Consulting
We take on a small number of engagements alongside our own products. Senior, hands-on, and scoped in writing before anything starts.
What we take on
Three kinds of engagement
These are the shapes of work we are genuinely good at. If your problem does not look like one of them, write anyway and we will tell you honestly whether we can help.
Product shaping
You have an idea and a budget but not yet a plan. We work through what it actually is, what the first shippable version contains, what it will take to build, and what to cut. You come out with a written plan you could hand to any competent team, including one that is not us.
Design and build
We design and build the thing: native iPhone and iPad applications in Swift and SwiftUI, or web applications built on standards rather than framework churn. We work in the open, showing running software as it develops instead of a reveal at the end.
Release rescue
Something is built but not shipping. We come in to find out why, whether that is App Store review, a build and signing mess, performance, accessibility, or scope that never closed, and we get it out the door.
Process
How an engagement runs
You write to us
Email consulting@betulanoir.com with what you are building, what is in the way, and any deadline you are working against. A paragraph is plenty to start.
A short call
Half an hour to understand the problem and the constraints, at no charge. This is also where we work out whether we are the right fit, which sometimes we are not.
A written proposal
Scope, approach, deliverables, timeline, and price, in writing. Nothing begins until you have agreed to it, and anything outside that scope gets quoted separately rather than appearing on an invoice.
The work, in the open
Regular working builds and plain-language updates rather than a status theatre. You can see progress as it happens, so a wrong turn costs days instead of months.
Handover
You get the source, the build and release process documented, and whatever it takes for another team to pick it up. Work we do for you belongs to you.
Afterwards
We can stay on for maintenance and releases, or step away cleanly. Both are normal, and neither is priced as a penalty.
How we price
Defined pieces of work are quoted at a fixed price, so you know the number before you commit. Open-ended or exploratory work runs at a weekly rate with an agreed maximum. Either way the figure is in the written proposal before anything starts, and we do not bill for the initial call.
Rates depend on the shape and length of the engagement, so we quote per project rather than publishing a number that would be wrong for most of them. Ask and you will get a straight answer quickly.
What we are not
Being clear about this saves everyone a call. We are not an agency with a bench, so we cannot staff a large team at short notice. We do not do ad tech, growth-hacking work, or anything built on tracking people. We do not take engagements where the plan is to ship something we would be embarrassed by.
Working with a small studio
The advantage is that you talk to the person doing the work, so decisions happen in one conversation rather than three. The tradeoff is capacity: we run a small number of engagements at a time and are sometimes booked. If timing matters, say so in your first email and we will tell you straight away whether we can meet it.
Start a conversation
Email consulting@betulanoir.com. If it turns out to be a support question about one of our apps instead, that lives at support@betulanoir.com. More about the company is on the about page.