Technical partner · Austin, Texas

You have the idea. You just don't have the words for it yet.

I turn it into something an engineer can build from — data model, architecture, security, real costs. Then I build it, or you take the documents elsewhere. Either way, you own them.

Free. No pitch. Evenings and weekends.

Why this exists

Being non-technical shouldn't mean being dependent.

Three things happen to almost every first-time founder who hires a developer. None are about the code.

You can't tell if the quote is fair.
Someone says twenty thousand and four months. Generous, robbery, or optimistic? You guess, and you hope.
You can't tell which decisions are expensive.
Some choices are trivially reversible. Others cost you a rebuild in eighteen months. From where you stand they look identical.
You can't leave.
No documentation means no second opinion, no handover, no exit. Whoever built it is the only one who understands it — often by design.
What it costs

Fixed prices. Published, so you can plan.

Every engagement stands on its own. Nothing is credited back against a later build — that would make the first one a sales call.

Start here if you already have a developer

Technical Review

You have a quote, a half-built product, or a developer you're not sure about. I review it and tell you plainly what I'd do differently.

  • Written assessment with recommendations
  • An honest read on the quote
  • The questions to ask your developer next
$1,500
Half a day
Written report within 3 days
No commitment beyond it
Most people start here

Technical Foundations Sprint

Two weeks of structured conversation that turns your idea into a complete, buildable specification — one you can hand to any competent engineer, including me.

  • Product and business requirements
  • Data model and schemas
  • Architecture and stack, with reasoning
  • Security specification
  • Twelve-month cost projection
  • Phased build plan
$5,000
2 weeks
50% to start, 50% on delivery
Yours to take anywhere
If you want me to build it

Build

Fixed price against the sprint specification. No hourly billing, no surprise invoices, no scope arguments.

  • $12,000 – $20,000 · 5–8 weeks — one main flow, accounts, simple admin
  • $20,000 – $32,000 · 8–12 weeks — several user types, integrations, real reporting
  • $32,000+ · 12–16 weeks — payments, sensitive data, or AI features
$12k–$40k
5 to 16 weeks
Milestone payments
Requires the sprint first
If it's already built

Documentation Rescue

Your product works, but there's no documentation — so no engineer can take it over, no investor can review it, and no lawyer can assess it.

  • Data model and schemas, reverse-engineered
  • Architecture and security posture, written up
  • A candid list of what's fragile or unsafe
$3,500
2 weeks
Works with any stack
No rebuild required
After launch

On-Call Technical Partner

Someone to ask before you make a decision you can't undo — vendor renewals, security questions, whether a feature is a week or a quarter.

  • $1,500/month — async access, monthly call, small changes
  • $3,000/month — the above plus active development time
from $1,500
Monthly, cancel anytime
No minimum term
The sprint, specifically

Seven documents you own outright.

The artifacts a serious engineering team produces before writing a line of code. Most founders never see them, which is why they end up stuck.

01

Product Requirements

What the product does, who for, and in what order. The document an engineer reads first.

02

Business Requirements

How money moves, who is accountable, which rules are non-negotiable.

03

Data Model

Every entity and how each relates. Get this wrong and everything above it inherits the mistake.

04

Schemas

Tables, fields, types, constraints — ready to implement directly.

05

Architecture

Services, hosting, and tools, with the reasoning — including what I chose not to use.

06

Security Specification

Who can see which records, and how that's enforced at the data layer.

07

Cost Plan

Real monthly figures over a year, plus what to postpone until you have users.

How it works

Conversation first. Code much later.

01

We talk

Not a sales call. I ask about the business, the money, and the edge cases you haven't considered. Usually the most useful hour of the process.

02

I specify

Your answers become the seven documents. Where there's a decision, I explain the trade-off and you choose.

03

You decide

Build with me, take the specification elsewhere, or sit on it. The price doesn't change.

04

We build

Fixed price against the spec, in milestones you can see. Documentation stays current as we go.

Honesty first

When you should hire someone else.

Better to find out on a free call than three weeks in. If any of these sound like you, say so.

You want the cheapest possible option

Marketplaces will build something for a fraction of this — sometimes the right call if you're still testing whether anyone wants it.

You want to start building next week

I won't skip the specification. If you want hands on a keyboard now, you want a developer, not me.

You want someone to just take orders

Part of what you're paying for is being told when an idea is expensive or risky. If you'd rather someone execute your plan as written, that just isn't this.

You want equity instead of paying

I don't take equity in place of fees. That's a co-founder arrangement — a different relationship entirely.

You need a full engineering team

If it needs three or four people building in parallel, you need an agency or your first hires. I can scope it and help you evaluate them.

You are in a heavily regulated market at scale

Clinical records or money at volume need dedicated compliance work from day one. I can set the foundations, but you'll need specialists too.

Questions

The things people ask before they email.

Do I own everything?

Yes — documents, code, database, accounts, every subscription in your name and under your login. If the domain and hosting sit in someone else’s account, you don't control your own product. Worth checking whoever you hire, including me.

What if I take the specification to another developer?

A fine outcome — the documents are built for it. You paid for the thinking, and the thinking is yours.

Do I need to understand any of this?

No — explaining it in plain language is most of the job. You'll finish understanding your own product better, which matters when you're hiring or raising.

What if the build ends up costing more than the estimate?

It doesn't. The price is fixed against a written specification before anything gets built. Change your mind mid-build and we write down what it costs, and you decide.

How long until I can actually launch?

Two weeks for the sprint, then five to sixteen to build — realistically two to three months for a simple product. If someone quotes you two weeks, ask what they're leaving out.

I already have a developer. Is this useful?

Then the Technical Review is what you want. Frequently the answer is that your developer is doing fine and you should stop worrying — a legitimate result.

What happens after it launches?

Your choice. Some take the documentation and hire someone cheaper; others keep me on call. No lock-in either way — that's the point.

How do you work if you have a day job?

Evenings and weekends, and I'm honest about capacity — a few projects at a time. In exchange you get someone who does this at much larger scale every day.

About

I do this at much larger scale during the day.

I'm Cordero Perez. I work on data infrastructure and AI governance inside a Fortune 500 technology company — the systems that decide whether data can be trusted and whether an AI can act on it safely.

Before that, three years as a senior consultant in AI and data engineering at a Big Four firm, and seven years in federal and municipal oversight.

A strange background for helping someone launch their first app, and exactly the point. The decisions I make for you on a Tuesday evening are the ones I'd defend in a compliance review.

Data & Analytics Developer
Fortune 500 technology · current
Senior Consultant, AI & Data Engineering
Big Four consultancy · 3 years
Data Analyst, Oversight & Investigations
Municipal government · 3 years
Certifications
AWS Cloud Practitioner · MIT/edX Supply Chain Analytics · MIT/edX Supply Chain Technology & Systems · Tableau Desktop Specialist · PCEP Python · SOA Exam P
Get in touch

Tell me what you're trying to build.

Describe it however it comes out — you don't need the right words, that's the job. If I'm not the right person, I'll say so.

Contact us