Question 1

How do you scope a project before quoting?

Accepted Answer

We start with a 45-minute technical call where we map the system boundaries: what exists, what needs to be built, what third-party dependencies are involved, and where the data lives. From that, we produce a written scope document covering functional requirements, integration surface, proposed stack, delivery milestones, and a fixed price. Scope calls are free. The quote is non-binding until you sign.

Question 2

What is a typical timeline from kickoff to production?

Accepted Answer

A focused single-system build ships in 3 to 5 weeks from signed contract. Multi-service builds with real-time data pipelines, authentication layers, and third-party integrations typically run 6 to 10 weeks. We do not pad timelines. If a dependency is on your end (credentials, access, design review), the clock pauses at that gate. We set those dates explicitly at kickoff.

Question 3

Do you do fixed-price or time and materials?

Accepted Answer

Fixed-price only. We scope the work before quoting, so the number we give you is the number you pay. Time-and-materials billing transfers project risk onto you. We take on the estimation risk so you can plan a budget with certainty. Change requests outside the signed scope are quoted as separate line items before any work begins.

Question 4

What does full IP transfer actually mean in the contract?

Accepted Answer

Every line of code, every schema migration, every Dockerfile, every CI workflow written during the engagement transfers to you on final payment. The MSA includes a full assignment clause with no carve-outs for internal libraries or tooling we build during your project. We do not retain a license to your system. You can open-source it, sell it, or modify it without notifying us.

Question 5

How do you handle change requests mid-build?

Accepted Answer

Minor clarifications and small adjustments that fall within the spirit of the original scope are absorbed. Anything that changes the integration surface, adds a new data source, or materially expands the feature set gets a written change order with an updated price and timeline before we touch it. We do not surprise you with overages at the end.

Question 6

Do you sign NDAs before scoping calls?

Accepted Answer

Yes, we sign mutual NDAs before any scope call where you are sharing technical architecture or business logic. Standard MNDA with a two-year term. Send yours or use ours. Either works.

Question 7

What is your stack opinion? Do you have one?

Accepted Answer

Yes. We use Rust for performance-critical services where throughput and memory safety matter: ingest pipelines, signal processors, real-time computation engines. TypeScript with Next.js App Router handles product UI and server-side APIs. ClickHouse for analytical workloads with high write volume and time-series queries. Postgres for transactional data with relational constraints. Redis for cache, pub/sub, and stream primitives. We do not select a stack to be fashionable. We select it because we have run each of these in production at scale and know exactly where they break.

Question 8

Do you write tests? What coverage do you target?

Accepted Answer

We write tests. For Rust services, we target unit coverage on all business logic and integration tests against a real database before any service ships. For Next.js, we cover API routes with integration tests and critical UI paths with Playwright end-to-end tests. We do not chase an arbitrary line-coverage percentage. We test the paths that break in production: auth boundaries, pagination edge cases, malformed input handling, external API failure modes. Test suites ship with the codebase.

Question 9

How do you handle production incidents during the build?

Accepted Answer

If we are building on top of existing production infrastructure and a dependency goes down, we triage immediately and communicate the blast radius within 30 minutes. If the incident is in code we wrote during the engagement, we fix it same day. We maintain a private Slack or Discord channel with every active project for async updates and incident coordination. No ticket queues.

Question 10

Do you set up CI/CD?

Accepted Answer

Yes. GitHub Actions for automated test runs and build verification on every pull request. Vercel CLI handles Next.js preview and production deployments triggered from main. Rust services ship as compiled binaries managed by systemd on the target server, with staged deployment scripts and rollback commands documented in the runbook. Secrets are never in the repository.

Question 11

How do you handle secrets and credentials?

Accepted Answer

Secrets never go into the repository. Local development uses .env files excluded by .gitignore. Production environments use Vercel environment variables for Next.js deployments and systemd EnvironmentFile for Rust services. For larger teams that need audit trails and secret rotation, we configure dotenv-vault or integrate with the provider you already use. We document the full secrets surface in the handoff runbook.

Question 12

What monitoring and observability do you set up?

Accepted Answer

At minimum: structured application logs with severity levels, a health endpoint returning dependency status, and alerting on error rate thresholds. For production systems, we add request tracing, database query performance logging, and a Grafana or equivalent dashboard covering the metrics that matter for your service. We do not instrument dashboards you will ignore. We instrument the three signals that tell you the system is healthy.

Question 13

Who is actually doing the engineering?

Accepted Answer

The Avo engineering team handles every build directly. No subcontracting, no offshore handoffs, no junior developers dropped into a spec without context. You get direct access to the engineers building your system throughout the engagement. We limit active projects to maintain delivery quality. When we take your project, we are building it.

Question 14

What does handoff look like?

Accepted Answer

Handoff includes a production-deployed system, full source code in a repository you own, a written runbook covering deployment procedures, environment setup, dependency versions, and known edge cases, and a recorded walkthrough of the architecture. We also deliver a written post-mortem on any scope decisions we made during the build that deviate from the original spec. You should be able to hand this to any competent engineer and have them productive in two hours.

Question 15

What support do you provide post-launch?

Accepted Answer

Thirty days of post-launch support is included in every engagement. During that window, we fix bugs in shipped code at no charge. After 30 days, ongoing support is available as a separate retainer scoped to your needs: anything from quarterly check-ins to a dedicated monthly hours allocation. We do not disappear after delivery.

Question 16

Can our internal team learn the system after handoff?

Accepted Answer

We build for handoff as a first-class constraint, not an afterthought. Documentation includes architecture decision records explaining why we made key choices, not just what we built. We schedule a live architecture walkthrough with your engineering team before the engagement closes. If your team wants to extend the system themselves, we can structure that into the final sprint as a paired programming session.

Question 17

Why do you not list prices on the site?

Accepted Answer

Because every project is scoped individually and a public price range creates false expectations. A real-time data pipeline processing 50K events per second is not the same build as a dashboard over a Postgres database, even if both get described as the same thing in a brief. We scope on the call and give you a number before you commit to anything.

Question 18

What is the typical project range?

Accepted Answer

Focused single-service builds and internal tooling tend to run $15,000 to $40,000. Full-stack product builds with auth, data layer, API, and UI land in the $40,000 to $150,000 range. Multi-service distributed systems with real-time processing, complex integrations, and performance requirements at scale run $150,000 to $500,000 and up. We have shipped projects across that entire range. The scope call determines where yours sits.

Question 19

Do you offer retainers or ongoing work?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Post-launch retainers are structured as a monthly hours allocation for maintenance, feature additions, and architectural consultation. Retainer clients get prioritized scheduling over net-new projects. Most retainers run 10 to 20 hours per month. We scope retainers separately from the initial build with a 30-day cancellation clause.

Question 20

Do you take equity?

Accepted Answer

No. We work cash-only. Equity complicates project relationships and creates misaligned incentives when the build is done and the ongoing relationship is optional. You pay for engineering work. We do not have a stake in your cap table.

Question 21

Have you actually built systems like this before?

Accepted Answer

We have shipped 37 production systems across quantitative finance, real-time market data infrastructure, lead intelligence pipelines, custom CRM platforms, and AI-augmented workflow automation. That includes sub-50ms ingest pipelines, distributed signal processing services, multi-tenant SaaS platforms, and data systems running on ClickHouse clusters with 400 million-plus rows. The case studies page covers specific deliverables with real metrics.

Question 22

Can I talk to a reference?

Accepted Answer

Most engagements are covered by NDAs that prevent us from disclosing the client relationship publicly. On a call, we can share anonymized architectural details and performance numbers from past work and connect you with references who have opted in to direct conversations. We do not offer references as a closing tactic. We offer them when you need technical confidence, which is a reasonable ask.

Question 23

What if the project fails to deliver?

Accepted Answer

The MSA includes an explicit remedy clause: if we fail to deliver a working system that meets the agreed acceptance criteria, we refund the final milestone payment. We have not invoked that clause. Before we reach that point, the engagement structure includes milestone sign-offs and incremental demos so problems surface early. We are not building in a black box for eight weeks and hoping you like it at the end.

Question 24

Are you US-based?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Avo is Delaware-incorporated. All contracts are governed by US law. Payments, invoicing, and tax documentation are US-standard. If your legal or procurement process requires a US entity, that is not a blocker.

Questions engineers ask before hiring us

Engagement and Process

Technical Approach

Team and Handoff

Pricing and Engagement Models

Trust and Credibility

Still have a technical question?

Questions engineers ask before hiring us

Engagement and Process

Technical Approach

Team and Handoff

Pricing and Engagement Models

Trust and Credibility

Still have a technical question?

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Questions engineers ask before hiring us

Engagement and Process

Technical Approach

Team and Handoff

Pricing and Engagement Models

Trust and Credibility

Still have a technical question?

Questions engineers ask before hiring us

Engagement and Process

Technical Approach

Team and Handoff

Pricing and Engagement Models

Trust and Credibility

Still have a technical question?