// service · mvp development
MVP development.
From napkin sketch to production in 8–16 weeks.
Fixed scope. Fixed price. A senior team that ships the thing instead of teaching you to ship the thing.
rot8 MVP development takes a startup from napkin sketch to a production-grade product in 8–16 weeks. One senior designer and one senior engineer, paired from day one, ship the smallest defensible version of your product on real infrastructure your customers can use. Fixed scope, fixed price, no hourly billing, no “phase two” surprises. Engagements start at €60,000.
- From €60k
- 8–16 weeks
- Fixed price
- Production launch included
// the problem
By the time the team is hired, the window is closed.
You have an idea. You have a deadline — investors expecting traction by Demo Day, a market window closing, a co-founder waiting on something to demo. You don't have a technical co-founder, or you have one but the build needs more than one pair of hands.
The wrong answer is to spend three months interviewing engineers, four months scoping with a 200-person agency, or six months pretending no-code will scale past the seed round.
You need a senior team that starts Monday and ships in eight weeks. That's the shape of this engagement.
// the engagement
What an MVP is, and isn’t, with us.
It is
- A live product on a real production stack — your domain, your data, your users hitting it.
- The smallest version of the system that proves the thing that matters most.
- Designed end-to-end so investors and design-savvy users don’t bounce on first impression.
- Built so version 2 doesn’t need a rewrite. The stack is boring on purpose.
It isn’t
- A clickable prototype. We ship code, not Figma.
- A “phase one” that hides scope to lower the quote. We commit at discovery and protect scope.
- A throwaway. The MVP is the foundation of v1 — your future team can extend it, not bury it.
// what you get
The deliverables list.
| Deliverable | Detail |
|---|---|
| Product design | Full UX/UI for the MVP scope, in your real component library, in Figma + production. |
| Architecture | Database schema, API design, deployment topology, third-party integrations chosen for the next 18 months not the next 18 days. |
| Front-end | Modern, type-safe web. Performant by default. Marketing site optional but recommended. |
| Back-end | Server runtime and relational database; auth, webhooks, payments, background jobs as scope requires. |
| Native or PWA | Native iOS/Android via native mobile if scope demands; otherwise responsive web. |
| Infrastructure | Production deploy on mainstream cloud, monitoring, analytics, CI/CD on day one. |
| Documentation | README, runbook, environment notes, architecture decision record. The handoff is part of the deliverable. |
| Live launch | Real users on the real product. We don’t ship to staging and call it done. |
// timeline
Sixteen-week ceiling. Most ship sooner.
| Week | Phase | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Application | You apply. 48-hour response. |
| 1 | Discovery | One-week paid sprint: scope, design system, technical plan, fixed quote. |
| 2 | Kickoff | Repo set up, infra spun up, design in production from week one. |
| 3–10 | Build | Bi-weekly demos. Shared Linear. Production deploys from week three. You’re using the product internally by week six. |
| 11–14 | Polish | Edge cases, performance, accessibility, the 20% that makes it not feel like an MVP. |
| 15 | Launch | Production cutover. Monitoring live. Runbook delivered. |
| 16+ | Handoff or Embed | We hand the keys, or stay as your embedded engineering team. |
// pricing
From €60k. Fixed at discovery. No phase-two surprises.
MVP engagements start at €60,000 and typically land between €60k and €120k depending on scope. The discovery sprint is €8,000 and credits in full toward the build if you proceed. See Pricing for full engagement shapes.
// fit
Who this fits — and who it doesn’t.
Yes
- Pre-seed and seed founders with funding and a deadline.
- Non-technical founders who refuse to spend nine months recruiting a technical co-founder before validating the idea.
- Series A teams launching a new product line they need shipped without slowing the core roadmap.
- Operators-turned-founders shipping a v1 of an enterprise product they sold the relationship for before the product existed.
No
- Pre-funding ideation. We work with founders who’ve committed — capital, time, or both.
- “I’ll know it when I see it” scope. Discovery is paid because scope is real work.
- Equity-only deals. We take cash; we like our clients but we’re not co-founders.
- Projects that need someone on call 24/7. MVP shapes ship on a sprint cadence, not an incident cadence.
// quick answers
MVP development, common questions.
How long does it take to build an MVP with rot8?
Most MVPs ship in 8–16 weeks from kickoff. The shorter end is a single-platform product with a small integration surface (auth, payments, one third-party). The longer end adds native mobile, a complex domain model, or multi-tenant architecture. We commit to the timeline at the end of the one-week discovery sprint and protect it through bi-weekly demos.How much does an MVP cost in Europe?
rot8 MVP engagements start at €60,000 and typically land between €60k and €120k. The €60k floor covers a single-platform MVP with auth, payments, and a small integration surface. Adding native mobile, complex compliance, or multi-tenant architecture moves the quote up. The discovery sprint is €8,000 and credits in full toward the build.Can rot8 be a technical co-founder substitute?
Functionally, yes — for the build phase. We translate product intent into a technical plan, ship the product, and document the architecture so a future technical hire can extend it. We don't take equity and we don't run your engineering org long-term, but for the first 8–16 weeks of a startup, we cover what a technical co-founder would.What happens after the MVP ships?
You have three options. (1) Take the keys — we hand you a documented codebase your team can extend. (2) Embed — we stay on monthly via Embed and run engineering for you while you hire. (3) Sprint — short fixed-scope engagements when you need senior firepower for a specific feature. Most clients pick a mix of (2) and (3).Will the MVP need to be rewritten in a year?
No. The architecture is the part most studios skimp on; we don't. We default to mainstream, well-documented tools — what your future team would pick — and pick the specific stack to fit you. The MVP is the foundation of v1, not a throwaway prototype. If we're cutting a corner that creates rewrite debt, we tell you on day one and you decide.
// next step
Three projects this quarter. Two remain.
Apply with the four-step form. We respond inside 48 hours, every time, with a real reply from a named founder.