Pre-Seed Stage: Getting Started
"I have an idea but don't know where to start"
What you're experiencing:
- You've talked to potential customers and they're interested
- You've sketched out ideas on paper or in notes
- You know what problem you want to solve but have no idea how to build it
- You're worried about choosing the wrong technology or making expensive mistakes
What's actually happening:
- You need someone to translate your business idea into a technical plan
- You need to validate your idea with a simple prototype before spending serious money
- You need to know what to build first (and what to skip for now)
How we solve it:
- Week 1-2: We interview your potential customers together and sketch out exactly what they need
- Week 3-4: I design simple mockups (pictures of what your product will look like) and test them with real people
- Week 5-8: I build a working version that does the most important things (not everything - just enough to prove the concept)
Result: You have something real to show customers in 8 weeks, not 6 months. Typical cost: $30-40K + equity instead of $80K+ from agencies.
"Agencies are quoting me $80K and 6 months. That seems too much."
What you're experiencing:
- You've contacted development agencies and gotten sticker shock
- The timelines feel too long (you'll run out of money waiting)
- You're not sure if they understand your vision
- You suspect they're over-scoping because you can't push back technically
What's actually happening:
- Agencies price in risk - they quote for worst-case because they don't know if you'll change your mind mid-project
- They're building everything you mentioned, even the "nice to haves" that don't matter yet
- They work on multiple projects simultaneously, so your 6 months is really 3 months of actual work spread out
How we solve it:
- I work with equity alignment, so we're both invested in not wasting money
- We ruthlessly cut features down to "must have to prove this works" vs "nice to have later"
- I work dedicated hours on your project (20-30 hrs/week), not spreading time across 10 clients
- Direct communication with you, not through account managers who don't code
Result: Same quality in 8 weeks for $30-40K + equity instead of $80K and 6 months. Faster to market, aligned incentives.
"I hired a freelancer and now I can't get hold of them"
What you're experiencing:
- Your freelancer built something that worked initially
- Now something broke, or you need a change, and they're not responding
- You have no idea how the code works or how to find someone else to fix it
- You're stuck with a half-finished product and wasted money
What's actually happening:
- Freelancers often move to the next paying project when yours slows down
- The code might be messy or undocumented (no one else can work with it)
- There's no long-term commitment or accountability
- You have no technical partner to evaluate if the work was even good in the first place
How we solve it:
- I commit for 3-6 months minimum with clear weekly check-ins
- Everything I build is documented and designed so future developers can work with it
- I'm equity-aligned, so I succeed when you succeed (not just when I bill hours)
- If you eventually hire a team, I help onboard them and transfer knowledge properly
Result: Continuity, accountability, and code that doesn't trap you. Clear communication every week. Professional handoff when ready.
Seed Stage: Scaling Up
"My website/app is getting slow and customers are complaining"
What you're experiencing:
- When you first launched, everything loaded fast
- Now with more customers, pages take 5-10 seconds to load
- Customers are mentioning it in feedback
- You're worried you'll lose sales or users will leave
What's actually happening:
- The initial version was built for 10-50 users, not 500+
- Your database is doing way too much work for each request
- Images or data aren't being cached (stored temporarily for faster access)
- Your hosting setup isn't designed to handle traffic spikes
How we solve it:
- I analyze where the slowdowns are happening (usually database queries or external API calls)
- Add caching layers so common data loads instantly
- Optimize your database structure and add indexes (like a book index - makes searching faster)
- Set up performance monitoring so we catch problems before customers notice
Result: 70-80% faster load times, handles 10x more users without breaking. Typical engagement: 4-6 weeks.
"I need to hire developers but I don't know how to evaluate them"
What you're experiencing:
- You've posted a job but got 100 applications and can't tell who's good
- Resumes all look the same ("full-stack developer with 5 years experience")
- You don't know what questions to ask in interviews
- You're scared of hiring someone expensive who can't actually deliver
What's actually happening:
- Many developers oversell their skills or have outdated experience
- You need to test practical skills, not just review resumes
- Interview questions need to reveal how they think, not just what they've memorized
- You need someone technical to spot red flags and green flags
How we solve it:
- I write the job description to attract the right level of candidate
- Screen resumes and identify the top 10-15% worth interviewing
- Conduct technical interviews with practical coding tests
- Check references and evaluate their past work
- Make the final hiring decision and negotiate offers
Result: You hire a strong developer who can actually execute, not just talk. Saves months of hiring mistakes. Typical fee: $5-8K or part of fractional engagement.
"We're spending $3,000/month on servers and I don't know why"
What you're experiencing:
- Your hosting bills keep going up every month
- You're not sure what all these services are or if you need them
- Previous developer set it up and now they're gone
- You're afraid to change anything in case it breaks
What's actually happening:
- There are probably redundant services running that aren't needed
- Resources aren't auto-scaling (you're paying for max capacity 24/7 instead of only when needed)
- Your database or storage might be oversized for your current usage
- No one optimized costs because it wasn't their money
How we solve it:
- Audit all services and identify what's actually being used
- Eliminate redundant or unnecessary services
- Set up auto-scaling so you only pay for what you use
- Optimize database and storage tiers to match actual usage
- Set up cost alerts so you know if something spikes unexpectedly
Result: Usually cut costs by 40-60% (saving $1,200-1,800/month in this example) with better performance. Typical engagement: 2-3 weeks.
Series A & Beyond: Leadership Gaps
"Our CTO just left and the engineering team is stuck"
What you're experiencing:
- Your technical co-founder or CTO departed (new opportunity, burnout, conflict)
- You have 5-10 engineers who don't know what to work on next
- Product roadmap decisions are stalled
- Investors are asking about technical leadership
What's actually happening:
- Engineers need direction on priorities and technical decisions
- Major architectural decisions can't be made without CTO-level expertise
- Team morale drops when there's no leadership
- Hiring a permanent CTO takes 3-6 months minimum
How we solve it:
- Step in as interim CTO immediately to unblock the team
- Run weekly planning and prioritization meetings
- Make architecture and tech stack decisions
- Simultaneously recruit and interview candidates for permanent CTO role
- Onboard the new CTO and transfer knowledge smoothly
Result: Zero downtime in technical leadership, team stays productive, smooth transition to permanent CTO. Typical engagement: 3-6 months.
"We're about to raise Series A and investors are asking technical questions we can't answer"
What you're experiencing:
- Term sheets mention "technical due diligence"
- Investors are asking about scalability, security, technical debt
- You're not sure if your current setup will pass scrutiny
- You're worried technical issues will kill the deal or lower valuation
What's actually happening:
- Investors want to know if your tech will fall apart at 10x scale
- They're checking for security vulnerabilities or compliance gaps
- They want to know if they'll need to spend $500K fixing things post-raise
- Your codebase might have shortcuts from the MVP days that need addressing
How we solve it:
- Conduct a technical audit before due diligence starts
- Fix critical issues (security, scalability bottlenecks)
- Document architecture, technology decisions, and scaling plan
- Prepare clear answers to investor technical questions
- Be present for technical due diligence calls to answer questions confidently
Result: Pass due diligence with strong technical scores, maintain valuation, close the round. Typical engagement: 4-6 weeks before raise.
One-Off Projects: Specific Fixes
"I need someone to review code and tell me if it's any good"
What you're experiencing:
- You hired developers (agency/freelancer) who delivered something
- It works, but you have no idea if it's built well
- You're about to pay the final invoice and want to know if it's worth it
- Or you're considering buying/partnering with a company and want to evaluate their tech
What's actually happening:
- You need an independent technical audit
- Code could be messy, insecure, or impossible to maintain
- Could be over-engineered (unnecessarily complex) or under-engineered (too simple to scale)
- Need to know: keep and improve, or start over?
How we solve it:
- 1-2 week code review engagement
- Review code quality, security, scalability, documentation
- Test the application for common vulnerabilities
- Provide a written report: what's good, what's problematic, what needs fixing
- Recommend: ship it, fix these issues first, or rebuild
Result: Clear decision on whether to proceed, negotiate, or walk away. Typical cost: $5-10K for comprehensive review.
"I need to build one specific feature and don't need a full-time person"
What you're experiencing:
- You have a working product but need one specific thing added
- Example: payment system, user authentication, admin dashboard, reporting feature
- Don't want to hire a full-time developer for a 4-6 week project
- Current team is too busy or doesn't have that specific expertise
What's actually happening:
- This is a defined scope project that doesn't need ongoing engagement
- Need expertise in that specific area (payments, auth, integrations)
- Want it done right the first time without ongoing commitment
How we solve it:
- Fixed-scope, fixed-price project (typically $15-30K depending on complexity)
- 3-6 week timeline
- Built to integrate cleanly with your existing system
- Documented so your team can maintain it
- Includes testing and deployment
Result: Specific feature completed professionally without hiring full-time. Common examples: Stripe integration ($15K), Admin dashboard ($20-25K), API integration ($10-20K).
"Our app got hacked / We got a security audit failure / We need to pass compliance"
What you're experiencing:
- Security researcher found a vulnerability
- Insurance company requires security audit for coverage
- Enterprise customer requires SOC2/ISO27001/GDPR compliance
- Recent hack or data breach and need to fix it fast
What's actually happening:
- Security wasn't prioritized during fast MVP building (common and understandable)
- Now it's blocking sales, partnerships, or insurance
- Could be exposed to legal liability if breached
- Need expert help quickly
How we solve it:
- Emergency security audit (1 week)
- Identify and fix critical vulnerabilities
- Implement security best practices (encryption, authentication, access controls)
- Prepare documentation for compliance requirements
- Set up monitoring and incident response procedures
Result: Pass compliance audits, close enterprise deals, sleep better at night. Typical cost: $15-25K depending on complexity and urgency.
Recognize Your Problem Here?
These are real problems I solve regularly. If any of these situations sound familiar, let's talk.
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