Speed without shortcuts you pay for later
A complete team that can start soon and ship in working increments, on mainstream technology. Fast comes from a small scope and quick decisions, not from skipping testing.
For startupsSoftware development for startups
Software development for startups
matched to the stage you are in.
A startup at the idea stage needs something different from one with users and a backlog. BBR is an independent studio that designs, builds and releases web and mobile products, and we shape the engagement around where your company is now: a tight first scope, a fixed price where the scope allows it, and code and accounts that belong to you from the first day.
What founders need from a studioFour things,
Four things,
and they rarely change.
Startups differ in product and market. What they need from an outside engineering team is remarkably consistent, and it is a fair list to hold any vendor to, including us.
Budget certainty
A written scope with acceptance criteria, a fixed price against it, payments tied to milestones, and any change priced before it is built. You should know your maximum spend before you commit.
Ownership
Code, designs and data belong to your company under the contract. Hosting, domain, app store and payment accounts are opened in your name, and you can see the repository throughout.
No lock-in
Standard frameworks, documentation, and a handover that lets an in-house hire or another team continue. You should stay because the work is good, not because leaving is hard.
By stageFour stages.
Four stages.
Four different jobs.
Find the description that sounds like your company this quarter. Each stage calls for a different kind of engagement, and sometimes for no studio at all.
How we work in detail ↗Idea and pre-seed
You have a problem, conversations with potential users, and perhaps a deck. The job is to reduce uncertainty cheaply. Often the right first step is a scoping exercise, a clickable prototype to test with users or show investors, or a proof of concept for a risky technical piece. Our guide to prototypes, proofs of concept and MVPs helps you tell which. If the problem itself is not yet validated, software is premature and we will say so.
First release
The problem is validated and you need working software in front of real users. This is a fixed-scope project: discovery, design, build and launch by one team, typically over two to four months. It is the core of our MVP development service, which covers the process, stack and pricing factors in full.
Post-launch iteration
Users are in the product and the backlog is driven by what they do. Scope can no longer be fixed months ahead, so the engagement changes shape: a monthly plan with agreed priorities, regular releases, bug fixes, and OS and dependency updates. This is where ongoing product engineering fits.
Scaling and moving in-house
Traction or funding justifies your own engineers. Our job becomes making ourselves replaceable: documentation, architecture walkthroughs, working alongside your first hires for a period, then either stepping back or continuing on a defined part of the product. Our guide on hiring developers for a startup covers the order of those hires.
Engagement models
Pick the model that fits the uncertainty.
The right commercial model depends on how well the work can be defined in advance. Early on it usually can. After launch it usually cannot.
| Model | How it works | Fits | Less suited to |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fixed-scope project | Discovery produces a written scope and acceptance criteria. Fixed price, milestone payments, changes priced before work. | Prototypes, proofs of concept, first releases, well-defined new modules | Work where priorities change weekly |
| Monthly iteration | An agreed amount of team capacity each month, priorities set by you, regular releases, written updates | Post-launch improvement, growth experiments, maintenance | A first build with a hard budget ceiling |
| Joining or taking over a codebase | We review the existing code, report what we find, then continue development or stabilize it | A departed freelancer, a stalled build, an in-house team that needs a specific skill for a period | Code on an unusual stack outside our experience |
| Handover to your team | Documentation, walkthroughs and a period of overlap with your engineers | Startups that have hired or are about to | n/a |
Most startups that work with a studio move through these in order: a fixed project for the first release, monthly iteration while the product finds its footing, then a handover. Ongoing support is always scoped separately from the build, so neither side is guessing what is included.
On fixed prices. A fixed price is only as good as the scope behind it. If a vendor offers one without a written scope and acceptance criteria, the certainty is an illusion. Our guide to evaluating MVP development companies includes a checklist for comparing proposals.
What we build for startups
Products, not parts.
A startup rarely needs "a backend" or "some screens". It needs a product that a user can sign up for, use and pay for, plus the tools to operate it. One team at BBR covers product scoping, interface design, backend, web or mobile front end, and release.
- SaaS products with accounts, teams, roles, subscription billing and an admin area
- iOS and Android apps from one codebase using React Native or Capacitor, with the backend and store release included
- Web applications, including marketplaces and booking platforms with two user sides
- AI-assisted features and products built on hosted language models and your own data
- Operator tooling: the admin panels and dashboards your team needs on launch day
Our default stack is TypeScript, React and Next.js, Node.js and PostgreSQL, with managed services for login, payments and email. We choose it because it is widely known and easy to hire for, which matters on the day you build your own team. The reasoning is set out in how to choose a tech stack for an MVP.
We ship our own products too
BBR designs, builds and publishes its own apps as well as client work, so we deal with the same release, store review and maintenance problems our clients do. Live Gold & Silver Prices is a market-data app with portfolio tracking and price alarms, and Grow.io is an arcade game with ads and in-app purchases. Both are on Google Play, and the case studies describe the engineering decisions behind them.
Studio, freelancer or first hire
When a studio is the right call, and when it is not.
A studio is one of several ways to get software built, and it is not always the best one.
| Your situation | Usually the better route |
|---|---|
| Unvalidated idea, very small budget | Interviews, a landing page, a no-code test |
| Narrow, well-specified build and you have time to manage it | A good freelancer |
| Validated problem, a budget for a full first release, little time to manage engineers | A studio |
| Technology is the company's core innovation | A technical co-founder or founding engineer, possibly with a studio for the surrounding product |
| Traction, continuous roadmap, funding in place | An in-house team, with a studio for overflow or specific skills |
The underlying trade is simple. Hiring takes months and turns a project cost into a fixed cost before you know whether the product works. A studio gives you a complete team for the period you need it, at the price of less day-to-day control than employees would give you. We compare the routes without favoring our own in in-house vs outsourced development and agency vs freelancer. Founders without a CTO will find the control measures in building an MVP without a technical co-founder useful whichever route they take.
FitStartups we suit,
Good fit Not a fit
Startups we suit,
and startups we do not.
BBR is a small independent studio in Istanbul working remotely with clients worldwide. That shape is right for some companies and wrong for others.
We are likely a strong match if
- You have evidence that the problem is real: interviews, a waitlist, pilot customers or a manual service
- You want one accountable team from scope to release
- You prefer a written scope and a fixed price for the first release
- You are comfortable with remote work in English, written updates and scheduled calls
- You want code and accounts in your company's name from the start
- You expect to build your own team later and want a clean handover
We will probably point you elsewhere if
- You want development in exchange for equity or deferred payment
- You need engineers on-site, or a large team at short notice
- You want individual developers to manage yourself by the hour
- The product needs certified safety-critical engineering, or compliance certifications held by the vendor
- The stack is one we do not work in, such as Flutter or fully native Swift and Kotlin teams
- There is no defined problem yet
Before you get in touch
Four things worth writing down first.
None of this is required, but a short brief gets you a more useful first reply from us or from anyone else.
- Who the user is and the one job the product does for them
- What exists today: nothing, designs, a no-code version, a codebase
- The features you believe the next release needs, in rough priority order
- Your deadline and a budget range, even a wide one
If the feature list feels too long, our step-by-step MVP guide has a prioritization method that takes an afternoon. For a sense of schedule, see how long an MVP takes. When you are ready, write to us through the contact page or at dev@bbrstudiolabs.com.
QuestionsFrequently asked
Frequently asked
questions.
Do you work with pre-seed and bootstrapped startups?
Yes, provided there is a defined problem and a budget for a narrow first release. If the budget only covers a test of demand, we will say so and point you to cheaper ways to get evidence first, such as a no-code build or a manual service. Our MVP cost guide will help you judge which situation you are in before you contact anyone.
Do you build in exchange for equity?
No. We work for fees, with payments tied to milestones. Equity-for-development arrangements tend to misalign incentives on both sides, and they complicate a cap table at the point where it should be simplest.
We already have a developer or a CTO. Can you work alongside them?
Yes. We can take a defined part of the product, such as the mobile app, an admin panel or an integration, or join an existing codebase for a period. Your technical lead sets the standards and reviews the work, and everything lives in your repository.
What happens if we pivot in the middle of a build?
It happens, and the process allows for it. Work stops on the affected part, we price and schedule the change in writing, and you decide whether to proceed. Milestone-based payments mean you have only paid for work that was delivered. A small first scope is the best protection here, because there is less to throw away.
Who owns the code and the IP?
Your company does. Ownership of the code and deliverables transfers under the project contract, and third-party and open-source components stay under their own licenses, which we list. We can sign an NDA before detailed discussions. The terms are described on our how we work page.
You are in Istanbul. How does that work with a team in the US, UK, Canada or Australia?
We work remotely in English, with written updates and meeting windows agreed at the start. Istanbul is UTC+3 all year. That gives a full working day of overlap with the UK, the morning with the US and Canadian East Coast, and scheduled calls at the edges of the day for the West Coast and Australia. The pages for the US, UK, Canada and Australia cover contracts, payments and time zones for each.
Your next moveTell us where you are.
Tell us where you are.
We will suggest the next step.
A few paragraphs is enough: what the product does, who it is for, what exists today and what you need in the next three to six months. We reply with questions and an honest view of what fits.
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