Web softwares
Accounts, billing, permissions, and the dashboard your customers log into. Built to hold up past your first thousand paying users.
We build the product.You build the company.
An equity-based technical partner for early-stage SaaS founders. We also take on smaller, scoped builds as paid projects.
Web softwares
Mobile apps
Venture studio
- Products shipped
- 20+Products shipped
- Your IP, from day one
- 100%Your IP, from day one
- Retainers or lock-ins
- 0Retainers or lock-ins
No account managersNo billable-hour gamesNo change-request taxNo offshore handoffsNo disappearing at launchNo account managersNo billable-hour gamesNo change-request taxNo offshore handoffsNo disappearing at launch
AgenciesAgenciesgetgetpaidpaidwhetherwhetherorornotnotyouryourproductproductworks.works.WeWeonlyonlygetgetpaidpaidififititdoes.does.
The product itself, and everything under it.
Flowgen Labs is an equity-based technical partner for early-stage SaaS founders. We build the production version of your product and take equity in your company instead of charging fees. We also take on smaller, clearly scoped builds as ordinary paid projects.
Mobile apps
Native-grade iOS and Android from one codebase, for when your product genuinely needs a phone. We will tell you when it does not.
Venture studio
The infrastructure underneath, and the technical co-founder work on top of it. Diligence when you raise, scaling when traction lands. We own part of this, so we do not leave at launch.
Two ways to work with us.
Same team and the same bar either way. What changes is how we get paid and how long we stay. More than one partnership started as a small project that went well.
The partnership
We take equity, not fees.
You are building a SaaS company and you need a technical team that is still here in two years. We build the product and take a stake in the company instead of invoicing you.
- How we are paid
- Equity, typically 5-15%
- How long we stay
- Through launch and well past it
- Who it suits
- Pre-seed and seed SaaS founders
Project work
Or you just need it built.
A marketing site, an internal tool, an integration, a rebuild of something that is buckling. Clearly scoped, quoted up front, paid the normal way. No equity, no strings.
- How we are paid
- Fixed quote for the agreed scope
- How long we stay
- Until it ships, and support after
- Who it suits
- Founders and teams with a defined build
Not sure which one you are? That is the first thing we work out on the call.
Book a callHow the work actually goes.
- 01
Scope
We work out what the first version needs and, more usefully, what it does not. You leave with a written spec and, on a partnership, the equity terms.
- 02
Design
Screens before code. You tell us what is wrong while it is still cheap to change, not once it is built.
- 03
Build
A working demo every Friday and a shared channel we are both in. No status reports, no account manager in between.
- 04
Launch
We ship to real users with monitoring wired in from the start, so the first bug report comes from us rather than a customer.
- 05
Keep building
We iterate on what users actually do and scale the stack when it starts hurting. On a partnership we own part of this, so we do not leave at launch.
We do not send invoices. We take equity.
No retainer, no hourly rate, nothing at the end of the month. An agency gets paid whether or not the product works. We do not, which is exactly why we are selective about who we build for.
- 5-15%Equity, typically
- How early you are, how much there is to build, and how long you want us involved after launch.
- 4 yearsVesting
- 4 years with a 1-year cliff, the same terms you would give a co-founder. We do not keep what we have not earned.
- 100%Your IP
- Every line assigned to your company from day one. Shareholders in your business, not landlords of your codebase.
Terms vary and every partnership is papered individually, so none of this is a standing offer. It is not legal or tax advice either. Have your own lawyer read any agreement before you sign it.
Everyone else gets paid whether it works or not.
On a partnership we are the only one on this list that loses money if your product does not sell.
A freelance developer
- What they are paid to do
- Bills by the hour, so a slower build pays better. Gone the day the contract ends.
- What we do instead
- Paid only in equity. A slow build costs us, and we are still here in two years.
A development agency
- What they are paid to do
- Invoices monthly against a fixed scope, and gets paid whether or not you find customers.
- What we do instead
- We take a handful of founders a year. If the product does not sell, we earn nothing.
A venture studio
- What they are paid to do
- Brings its own idea, builds it with its own team, and usually keeps control.
- What we do instead
- Your idea, your company, your board. We hold a minority stake and no veto.
A technical co-founder
- What they are paid to do
- Months to find, salary plus real equity, and painful to undo if it turns out wrong.
- What we do instead
- A whole team from this month, equity only, on vesting you can walk away from.
Frequently asked questions.
Nothing here is legal advice, and every partnership is papered individually.
No. Equity partnerships are what we are built around, but we also take on smaller, clearly scoped builds as ordinary paid projects: a marketing site, an internal tool, an integration, a rebuild. Same team either way. What changes is how we are paid and how long we stay.
If the work has a defined edge and an obvious finish line, it is a project and we quote it. If you are building a company and need a technical team that keeps going after launch, that is a partnership and we take equity instead of fees. We will tell you which one you are asking for on the first call.
Faster than you expect, and we will not pretend to know until we have seen the scope. You get a schedule in writing once we have scoped the work, plus something running to look at every Friday. What we will not do is quote a timeline before we understand the problem.
Boring, proven technology your next engineer already knows. We choose the stack that fits the product rather than the one trending this quarter, because we are the ones still maintaining it in two years.
Then we rebuild it. You approve designs before anyone writes code and see working software weekly, so this rarely becomes a surprise. We hold equity, so a product you are not proud to sell is our problem too.
Usually 5-15%. Three things move it: how early you are, how much there is to build, and how long you want us involved afterwards. You get the number in the first real conversation, not at the end of a long process.
Our equity becomes worthless, exactly like every other shareholder's. We do not charge fees or seek repayment for work completed. That risk is why we are selective about who we work with.
You do, all of it, assigned to your company from day one. We are shareholders in your business, not landlords of your codebase. Have your own lawyer read the agreement before you sign it.
Common, and fine. We read it honestly and tell you whether it is a foundation or a liability. We will not pretend a rewrite is free because rewrites are more enjoyable.
A weekly call and a shared channel. You make the product decisions, we make the technical ones. Founders who disappear for a month get a product built on our guesses about your market, and those are worse than yours.
Yes, and not as a favour. We hold equity, so a product that stalls after launch costs us directly. We keep shipping, scale the infrastructure when it starts to hurt, and handle technical diligence when you raise.
No. If you are at idea stage with nothing validated, or you want a fixed scope and a handshake at the end, a partnership is the wrong shape. That is usually a project instead, and we will say so on the first call rather than halfway through a build.
No. On a partnership the equity is the point: the moment we invoice a founder we start optimising for hours billed, like everyone else. If cash is what you want, take the project track, where a fixed quote is exactly the right arrangement.
A partnership is not right for every founder.
A partnership fits if
- You are pre-seed or seed, building SaaS
- Your founding team is non-technical, or technical but stretched
- Something already works: paying users, a waitlist, a signed pilot
- You need a real product, not a prototype you will throw away
- You are incorporated, with a cap table that can take a shareholder
Better as a project if
- It is still an idea with nothing validated yet
- It is not SaaS. A site, an internal tool, an integration
- You want one defined build, not a partner in the company
- You would rather not put equity in writing
None of these are a no. They are the project track: we scope it, quote it, build it and invoice you like anyone else.
Thirty minutes, no deck required. We reply within 3 business days, including when the answer is no.
Book a call