Shipkit is an MVP development company that turns a product idea into a launched application without hourly billing or an open-ended agency engagement. We scope the version-one product, design and build it, deploy it to your domain, and hand over the code. SaaS, AI apps, marketplaces, and internal tools — one team, fixed price, weekly demos.
Step 1
Map the idea to one core user outcome and lock the version-one scope
Step 2
Split the feature list into what validates demand now and what can wait for version two
Step 3
Agree fixed price, timeline, milestones, and the technical stack up front
Step 4
Agree the delivery stages the fixed price is broken into, and what counts as accepting each one
Step 5
Build the product in weekly demos with founder feedback
Step 6
Launch, hand over the codebase, and support the first users
Step 7
Walk through the documentation and the next-step roadmap after launch, so you can run and extend the product without a technical cofounder on the team
Proof point
Shipkit has shipped MVPs across marketplaces, SaaS products, AI tools, and internal dashboards for founders — including the FindMyCarPart reverse marketplace — as a fixed-price MVP development company with full code ownership on every project. Founders without a technical cofounder run the same engagement: fixed scope, milestone payments tied to accepted delivery stages, and a product they can inspect in a weekly demo instead of taking progress on trust.
An MVP development company takes a founder's product idea and builds the first launchable version — the minimum viable product. Shipkit handles scope definition, UX/UI design, full-stack development, authentication, payments, deployment, and code handoff, so a non-technical founder can launch without hiring or managing an in-house engineering team.
US agencies typically bill $150-$250/hour, which puts a full MVP at $40,000-$100,000+ with scope risk. Shipkit works fixed-price from $14,900 for a production MVP up to $24,900+ for a custom platform build, with the total locked before development starts. Use the free MVP cost calculator for a budget range based on your actual scope.
Freelancers are cheapest but carry delivery and continuity risk for a first launch. Traditional agencies offer depth but usually bill hourly with open-ended scope. A fixed-price MVP development company like Shipkit sits in between: agency-level delivery with a locked scope, milestone payments, and a known total — the safest fit for most non-technical founders shipping a first product.
Common projects include SaaS platforms, AI and LLM-powered tools, two-sided marketplaces, customer portals, operations dashboards, and internal tools. If you are unsure which path fits, the scoping call maps your idea to the smallest version-one build that can validate demand.
Yes. Code and IP ownership are yours from day one, and the repository is yours from the start rather than at the end of the project. Full source code, deployment access, and documentation come with every Shipkit project. There is no vendor lock-in — you can keep working with Shipkit or move the codebase to another team at any time.
No. Your job is to define the customer problem, the business priorities, and what version one has to prove. Shipkit covers the work a technical cofounder would do — architecture, stack selection, code review, deployment, and security decisions — and explains each trade-off in plain English instead of handing it back to you. Because the repository is yours rather than the studio's, a founder who later brings in a CTO hands over a documented codebase rather than a black box.
You need enough to steer the product, and none to build it. That means a clear view of who the user is and which flow matters most; you do not need to compare frameworks, review pull requests, or manage developers day to day. Scope, timeline, and technical trade-offs are presented in plain English at the weekly demo, where the working product itself is the status report.
For a first version, usually yes. A fixed price forces the scope to be settled before development starts and gives the founder a known total instead of a running meter. Hourly suits open-ended product teams with an in-house technical lead who can steer week to week, but on a first launch it puts both the scope risk and the estimating risk on the founder — the person least equipped to carry it. Shipkit quotes the whole build up front, so an estimate that turns out optimistic is the studio's problem, not a change order.
The total is fixed and agreed before the build starts, and it is broken into the delivery stages that make up the project rather than billed against hours logged. A slower week does not change your invoice, and progress is visible in the weekly demo rather than in a timesheet. The stages, what counts as accepting each one, and the payment terms attached to them are written into the agreement next to the fixed price — ask for them on the scoping call.
Yes — most Shipkit projects start from a rough idea rather than a written specification. The first step turns it into a lean version-one scope: one core user outcome, the smallest feature set that can validate demand, and an explicit list of what waits for version two. That scope is what the fixed price, the timeline, and the milestones are agreed against, before any build work starts — so the decision in front of you is how small version one has to be, not how many hours to buy.
Book a free founder call. We'll help you figure out what to build first, what it'll cost, and how fast we can launch it.
Limited availability — email alex@shipkit.us or use the contact page to start the conversation.
