Skin in the Game: Why the risk sits with us – not with you.
Who carries the risk?
In most software projects, the client carries the risk. You place the order, you pay, you hope that something useful comes out at the end. Once the code is delivered, the project counts as fulfilled – whether your team actually works with it or not is then your problem.
We think that's backwards. Whoever builds a system should stand behind the fact that it works. Not with words, but with their own risk.
The Bridge
The idea is old. One of humanity's oldest legal codes, the Code of Hammurabi, set down a simple principle almost 4,000 years ago: if a house collapses and kills its occupant, the builder is liable – with his own life. Whoever builds answers for their work. Not with a clause, but with their own skin. The same image comes from the builders of early bridges and arches: once the scaffolding came down and the keystone was set, they had to stand beneath it. Whoever crossed the bridge crossed it over their heads. That wasn't a punishment. It was the most honest form of quality assurance there is. The builder carried the same risk as the people who trusted their work.
The reason this principle works is simple: whoever carries the risk of their own work builds differently. More carefully. More honestly. They can't hide behind an acceptance sign-off while the work fails to hold up in reality. They have their own skin in the game.
That's exactly where we come from. We want to stand beneath the bridge we build.
A guarantee is the weakest form of sharing risk
We could give you a money-back guarantee: if it doesn't work, you get your money back. That sounds bold – but it's the weakest form of real risk. Because in the worst case, we're simply back to zero. We give back what we received. We risk nothing we weren't already risking anyway.
That's why a guarantee isn't the end for us. It's the beginning. We carry the risk in several stages – and each one goes further than the last.
How we carry the risk
Stage 1 – You don't owe anything until it works
For us, a project isn't finished when the code is finished. It's finished when your team works with it in live operation. That's why productive use is our acceptance criterion – not delivery.
That's more than a guarantee. We never even get into the position of holding something you're not entitled to. If it doesn't run productively for you, no payment obligation arises. Use is the goal, not handover.
Stage 2 – You only stay as long as we deliver
Once the system is running, we continue in a retainer – and it's cancellable monthly. No annual contract, no lock-in. We voluntarily give up every lever other providers use to hold on to their clients.
Code, data and architecture belong to you. You can leave at any time and continue developing yourself or work with a different partner. We have to earn your collaboration anew every single month.
What "productive" means
The decisive point sits in a single word: productive. For us, it doesn't mean that a piece of software exists. It means that your team works differently in live operation than before. What "productive" concretely means, we define together in advance – measurable, for your company. That way everyone knows how success is measured. The rule stays simple. The basis is unambiguous.
Why we can carry the risk
Taking on risk is only sensible when you keep it small. We can go far because we don't build blindly:
- It all starts with the System Audit. We understand your company as a system before we write a single line of code.
- We deliver Stage 1 at a fixed price. After the audit, the scope is clear – the estimation risk sits with us, not with you.
- Our project managers develop themselves. There are no translation losses between what you need and what gets built.
- We develop in short cycles. We correct course early instead of building past your needs for months. Because we keep the risk small, we can carry it.
Why we do this
We could promise you that everything will turn out fine. Promises are cheap. Every provider promises success – none of them are liable for it. We don't want you to believe us. We want you to see the structure. At the start, you don't owe anything until it works. After that, you only stay as long as we deliver. Neither of these sits in a brochure – it's in the contract.
Technology should make people freer.
That begins with the first step you take with us. It shouldn't cost you anything if it doesn't work.