Five comparisons, each with a section on when we lose.
Every page here names the situations where the other option is the better buy. Read that part first.
compare · hiring
One engineering team you retain, or three hires and months of recruiting.
Hiring gives you people who stay for years. Retaining us gives you two founders working against a staging URL from day one while you find out whether the product has earned those hires.
compare · freelancers
One queue and two accountable founders, or a freelancer per ticket.
A freelancer is the right tool for a sharp slice of work. The trouble starts when the work stops being a slice and becomes a roadmap.
compare · agency
Zero account managers between you and the founders doing the work.
Most agencies sell a project, staff it, and move on at launch. A retained team is the opposite shape: no project to end, and the founders you met are the ones doing the work.
compare · fractional cto
10–20 hours a week of advice, or a founder who also writes the code.
A fractional CTO answers who thinks about the architecture. It rarely answers who builds it, and before product-market fit the second question is the one with a deadline.
compare · build or retain
Fixed scope and a handover, or one active request at a time.
We run three shapes of work. The right one depends less on budget than on whether your roadmap has an end.