Send a brief.

§  Most often asked

Six answers,
before you ask.

The questions we receive most on a first call. Longer ones go in the email below.

• What kinds of partners do you work with?+

  Publishing partners that have already shipped a category once, or are confident in one they want to occupy. They want a small, well-built thing rather than a big, half-built one. We are a poor fit for very large institutional partners with their own internal mobile benches.

• How long does an engagement run?+

  Most engagements run for two to four quarters of regular work, plus a longer tail of monthly retainer at a reduced fee. We do not write open-ended retainers; every engagement has a written end-date, after which any continuation is a fresh letter signed afresh.

• What does an ideal first email look like?+

  One paragraph telling us what you are hoping to ship. One paragraph saying which one or two of the six categories you think it fits. Optionally a sentence on timeline and a budget range. That is enough to get a written reply with the next set of questions, usually within a working day.

• Do you sign NDAs?+

  Mutual NDAs as a default. We do not maintain a public client list, so the NDA is largely a paperwork formality, but we would rather formalise it than skip it.

• How are fees structured?+

  On a fixed engagement fee, written into the engagement letter alongside scope. We do not bill hourly. We do not bill per feature or per release. The fee is a known number from the day the work begins.

• What happens at the end of an engagement?+

  We end every engagement with a written closing memo and a brief that the next person — a future hire, a different studio, the partner six months later — can pick up cold. We are replaceable on purpose. Most apps that age well are run by a permanent in-house team within a year of the engagement ending.