The scope keeps growing
Every conversation adds a feature. The launch date moves further away and the budget stops making sense.
Service 12 / 14
MVP Development
An MVP isn't a cheap version of the full product. It's the fastest honest test of whether people want it — built well enough that success doesn't force a rewrite.
- Typical duration
- 6–12 weeks
- Engagement
- Team of 2–4 · Fixed scope
- Right for you if
- Founders validating demand before raising
- Companies testing a new line without betting the business
- Teams needing a working product for a specific pitch or deadline
- Anyone whose scope has quietly grown past what they can fund
Problems
You're probably here because of one of these.
If more than one sounds familiar, that's normal — they usually share a root cause.
You're building on assumptions
Months of work aimed at a problem nobody has confirmed is worth paying to solve.
The deadline is real
A funding round, a conference or a pilot customer. The date doesn't move, so the scope has to.
Speed will cost you later
Prototypes that succeed become production systems. Built carelessly, month four is a rewrite.
Approach
How the work actually runs.
From first conversation to running in production. Typical end-to-end duration for mvp development is 6–12 weeks.
- 01
Define the question
3–5 daysWe identify the single assumption that, if wrong, makes everything else pointless — and design the MVP to test it.
- Riskiest-assumption workshop
- Success criteria defined numerically before build
- Ruthless scope cut to what tests the assumption
- Fixed timeline and fixed budget
- 02
Design the core flow
1–2 weeksOne journey, designed properly. Everything not on that path is deferred without apology.
- End-to-end design of the single core journey
- Clickable prototype for early user conversations
- A written, agreed list of what we are not building
- Lightweight design system for consistency
- 03
Build
4–8 weeksProduction-quality code on a foundation that scales, with weekly demos to keep scope honest.
- Working product deployed from week one
- Authentication, payments and core domain logic
- Instrumentation for the metrics that define success
- Weekly demo and scope review
- 04
Launch to real users
1 weekIn front of actual users fast, with the measurement already in place.
- Production deployment with monitoring
- Analytics wired to the success criteria
- Feedback capture inside the product
- Onboarding for your first cohort
- 05
Learn and decide
2–4 weeksWe read the data with you and make an honest call: continue, change direction, or stop.
- Usage analysis against the agreed criteria
- User interviews with early adopters
- Recommendation, including 'stop' where the data says so
- Roadmap and architecture plan if you continue
Included
What you get, spelled out.
Every item here is part of the engagement, not an upsell discovered halfway through.
Fixed scope and price
Agreed before we start. Changes are explicit trades, not silent budget growth.
Production-quality foundation
Real authentication, real data modelling, real deployment. Success doesn't trigger a rewrite.
Instrumented from day one
Success criteria are measurable in the product, not argued about afterwards.
Weekly demos
You see working software every week. No six-week silences.
An explicit not-building list
Written down and agreed, so scope conversations take minutes rather than meetings.
Payments and auth included
Users can sign up and pay. An MVP that can't take money can't test willingness to pay.
Full ownership
Code, infrastructure and accounts are yours. Continue with us, your own team, or anyone else.
Honest recommendation
If the data says stop, we say stop. That's a cheaper outcome than a year of building.
Stack
What we typically build this with.
A default, not a rule. If your team already runs something else and it fits the requirement, we work in your stack.
Next.js
Server rendering, streaming and edge delivery without hand-rolling the infrastructure.
TypeScript
Types across the whole stack. Most integration bugs stop being possible.
PostgreSQL
Our default. Transactional integrity, JSON, full-text search and row-level security in one engine.
Tailwind CSS
Design tokens enforced in markup. Styles stop drifting across a large team.
Stripe
Subscriptions, proration and dunning without your servers ever touching card data.
Vercel
Edge delivery and preview environments for front-end-heavy products.
Why Devsock
The difference is in how the work is run.
Ten dimensions where engagements usually go wrong, and what we do instead. Every claim in the right-hand column is something you can verify in the first two weeks.
DimensionTypical agencyDevsock
Estimates
TypicalAn hourly rate and a range that grows once work starts.
DevsockFixed scope and fixed price after a paid discovery. Changes are quoted before they enter a sprint.
Communication
TypicalA weekly status email written by an account manager.
DevsockDirect access to the engineers building it, a shared board you can read any time, and a demo every second week.
Code ownership
TypicalDelivered at the end, sometimes with a proprietary framework attached.
DevsockYour repository, your cloud account, from commit one. No proprietary layer, no licensing.
Testing
TypicalManual clicking before launch, if the timeline allows.
DevsockAutomated suites in CI, load testing at projected peak, and a WCAG 2.2 AA audit before release.
Architecture
TypicalWhatever the available developer knows best.
DevsockA written architecture decision record explaining what we chose, what we rejected, and why.
Security
TypicalAddressed if the client raises it.
DevsockDependency scanning in CI, least-privilege access, secrets management and a pre-launch review as standard.
Accessibility
TypicalOut of scope unless legally forced.
DevsockWCAG 2.2 AA designed in and audited. Keyboard and screen-reader tested, not assumed.
Handover
TypicalA zip file and a phone number that stops answering.
DevsockDocumented architecture, runbooks, and a paid handover period so your team can genuinely take over.
After launch
TypicalA new quote for every bug.
DevsockDefect fixes covered for 90 days. Support retainers carry response-time SLAs in the contract.
Saying no
TypicalEvery request becomes a line item.
DevsockWe'll tell you when a feature isn't worth building, or when the answer isn't software at all.
Work
What we've built, and what it changed.
Live products you can open and use. Each one names the constraint, the approach and what shipped.
- Next.js
- TypeScript
- React Native
- PostgreSQL
- Redis
- Stripe
- AWS
Multi-tenant SaaS platform and driver apps for dumpster rental operators
Challenge
Dumpster rental operators run bookings, fleet position, driver assignments and invoicing across spreadsheets, whiteboards and phone calls. Nobody knows where a container actually is, proof of service arrives days after the job, and billing gets reconstructed from memory at month end.
Solution
A multi-tenant SaaS platform with self-serve signup, subscription billing and tiered plans, paired with native driver apps on iOS and Android. Operators get real-time container status, driver scheduling with route optimisation, customer and contract management, and automated invoicing. Drivers receive job assignments and upload proof of service from the field.
What shipped
- Native driver apps published to both the App Store and Google Play
- Multi-tenant architecture with per-operator data isolation
- Self-serve onboarding with a 15-day trial and three subscription tiers
- Real-time inventory and container status tracking
- Driver scheduling with route optimisation
- Automated invoicing and payment processing
- Next.js
- TypeScript
- Tailwind CSS
- Vercel
Corporate platform for an independent renewable-energy consultancy
Challenge
An independent monitoring and evaluation consultancy for renewable energy projects needed to establish credibility with government, industrial and hospital buyers — a sector where procurement turns on verifiable regulatory standing and a demonstrable track record, not on marketing copy.
Solution
A structured corporate platform built around proof rather than persuasion: service definitions for independent oversight and technical training, a credentials section surfacing regulatory compliance across SECP, FBR, PRA and PEC, team profiles establishing sector experience, and a documented track record of verified installations. Enquiries route directly to the consultancy team.
What shipped
- Structured service architecture across oversight and training lines
- Regulatory credentials surfaced as the primary trust signal
- Track record documented across government, industrial and public-health installations
- Team credibility profiles with sector experience
- Enquiry capture routed to the consultancy team
- Server-rendered and fully indexable
- Next.js
- TypeScript
- PostgreSQL
- Tailwind CSS
- AWS
Training platform with multi-country scheduling and certificate verification
Challenge
A QHSE training provider delivering internationally accredited certifications across Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Pakistan needed to publish a constantly moving multi-city schedule, take registrations online, and let employers independently verify that a certificate is genuine — the last of which is what makes an accreditation worth anything.
Solution
A training platform combining a published course schedule across multiple countries with online registration, a separate corporate training enquiry path, and a public certificate verification tool employers can use to authenticate credentials. Accreditation bodies and trainer profiles are presented as structured, checkable content rather than a logo wall.
What shipped
- Public certificate verification for employers
- Multi-country training schedule with online registration
- Separate paths for open-enrolment and corporate training
- Course catalogue spanning ISO, OSHA, IOSH, NVQ and Lean Six Sigma
- Accreditation bodies and trainer credentials as structured content
- Server-rendered and fully indexable
Further work sits behind NDAs. We can walk you through the architecture and measured outcomes of those engagements under mutual NDA.
Request a walkthroughFAQ
MVP Development — common questions.
Specific to this service. The general questions about pricing, ownership and process are answered on the home page.
Still unsure? hello@devsock.com
Below a certain point you get a prototype that can't test anything real, which wastes the money entirely. We'll tell you honestly whether your budget can answer your question — and if it can't, what smaller question it could answer.
Related
Usually paired with.
Most engagements combine two or three of these. We'll tell you which ones you actually need.
Next step
Let's scope your mvp development project.
Bring us the problem rather than a specification. Thirty minutes with an engineer will tell you whether this is the right service, what it would take, and roughly what it would cost.
30 minutes
No slide deck, no sales team
An engineer
You speak to someone who builds
A straight answer
Including when it's don't build it