Alternatives
Vetted Talent Network or Fixed-Price Studio?
Networks that pre-screen senior engineers solve a real problem: finding good people is hard and slow. The question is whether your problem is finding people, or shipping a product.
Free 15-minute fit check · no equity · no retainer
Short answer
A vetted talent network is right when you need senior engineering capacity and someone to direct it. A fixed-price studio is right when you need a defined product live on a date, and nobody internally to manage engineers day to day.
01
Two different purchases
| Talent network | Fixed-price studio | |
|---|---|---|
| You are buying | Vetted senior hours | A defined product |
| Cost model | Hourly or weekly, scales with duration | Fixed, agreed before work starts |
| Who directs the work | You, or your technical lead | The studio, against a written blueprint |
| Overrun risk | Sits with you | Sits with the studio |
| Ideal buyer | Teams with technical leadership | Non-technical founders and operators |
02
When the network is clearly right
- You have a CTO or lead engineer who can direct and review the work
- You need a specific specialism for a defined period
- The work is open-ended and priorities shift week to week
- You want to trial someone before offering a permanent role
03
When buying an outcome is clearly right
- There is nobody internally to write tickets or review pull requests
- You need a launch date you can plan a go-to-market around
- A predictable total cost matters more than flexibility mid-build
- You want deployment, documentation and ownership included, not quoted separately
Senior hours without direction are the most expensive way to build a first product. Direction is precisely what a fixed scope provides.
04
How our model works
A written blueprint that fixes scope, a fixed $3,500, 14 days to a production deployment, and the complete source code transferred to you at handoff. No hourly billing, no retainer, no equity.
If your actual need is ongoing senior capacity rather than a first launch, a talent network is the better purchase and we will say so.
Questions
Straight answers.
Is vetted talent worth the premium?
When you need senior capability inside an existing team, frequently yes — screening is genuinely expensive to do yourself. When you need a whole product built and have nobody to direct it, you are paying a premium for hours you still have to manage.
What is the real cost difference?
Talent networks bill senior hourly or weekly rates, so total cost tracks duration. A fixed-price sprint costs the same whether it takes us ten days or twenty. Which is cheaper depends entirely on how well the scope was defined.
Who owns the code in each model?
In both models it should be you — but check. With us, transfer of the full source code and deployment to your own accounts is part of the handoff rather than something to negotiate at the end.
Can I use both?
Yes, and it is a sensible pattern: run a fixed-price sprint to get a real product live, then bring in senior contract talent to extend it once you know what is worth extending.
Next step
Find out if your idea fits in 14 days.
Tell us what you want to build. We reply within one business day with a straight yes, no, or here is what we would cut.