Senior founding engineers at $35-50/hr (~$6k-9k/mo). Ship to production in <5 days. No upfront placement fees, no retainers. 14-day risk-free trial.
| Option | Cost | Time to Deploy | Upfront Fees |
|---|---|---|---|
| HyperNest Labs | $35-50/hr | 3 days | $0 |
| Tech Recruiter | 20-25% of salary ($30-50K) | 2-3 months | $30-50K placement fee |
| Dev Agency | $150-200/hr | 2-4 weeks | $10K+ setup |
| Full-Time Hire | $150-200K/yr + equity | 2-4 months | Equity + benefits |
14-day risk-free trial. Cancel anytime. No long-term contracts.
Founding engineers aren't just senior developers—they're builders who think like founders. They take ownership of product outcomes, not just code quality. They make decisions under uncertainty and ship fast without sacrificing quality.
In the early days, you need engineers who can wear many hats, move fast, and make good decisions without constant oversight. Our founding engineers have built products at companies like Rupa Health, OddsJam, and Dromo. They understand startup dynamics because they've lived them.
From first call to first commit in under a week.
Understand your product, stack, and what success looks like
Match the right engineer(s) based on your needs
Slack access, repo access, codebase walkthrough
First PR merged, hitting the ground running
“Aravind is in the top 1% of engineers I've hired. He supported us from $100K to $5M ARR, keeping us shipping through crazy growth and investor scrutiny.”
3 days from first call to onboarded engineer. Day 1: Discovery call. Days 2-3: Team match and onboarding. By day 4-5, your engineer is shipping code. Most engineers merge their first PR within the first week.
$35-50/hr depending on seniority, which works out to roughly $6,000-9,000/month for a full-time embedded engineer. No placement fees, no retainers, no long-term contracts. 14-day risk-free trial—if it's not working, you pay nothing.
Yes, we offer flexible month-to-month engagements. No long-term lock-in. Most clients work with us for 6-12+ months, but you can scale up or down as needed. We earn your continued partnership through results, not contracts.
Our engineers have shipped products at venture-backed startups (Rupa Health, OddsJam, PyjamaHR). They take ownership of outcomes, not just tasks. You get direct Slack access—no project managers or account executives in between. They ship like your first 5 hires, not like hired guns.
Our team is full-stack and adaptable. Deep experience with React/Next.js, Node.js, Python, TypeScript, AWS, GCP, and modern AI/LLM frameworks. We can ramp up quickly on new technologies if needed.
Former engineering leader who helped scale Rupa Health from $100K to $5M ARR. Passionate about helping startups build great engineering teams.
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