For startups

From the first app in users' hands to the one you raise on.

Pre-seed, seed, or growing on the round you just closed. We work across the whole arc, so growing doesn't mean finding a new supplier and explaining it all again. Tested and built to last from the first version, and yours from day one.

Book the call → See how it works

01 / Where you are

A startup isn't one stage, and neither is the work.

You're called a startup from the day you have an idea until well after you've raised on it. What you need from a build partner changes a lot across that, and changing supplier every time it does is a cost nobody budgets for.

Pre-seedFirst app in users' hands

SeedKeep shipping, find the fit

GrowthHarden it, scale what works

We work across all three, and the handover between them is the part that doesn't happen, because it's the same team throughout. The first version is built on foundations that can carry the second, so growing doesn't mean rebuilding.

02 / Packages

Three ways in, depending on how far along you are.

Each one is a complete piece of work, scoped before we start. Take one, or carry on into the next when you're ready.

Pre-seed

First app in users' hands

An idea, or a prototype that demos and can't go live. We work out how little of it proves the point, specify that, and build the smallest real version that people can use: tested, documented, deployed, and monitored. Not a prototype dressed up, and not a cathedral either. The version that tells you whether you have something.

Includes the spec, the build, the launch, and running it. If you already have a prototype, we can read it and take the requirements straight out of it.

Seed

Keep shipping

You're live and learning. We keep building against what users actually do rather than what the roadmap said in January, and we keep it running while you do the rest of the job. Something new in front of users regularly, and an honest read on which ideas are worth another round.

Monthly, no minimum term. Stop when you have your own team.

Growth

Ready for the raise

You have traction and the next round brings scrutiny. We harden what's there: real test coverage, security that survives a review, architecture and decisions documented, and no dependency on us anywhere in it. Investors look hard at whether a company can keep shipping without its supplier, and this is the answer to that question.

Often runs alongside continued build rather than instead of it.

03 / What you keep

Everything, from day one.

This matters more at pre-seed than it sounds, because the decisions you make about ownership in month one are the ones you can't unwind in year two.

The code and the specification

In your repository, readable, documented, and detailed enough to rebuild from elsewhere. No proprietary formats and nothing hidden.

The pipeline that ships it

Tests, CI/CD, and the runbooks behind it, so your first engineering hire inherits something they can work in rather than something they want to throw away.

What you learned about your users

The evidence, and the reasoning behind each call to keep, reshape, or drop an idea. Written down, so the decision outlives the conversation.

No supplier in the critical path

Nothing we build needs us in it. Hand it to your own hires or another team and carry on. We'd rather earn the next month on the work.

A "no" is a result.

If an idea isn't worth building, we say so before you spend on it. That's the cheapest outcome available to you: the months and the money you would have spent finding out the hard way, kept and put into something that creates value instead. We'd rather be honest than busy.

04 / What it costs

Scoped before anyone commits.

Every build is a different size, so there's no price list here. When the scope is clear, we fix the price. When it isn't yet, we work on time and say so before we start. No minimum term either way.

Tests, security, and the pipeline are part of the build rather than line items quoted on top, because a product without them isn't finished. If we're not the right team for what you're doing, we'll tell you on the call.

Tell us what you're building.

Tell us what you're trying to build, or what you're not sure you should, and where you're on the way there. A 45-minute call, no pitch and no obligation. You leave the call knowing the scope, the timing, and how we'd price it. If we're not the right team for it, we say so.

hello@cercury.ai Everything we do

We earn the next month on the work, not on the lock-in.