Engagement & Pricing
Pick the engagement model that fits the work
We price to outcomes, not hours. Three starting points — choose the one that matches where you are, and we will adjust as we learn.
Three ways to start
Each model includes senior-only delivery, written decisions, and a production handoff. No junior bench, no offshore substitution.
Discovery Sprint
Two weeks. De-risk the problem before you commit to building.
- Senior architect plus one engineer for two weeks
- Problem framing, technical risk assessment, prototype
- Written delivery plan with milestones, cost, and timeline
- Credit applied to a follow-on build engagement
Build Engagement
Fixed-scope delivery for a defined feature, integration, or platform.
- 2–4 senior engineers, milestone-priced delivery
- Production deploy, observability, and runbooks
- Security review and documented architecture
- Knowledge transfer and 30 days of post-launch support
- You own the code, the stack, and the documentation
Embedded Pod
Senior engineering capacity, embedded with your team on an ongoing roadmap.
- Dedicated senior pod (typically 2–4 engineers)
- Quarterly roadmap review with your leadership
- Joint backlog, shared standups, monthly demos
- Pause or scale month-to-month with 30 days notice
What every engagement includes
The defaults you should not have to negotiate for.
Senior-only delivery
Architects and senior engineers do the work. You talk to the people writing the code, every standup.
Transparent operations
Shared boards, weekly demos, and written decision records. You always know what is shipping, why, and what is next.
Security by default
Threat modeling, secrets hygiene, and least-privilege access are baked in — not retrofitted before launch.
Production-grade handoff
Runbooks, architecture diagrams, observability dashboards, and on-call playbooks ship with the code.
No vendor lock-in
Open-source first. We pick durable, inspectable tooling so your team owns the stack when we step back.
Outcome-priced, not hours-billed
We commit to deliverables and milestones. If we underestimate, we eat the difference.
Engagement workflow
From first call to production
Intro call (30 minutes)
We listen. You leave with a written summary and an honest assessment of fit.
Working session
A 90-minute deep dive on architecture, constraints, and success criteria.
Written proposal
Scope, milestones, team, cost, and risk — on a single page. No deck.
Kickoff & week-one demo
Senior pod assembled, environment provisioned, first deliverable running by end of week one.
Iterative delivery
Weekly demo, written decisions, milestone billing. You see progress every Friday.
Production handoff
Code, runbooks, dashboards, and a 30-day post-launch support window.
Pricing & engagement FAQs
Common questions before we sign a statement of work. If yours is not here, ask us directly.
Why outcome-priced and not time-and-materials?
Hourly billing aligns the vendor with slow work. Outcome pricing aligns us with you: we ship faster, we both win. If we underestimate scope, that is on us.
Do you sign NDAs and DPAs?
Yes. We sign mutual NDAs before any technical conversation, and DPAs / BAAs as required for regulated workloads. Templates available on request.
Can you work under our security and compliance constraints?
Yes. We routinely operate inside SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, and PCI environments. We can deploy into your cloud accounts and follow your access policies.
What does "senior-only delivery" actually mean?
No engineer on a Cognivac pod has fewer than seven years of relevant production experience. Architects typically have fifteen-plus. We do not staff junior consultants on client work.
Can we pause or scale an embedded pod?
Yes. Embedded engagements are month-to-month with 30 days notice in either direction. Scale up at the start of any month if capacity is available.
Who owns the IP and the code?
You do — fully and unconditionally — once milestones are paid. Our standard contract assigns all work product to you on delivery.
Do you take equity?
For early-stage companies, occasionally. We will only suggest it when it aligns incentives in a way cash cannot.
Ready to start?
A 30-minute call is enough for both of us to know whether we are the right partner.