FAQ
Below are detailed answers to the questions we receive most often from Massachusetts founders and innovation leaders.
How long does it take to build an MVP?
Typical projects fall in the 8–16-week window. The exact timeline depends on feature complexity, regulatory requirements (e.g., HIPAA, PCI-DSS), and how clearly defined your initial specifications are. We break the project into two-week sprints: one sprint for discovery and planning, one to two sprints for UX/UI design, three to five sprints for core development, and a final sprint for hardening and launch. Need to move faster for a demo day? We can parallelize design and engineering tasks or add additional developers to compress the schedule, often shaving two to four weeks off the plan.
What engagement models do you offer?Cabot offers three flexible models so you can align our collaboration with your budgeting and risk preferences:You can switch from one model to another as your product matures, ensuring cost control without sacrificing agility.
- Fixed-Scope MVP Package – Best for founders with a well-defined requirements document. We commit to a flat price and deadline.
- Time & Materials – Ideal for evolving products where priorities shift. You pay only for the hours actually consumed, with weekly burn-rate reports.
- Dedicated Team Augmentation – A long-term squad (PM, designers, engineers, QA) works exclusively on your roadmap. Perfect for startups that need predictable velocity without the overhead of internal hiring.
Can you work with my in-house developers?
Absolutely. More than 60% of our engagements involve co-development with client teams. We plug into your existing toolchain—GitHub, Jira, Azure DevOps, or whatever stack you use—and participate in your daily stand-ups. Our architects conduct joint code reviews, share best practices for automated testing and CI/CD, and create detailed knowledge-transfer documentation to avoid dependency on any single contributor. When the time is right, we taper down our involvement so your internal team can take full ownership with zero disruption.
Do you help secure funding?Yes. Our consultants routinely support Seed- and Series-A rounds by:Startups that leveraged our materials have collectively raised over $150 million in follow-on funding.
- Producing investor-ready prototypes and demo videos that showcase core value propositions.
- Preparing technical due-diligence decks, including architecture diagrams, scalability plans, and cost forecasts.
- Joining investor calls to answer engineering questions and validate feasibility.
- Providing introductions to our network of VCs and angel groups across Boston, Cambridge, and New York.
What happens after the MVP launch?Launch is only the beginning. We offer tiered support packages that cover:Our goal is to remain a trusted technology partner through each stage of your startup journey—from MVP to market leader.
- 24/7 Monitoring & Incident Response – Automated alerts, on-call engineers, and root-cause analysis within defined SLAs.
- Feature Road-map Execution – Continue iterative sprints to add high-priority features based on real-user feedback.
- Performance & Cost Optimization – Tuning databases, refactoring code, and right-sizing cloud resources to handle growth efficiently.
- Scalability & Re-architecture – Transitioning from monolith to microservices or introducing multi-region deployments as user volumes rise.
- Staff Augmentation – Seamlessly extend your engineering capacity as you approach Series A or rapid market expansion.
