Straight answers on scoping, quoting, hiring developers and getting a product finished. Written from builds that worked and builds that did not.
HIRING · 2026-08-11
Freelance developer, agency, or technical co-founder
Four ways to get a first product built, and the failure mode of each. A freelancer is cheap until they leave. An agency buys process and sells hours. A co-founder aligns incentives and costs equity. A build partner is the middle, and it suits fewer people than its marketing suggests.
BUYING SOFTWARE · 2026-08-11
How do I know if a development quote is padded
A padded quote is rarely dishonest. It is priced by time, so it earns more when the work takes longer. Look for discovery sold separately, custom builds of things you can buy, and a scope that grows the further you read. Ask what happens if it takes half as long.
STAYING IN CONTROL · 2026-08-11
What can a non-technical founder actually check
You cannot read the code and you should not try. What you can check is whether done was defined before the work started, whether a demo runs on real data, whether changes are getting cheaper or dearer, and whether you could hand the whole thing to someone else tomorrow.
GETTING FINISHED · 2026-08-11
Why does my prototype keep stalling at eighty percent
Products stall at eighty percent because the last twenty is where every deferred decision comes due at once. It is a process failure, not a technical one, and it is almost never the developer's ability. The fix is deciding what done means before the build starts.
