Hire a full-stack engineer
who shows his work.
Weekly demos. Every commit explained. A public roadmap you can read. Entry-level pricing on purpose — I'd rather earn the seat than convince you of it.
Pick the buyer you are.
Most engineering pitches assume you want the same thing. You don't. Some of you want to see every step. Some of you want it done and don't want to be bothered. Both are valid — pick the lane that matches how you actually work.
The Process Buyer
“I'll pay more if I can see every step. I've been burned before.”
- Sunday plan — what I'm shipping this week, with rough hour estimates
- Live commits — GitHub access from day one, every commit message explains the why
- Friday demo — 15-min recorded walkthrough of everything that shipped
- Friday invoice — line-itemed: hours, outcomes, what I cut and why
- Public roadmap — shared Trello or Linear board you can comment on
- Slack/text always-on — I reply within 2 hours during business days
Best for: Founders who've been burned by “black box” agencies. Technical PMs who want to learn. Anyone who wants to feel in control of what's being built.
See Process Pricing →The Result Buyer
“Tell me what it'll cost, tell me when it ships. Then leave me alone.”
- Quote & scope — one call, one document, one fixed price
- Silent mode — I don't bother you unless I have a real blocker
- Status only when asked — text me, I'll send a one-line update
- Single delivery — you see it when it's done. Working. Tested. Deployed.
- Two rounds of revision — built into the fixed price
- 30-day post-ship support — bugs are on me
Best for: Busy executives. People who trust quickly. Projects with crystal-clear scope. People who've worked with engineers before and know how to write a brief.
Get a Project Quote →What a week with me looks like.
This is the cadence. Same every week. Predictable because predictability is the product when you're paying for trust.
The Plan
I send you a short doc: what I'm building this week, why it matters, what I'm cutting from last week's list, and rough hour estimates per item. Reply or don't — if you say nothing, I ship the plan.
~10-min readThe Build
Every commit lands on GitHub with a message you can actually understand. Branch protection on. Every PR has a checklist. If I hit a real blocker I text you immediately — otherwise I'm heads-down.
Live visibilityThe Demo
15-minute recorded Loom walking through everything that shipped this week. Click-through demos, before/after, test results. Yours to share with your team or investor on Monday morning.
Loom · 15 minThe Receipt
Invoice with line-itemed hours, what each block of hours produced, what I cut and the reason. No "miscellaneous." No 6-minute increments rounded up. If a week went sideways, the invoice is honest about it.
TransparentEntry-level rates, on purpose.
I'm undercutting the market for engineers at my level because I'd rather earn the second engagement than over-promise the first. The risk is on me. Pick a tier and we ship.
Try Me On.
One week. No commitment past the invoice.
~10–15 hours · ends Friday
- Sunday plan + Friday demo + Friday invoice
- 1 feature shipped or 1 audit completed
- Live GitHub access from day one
- No notice period to end — just don't book next week
Embedded.
Most builders pick this. ~20 hrs/week, monthly cadence.
~80 hours · weekly demos · monthly retainer
- Everything in Sprint, every week
- Shared roadmap board (Linear or Trello)
- Slack/text always-on, ≤2hr business-day reply
- Stripe + auth + database + frontend scope welcome
- One free architecture review per month
- Roll over up to 10 unused hours into next month
I'm Your CTO.
Dedicated. You own my calendar Mon–Fri.
~160 hours · daily standups · monthly retainer
- Everything in Half-Time, doubled
- Daily 9am standup (15 min, Loom or live)
- Architecture, hiring help, vendor reviews
- On-call for production issues, ≤15-min response
- Quarterly business review, not just a tech review
- 30-day notice to end either way
One quote. One delivery date.
You write the brief or I'll write it after a 30-min call. I send a scope doc with a fixed price and a deadline. You approve. I disappear and ship. Two rounds of revision built in. 30-day post-ship bug support.
What's Included
- Full-stack JavaScriptNode, Express, vanilla JS, React/Vue if needed
- Stripe + webhooksSubscriptions, one-time, custom flows, reconciliation
- Database designPostgres, Redis, SQLite — whichever fits
- DevOps + deployVercel, Railway, Fly.io, AWS basics
- Frontend designThis entire AFG site & the Inner-Circle pages are mine
- Test infrastructureVitest, integration tests, smoke tests, CI/CD
- API documentationSelf-served, kept in sync with the code
- Cinematic UIWhen the moment calls for it (and only then)
What's Not Included
- Native mobile (iOS/Android)I'll refer you to the right person
- ML/AI model trainingI can integrate APIs, not train models
- Design from scratchI work from your brand or build one with you
- SOC 2 / HIPAA complianceI can implement controls, not certify them
- Legal / accounting / payrollNot my lane — I'll refer you out
- 24/7 ops at Sprint or Half-Time tierOnly at Full-Time, with paging
The honest answers.
Why are your rates lower than the market?
On purpose. I'm establishing a track record with new clients and would rather earn the second engagement than oversell the first. Once we've worked together, my rates reflect my work, not my pitch. Most clients renew at standard market rates within 3 months.
What if I want to start small and scale up?
That's the design. Most clients start on the Sprint tier ($750/week). After 2–4 weeks, if it's working, they move to Half-Time. If they want me embedded, they move to Full-Time. No notice required to upgrade. 30-day notice to downgrade or end Full-Time.
Can I see proof of what you've actually built?
Yes — the entire platform you're on now is the receipt. I wrote a full case study with the week-by-week timeline, architecture decisions, and what it would cost to commission the same scope from me. Live API at /api/docs · 54 passing tests · GitHub repo open on request.
What if I'm not technical and don't know what to ask for?
Book a Sprint. The first week is often discovery: I'll write your spec, build a prototype of the riskiest part, and you'll have a fixed-price quote for the rest by Friday. If it's not for you, you've spent $750 to learn what your project actually is.
Do you sign NDAs?
Yes. Mutual NDA at engagement, no questions asked. For Full-Time engagements, I also sign a non-compete in your category for the duration of the contract.
Who owns the code?
You do, from the first commit. Work-for-hire by default. I keep no rights, no royalties, no lockout. If I open-source something we built, it's only with your written approval and only if it benefits both of us.
What happens if a week's work doesn't ship?
I tell you on Wednesday at the latest, not Friday. We re-plan together. The Friday invoice is honest about what was actually delivered. If I dropped the ball, I'll credit the next week's hours. If the scope changed mid-week, we'll talk through it.
What's the fastest way to start?
Text me what you want built (or what's broken). I'll reply within a few hours with either: (a) a 30-min discovery call link, or (b) "this is a Sprint, here's the Sunday plan." If we're starting fresh, you can be in the Sunday plan by this weekend.
Don't want to text? Write it up.
Two minutes. Eight fields. By end of day I'll reply with either a Sprint plan or an honest "not a fit" with a referral.
Text me what you want built.
I'll reply by end of day.
No discovery-call sales funnel. No 40-minute Zoom before we discuss price. Tell me what you want, I'll tell you what it costs, and we'll know in one exchange whether we should work together.