01 · approach

Equity, not invoices.

Maven exists because most founders don't need another vendor — they need a technology partner whose success is yoked to theirs. We invest capital, deploy a dedicated engineering team, and take equity or revenue share in return. The work is the same as a top-tier engineering firm. The incentives are not.

02 / why we work this way

The studio model,
unbundled.

i. aligned interests

When the only way we make money is for the company to succeed, every conversation about scope, priority, and tradeoffs gets cleaner. We're not optimizing for billable hours — we're optimizing for the company.

ii. capital + code, one partner

Most founders patch a check from a VC together with hours from an agency. The result is friction — different goals, different timelines, different rooms. We collapse the two into a single partnership.

iii. no upfront fees

We invest before we ask anything of you. If we don't believe in the company enough to take that risk, we shouldn't be at the table — and you shouldn't be paying us to find out.

iv. network access

Distribution intros, technical hires, fundraising paths, regulatory contacts — eight years of building has produced a network. It's part of the partnership, not a price tier.

03 / how it unfolds

Three phases.
No theater.

Exploration

30–90 days

Founder calls — we learn the company, the market, and what's actually broken.
Technical assessment — current stack, debt, risks, and what the next 12 months demand.
Scoping document — written down so nothing is fuzzy when we move forward.

Agreement

30–60 days

Letter of intent — captures the shape of the partnership in plain language.
Consulting agreement — the engineering scope, named team, and cadence.
Joint venture agreement — equity, revenue share, control, and the unwinds (because they matter).

Launch & beyond

up to 48 months

MVP — narrow, real, and in the hands of users by the time it matters.
Phased deployment — production-grade, with the boring parts (observability, on-call, compliance) done before they bite.
Long-term partnership — we stay for the second year, the third, and the parts of the roadmap nobody wants to own.

04 / questions we get

Honest answers.

What stage do you partner at?

Anywhere from a written thesis to a Series-A company looking for a long-term technology arm. We're stage-agnostic; we're partnership-shape opinionated.

What does $25k–$3M actually fund?

Mostly consulting and build credit — design, engineering, and the operational hours we'd otherwise invoice — with direct capital layered in where it moves the needle. On top of that core investment we also commit working capital so the company can keep moving while it builds. The exact mix is set in the JV based on what the company most needs in its first 12 months.

Equity, revenue share, or both?

Usually one or the other, occasionally both. We meet you where the cap table and cashflow allow — and we'd rather take less and earn it than more and not.

Do you do pure consulting?

Only if we can hold equity in the end product. If you want hours-for-dollars with no shared upside, there are excellent firms for that — we're not one of them. Every engagement carries a stake in what we build together — through equity, revenue share, or whatever structure best aligns the partnership.

Industries you don't work in?

We avoid pure-content media, consumer social, and anything that requires moats we can't build (regulated insurance, capital-intensive hardware). Otherwise we follow the founder.

What if it doesn't work?

The JV agreement includes pre-negotiated unwind terms — quiet, fast, and without lawyers becoming the main characters. We've done this before.

If this sounds like the partnership you've been
looking for — say hello.

start a conversation