Founders in the US often burn their pre-seed funding on expensive hires before writing a line of code. We break down the math: In-house vs. Freelancers vs. Fixed-Price Studios.
Building a software product in 2025 is a race against time—and burn rate.
For non-technical founders in the US, the path to launching an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) usually starts with a daunting question: "Who is going to build this?"
You generally have three options: hiring a full-time US developer, juggling freelancers, or partnering with a dev shop.
The Reality: It is incredibly expensive. According to Glassdoor, the average salary for a Senior React/Next.js developer in the US is between $130,000 and $160,000 per year.
Total Estimated Cost for MVP: $40,000+ (representing ~3-4 months of salary + overhead, just to get to V1).
The Reality: The "Hourly Trap." Freelancers can be great for small tasks, but building a full architecture requires project management, design, and backend logic.
The Reality: This is how modern startups scale. We offer fixed pricing so you know exactly what you are paying.
Total Cost for MVP: $5,899 (Starter) to $12,899 (Scale).
Don't spend your seed money on overhead. Spend it on growth.
A serial maker of SaaS products and AI agents, I’ve built and launched 10+ tools, grown products to thousands of users, and taken multiple ventures. I share the process what works, what breaks, and how builders can ship faster and smarter.