One flow, done properly.
An MVP proves one thing: that someone will sign up, do the thing and pay for it. Everything else is a later week. Scope is written down as that one flow before the price is agreed.
MVP development
An MVP for $5K, live in two to four weeks.
The smallest thing that is a real product: a web app with auth, one core flow and Stripe, deployed on your own accounts. Priced before the call, with the launch date in the contract.
- $5K
- Fixed price
- Day 5
- First working URL
- 2–4 wks
- Idea to live
- 50/50
- Second half on deploy
What an MVP is here
Four decisions that make the price possible.
Real auth, real payments.
Accounts, sessions, password reset and Stripe on day one, not a waitlist and a spreadsheet. The first paying user should be possible on launch day.
On your accounts from the first commit.
Your GitHub, your Vercel or AWS, your Supabase, your Stripe. Nothing is handed back at the end because nothing was ever elsewhere.
Built to grow, not to be rebuilt.
Next.js, PostgreSQL and a shared backend. When the MVP works, iOS and Android are added from the same codebase and the web app is not thrown away.
What $5K buys
Included, and not.
The whole list is published so the scoping call can't surprise you. Anything on the not-included side is the Product Build, or an add-on quoted before it is built.
Auth and accounts
Sign-up, login, sessions, password reset, and roles if the flow needs an admin and a user.
One core flow, about eight screens
The thing your product does, end to end, on a clean system UI that works on a phone and a laptop.
Stripe, plus one integration
Subscriptions or one-off payments, wired and tested. One more third-party API if the flow needs it: email, maps, a CRM.
Deployed and monitored
Production on your accounts, with error alerts, a custom domain and a runbook you can hand to the next engineer.
Source and 30 days of support
The repository is yours from the first commit. A month of fixes after launch is part of the price.
Not included
Native iOS and Android apps, custom brand design or a designer's Figma, a second payment provider, more than one extra integration, more than about eight screens.
How it runs
Four steps, and a date on the last one.
Scope
A 30-minute call, then a one-page scope with the flow, the price and the launch date. You sign it, 50% is invoiced, work starts the following Monday.
Skeleton
Day 5: repo, deploy pipeline and the core flow running end to end on a real URL, on your accounts.
Build
A live demo every three to four days and daily written progress in Slack. What you say on Tuesday is in the build by Friday.
Launch
Production deploy, monitoring, runbook. The second 50% on deployment. If the date agreed at scoping is missed, the second half is waived.
Questions
What people ask before they book.
- How much does it cost to build an MVP?
- $5K fixed here, for a web app with auth, one core flow and Stripe payments, deployed on your own accounts in two to four weeks. Agencies quote several times that and a quarter of calendar time for the same scope. If the idea needs mobile apps, several flows or an admin, it is a Product Build at $10K–$25K.
- How long does MVP development take?
- Two to four weeks. There is a deployed URL with the core flow by day 5, a demo every three to four days after that, and the launch date is written into the scope you sign.
- What should be in an MVP?
- One flow that a stranger can complete and pay for. Sign up, do the thing, pay. If a feature does not sit on that path, it waits for the second version, which is usually cheaper than the first because the foundation exists.
- Should my MVP be a web app or a mobile app?
- Web, unless your users only ever reach for their phone. A web app ships faster, costs less and needs no store review. The backend is built to be shared, so iOS and Android can be added from the same codebase with Expo when the web version has proved the idea.
- What happens if you miss the date?
- 50% to start, 50% on deployment. If the date agreed at scoping is missed, the second half is waived. App Store and Google Play review time does not count against the date. The date moves only if the scope changes in writing.
- Who actually builds it?
- One senior engineer, the same person you speak to on the scoping call. AI writes the boilerplate; the engineer makes the decisions and reviews every line. There is nobody to hand the work down to.
- What happens after launch?
- Thirty days of fixes are included. After that most founders either stop, having learned what they needed, or continue on a month-to-month retainer from $3K/mo for new features and the mobile apps. You own everything either way.
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