Velocity engineering
Fast iteration, weekly deploys, and the senior judgment to know when to slow down for foundation work.
Industries / Startups & SaaS
The senior team you can't hire fast enough.
We're built for the engagement type SaaS founders dream about and rarely get: a senior engineering team you can plug in tomorrow, scale up or down without drama, and replace yourself when you're ready to.
12
Funded startups built with
4 wks
Median time to first deploy
3.2 yrs
Average client tenure
0
Equity demands as a default
What it is
The work, plainly described.
Startups & SaaS is the industry where most of our founders started their careers, and where we feel most at home. Series A through Series D, $5M-$200M ARR. We're the engineering bench you call when your in-house hiring isn't keeping pace, when you need to ship the v2 product, or when you need senior judgment in the room without the salary commitment of a VPE hire.
Where it fits
- Series A-B foundersHiring is slow. The roadmap isn't. We're the senior team you didn't budget for but couldn't live without.
- Series C-D scale-upsYou're scaling but still hitting platform limits. We do the unglamorous platform work that lets your in-house team focus on product.
- Pre-PMF venture studiosYou're running multiple bets. We're a flexible engineering bench across them.
- CTO-as-a-service momentsYour CTO just left, or you're between hires. We bridge the gap with senior engineering leadership.
Capabilities
What we'll actually do.
Each of these is a deliverable category, not a buzzword bullet. We scope, build, and stay accountable for each one.
AI-native product
AI features, retrieval, agentic workflows — built with eval discipline so they don't hallucinate at the demo.
Full-stack delivery
Web, mobile, API. Modern stacks, modern practices, no over-engineering.
Growth engineering
Product analytics, A/B testing infrastructure, growth experimentation tooling.
Integrations
Stripe, Twilio, SendGrid, Segment, and the dozen integrations every SaaS company needs.
Security as you scale
SOC 2 readiness, secure-by-default architecture, and the security maturity SaaS customers expect.
Process
How an engagement actually runs.
No mystery, no shifting goalposts. Five phases with measurable outcomes per phase.
Quick scope
Often a 1-2 week scope. SaaS founders don't have time for 6-week discoveries.
Embedded engineering
We join your standup, slack, and PR review process. We're part of the team, not adjacent to it.
Iterative build
Weekly or biweekly deploys. We adapt to your cadence, not the reverse.
Scale up or down
Headcount on the engagement scales with your roadmap. No "we already booked the six engineers" awkwardness.
Replace yourselves
We hire when you're ready. Our engineers help interview your in-house candidates, and we hand off cleanly.
Why us
Three things you should know.
Senior judgment, not just senior titles
Our engineers have shipped, debugged, and survived production at scale. We bring that experience to your standup.
Founders aren't bait-and-switched
The senior engineer in the pitch is the senior engineer on the project. Period.
We help you replace us
Our engagement model assumes you'll eventually hire in-house. We'd rather help you hire than create lock-in.
Frequently asked
The questions everyone asks.
Are you a fit for pre-seed startups?
Usually no — we're an expensive partner for pre-seed. We're a fit for funded ventures with a 12-month runway minimum.
Will you take equity?
Occasionally, on a case-by-case basis. We don't lead with it and we don't require it. We'll have an honest conversation if it's a fit.
Can you ramp up or down quickly?
Yes. Within reason — we won't commit a team for 90 days then redeploy them next week. But ±25% capacity changes within 2-4 weeks are normal.
How does this differ from a fractional CTO?
We're engineering capacity, not just leadership. Fractional CTOs lead 1-2 engineers; we are the 4-8 engineer team. We can layer fractional CTO leadership on top.
What about pre-launch products?
Yes — see Product Engineering. We have a discovery-through-launch practice for funded pre-launch products.