How products actually get built

Costs, timelines, build stories and the decisions founders get stuck on, written by someone who builds these for a living.

Marketplaces & consumer apps

Scenario · 7 min
Building an app like Strava for a running club: what to copy, what to skip, and what it cost
How to build an app like Strava, told through an Amsterdam running club: why not to rebuild GPS tracking first, Strava's API limits, map costs and a cost table.
Scenario · 8 min
What it costs to build an app like Urban Company: a home-services MVP, week by week
The real cost to build an app like Urban Company in 2026: a salon owner's home-services MVP, what got cut, the 8-week build and every running cost.
Guide · 7 min
Marketplace MVP: the 4 apps you think you need vs the 1.5 you actually need
A two-sided marketplace MVP needs one real app and half an admin panel, not four apps. What to keep, fake and cut, from someone who built all four.
Scenario · 8 min
Cost to build an app like DoorDash in 2026: a local grocery delivery MVP, part by part
What it costs to build an app like DoorDash in 2026, via a Manchester grocery-delivery MVP: the cheap parts, the expensive parts and the running costs.

SaaS & B2B tools

Guide · 9 min
How to build a SaaS product from scratch in 2026: the parts that make it SaaS, and where AI tools stop
How to build a SaaS product from scratch: seven steps, the SaaS-only parts (tenancy, billing, roles), and where no-code and Claude Code stop.
Scenario · 8 min
Building a Jira-style SaaS for customer onboarding: a B2B MVP from first spec to first tenant
Want to build a SaaS like Jira for customer onboarding? A Berlin founder's B2B MVP: multi-tenancy, SLA timers, audit trail, what got cut and what it cost.

AI & automation

Guide · 7 min
How much does it cost to build an AI chatbot for your website? Build vs buy, with real model prices
The real cost to build an AI chatbot in 2026: RAG explained plainly, Chatbase and Intercom Fin pricing, per-conversation model costs, and WhatsApp chatbot fees.
Guide · 6 min
AI receptionist for a small business: buy one first, and when building your own makes sense
AI receptionist for small business, honestly: 2026 pricing from Smith.ai, Goodcall and Ruby, the real cost of building one, and HIPAA rules for medical offices.
Deep dive · 7 min
Multi-LLM scoring: why one model shouldn't grade a human (LLM-as-a-judge in production)
LLM as a judge in production: position, verbosity and self-preference bias, how multi-model evaluation reduces them, and two real AI grading pipelines.
Guide · 7 min
Hiring an AI agent developer: what to ask, what it costs, and when you don't need an agent
Before you hire AI agent developers, check whether you need an agent at all. 2026 AI agent development cost ranges, 10 questions to ask, and the red flags.
Scenario · 8 min
Building an AI voice interviewer for an HR startup: scope, weeks, and what it really costs
What AI voice agent development costs for a recruiting startup: an 8-week voice interviewer build, the cost table, what to cut, and the compliance traps.
Deep dive · 8 min
Building a real-time AI voice interviewer solo: architecture, latency budget and the parts that bite
How to build an AI voice agent for live interviews: a Pipecat + Daily + Groq architecture, Pipecat vs LiveKit, and a voice agent latency budget with sources.
Scenario · 7 min
Automating résumé screening for a two-person recruiting agency: Gmail in, ranked shortlist out
How a small recruiting agency can automate resume screening: a Gmail résumé parser that scores applicants unattended, the 4-week build, cost and legal traps.

Health, wellness & education

Scenario · 7 min
AI automation for a dental practice: what a three-chair office automated, what it bought, and what stayed human
AI automation for dentists, honestly: a Denver practice bought its phone AI, built two narrow automations with human review, and handled HIPAA. Costs included.
Scenario · 7 min
Building a booking app for a physio clinic: what to build, what to buy, and what it cost
Clinic booking app development, honestly: a Melbourne physio clinic kept its practice software, built only what it lacked, and here is the cost of each piece.
Scenario · 7 min
"Duolingo for GCSEs": what it takes to build an exam prep app, and what to cut
The cost to build an app like Duolingo for exam prep: what a tuition centre needs (adaptive diagnostics, AI marking), the weekly plan and the cost table.

Starting out

Guide · 7 min
How to write a PRD for an app: the template I ask founders for before I quote
How to write a PRD for an app, with a copyable product requirements document template that works for developers, AI features, and Claude Code or vibe coding.
Guide · 8 min
How to validate a startup idea before you build anything (and before you pay someone like me)
How to validate a startup idea before building: interviews, landing pages, pre-sales, concierge and Wizard of Oz tests, with AI or no money, and when to stop.
Guide · 8 min
How to build an MVP step by step: the 8 steps from idea to first paying users
How to build an MVP step by step: the riskiest assumption, what to cut, who builds it, weekly slices, launch and what comes next. Plus AI tools and YC advice.

Costs & timelines

Comparison · 6 min
Fixed price vs time and materials: which contract a founder should pick, and when
Fixed price vs time and materials for software: who carries the risk, what each costs, the hybrids that work, and how to estimate development time first.
Guide · 7 min
App maintenance cost per month: what a live app really costs to keep running
App maintenance cost per month and per year, line by line: store fees, hosting, monitoring, forced OS updates and engineering time, from running 4 apps live.
Guide · 7 min
App development cost calculator: how to estimate what your app will cost, and the method behind my free tool
An app development cost calculator with every assumption shown: the line-item method, the weight of each feature, and how to estimate software cost.
Guide · 7 min
How much does an MVP app cost in 2026? A line-item breakdown of a $15K build
How much does an MVP app cost in 2026? A line-item breakdown of a $15K build, what pushes the price up, running costs after launch, and when to spend nothing.
Guide · 7 min
How long does it take to build an MVP? A week-by-week plan for a 6–10 week build
How long does it take to build an MVP app? A week-by-week plan for a 6–10 week build, what adds weeks, app-store delays, and what to prepare before week one.

Hiring, contracts & ownership

Guide · 8 min
Technical due diligence checklist for startups: what investors and buyers check, and how to pass
A plain-English technical due diligence checklist for startups: what a code audit covers, what the report should say, red flags, and how to prep in two weeks.
Guide · 7 min
Software development contract and SOW template: a plain-English version for founders
A plain-English software development contract and SOW template: scope, milestones, acceptance, change requests, IP and handover. Not legal advice.
Guide · 7 min
Outsourcing app development done right: onshore, offshore or one senior engineer, and the setup that protects you
Outsourcing app development: onshore vs offshore vs one senior engineer on cost and risk, 2026 rates by region, and the 10-point setup that protects founders.
Guide · 7 min
How to find a developer for your startup: every channel, what it costs, and which to use when
How to find a developer for your startup: referrals, marketplaces, vetted networks, agencies and job boards compared on cost and risk, plus a one-page brief.
Guide · 6 min
Why founders waste $50K on agencies: the structural causes, and the terms that prevent each one
Agency wasted your money? Why outsourced development goes wrong, from upfront payment to code you don't own, and the contract terms that prevent each.
Guide · 6 min
Who owns the code? A founder's checklist before you pay any developer, including for AI-written code
Who owns the code when you hire a developer or agency, or when AI writes it? A founder's checklist for contracts, repos, cloud and app-store accounts.
Comparison · 7 min
Technical cofounder vs founding engineer vs agency vs freelancer: what I'd pick at each stage
Technical cofounder vs founding engineer vs agency vs freelancer: real costs, what you give up, and which one fits your stage as a non-technical founder.
Guide · 6 min
How to vet a developer when you can't read code: 12 questions and the answers that should worry you
How to vet a developer as a non-technical founder: 12 questions to ask, the answers that should worry you, a paid trial and the contract checks.
Comparison · 6 min
Fractional CTO vs full-time CTO vs agency: what each costs and what $6K a month actually buys
Fractional CTO vs full-time CTO vs agency: 2026 rates and salaries, what a fractional CTO actually does each month, and when you need none of them.

Tech choices & rescues

Guide · 7 min
The best tech stack for an MVP in 2026: web, mobile, AI and vibe coding
The best MVP tech stack in 2026 for web apps, mobile apps, AI features and Claude Code or vibe coding, with pricing checked November 2026 and what to leave out.
Guide · 7 min
Rewrite vs refactor: how a founder should decide when the code is slowing everything down
Rewrite vs refactor for founders: a scorecard to decide, why full rewrites stall, the strangler fig middle path, and the questions to ask your developer.
Comparison · 7 min
Lovable vs Claude Code vs Cursor for non-technical founders: which one to build with
Lovable vs Claude Code vs Cursor (plus Bolt and Replit) for non-technical founders: November 2026 pricing, what each does well, and when you need an engineer.
Comparison · 7 min
Flutter vs React Native in 2026: a founder's guide to picking your app framework
Flutter vs React Native in 2026 for founders: versions and pricing checked November 2026, Expo, over-the-air updates, hiring, Swift, and which one to pick.
Comparison · 8 min
Firebase vs Supabase in 2026: pricing, data model and which one to pick for your app
Firebase vs Supabase in 2026: pricing checked November 2026, Firestore vs Postgres data models, offline sync, auth, spend caps, and when to pick each one.
Guide · 7 min
Your vibe-coded app hit a wall: rescue it, rebuild it, or keep prompting?
A vibe coded app security checklist (RLS, exposed keys, auth gaps) and a scorecard to decide: keep prompting, rescue or rebuild your Lovable or Cursor app.
Case study · 9 min
How to cut your Google Maps Distance Matrix bill by 80% (and what the terms let you cache)
Google Maps API cost per request in 2026, what the March 2025 billing change did, and five ways to reduce Distance Matrix cost without losing accuracy.