll review it and come back with a specific, fixed-price scope.
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