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02 / APPROACH

Small engagements,
clear deliverables.

No standing retainers, no padding. We work in 4–8 week scoped engagements with explicit deliverables on day one.

A TYPICAL ENGAGEMENT

Eight weeks. From kickoff to runbook.

WEEK 1

Discovery

We map your stack, talk to your team, and produce a concrete scope with deliverables, milestones, and pricing — fixed, not hourly.

DELIVERABLE
Signed SOW
WEEKS 2–6

Build

Focused work in dedicated cycles. Weekly demos in your timezone. Direct Slack channel. Zero status meetings — progress is visible in the work.

DELIVERABLE
Working software
WEEKS 7–8

Handoff

Documentation your team can actually use, runbooks, and a 30-day support window. Optional ongoing advisory if you want it. No lock-in.

DELIVERABLE
Docs + 30-day support
SIX PRINCIPLES

Things we believe.
Things we won't bend on.

01

Fixed scope, fixed price

Hourly billing rewards padding. We scope tightly, agree a number, and ship the thing. If we underestimate, that's our problem, not yours.

02

No status meetings

Async by default. Weekly demo + written update. If you want a sync call, you can have one — but you don't have to sit through one to know we're working.

03

Direct contact

You work with the person reading your code. No account managers, no project coordinators, no proxies. Slack me; I respond.

04

Three engagements at a time

We say no to most projects. Saying yes to too many means saying yes badly to all of them. If we're a fit, we're committing.

05

Real handoff

The work has to outlive the engagement. That means real docs, real runbooks, and tests your team will keep running. Not a knowledge silo with a price tag.

06

Boring beats clever

When in doubt, the well-trodden choice. We use boring tools because they're maintainable, hireable-for, and won't trap you.

VS A TYPICAL CONSULTING SHOP

Different model. On purpose.

ASPECT
TYPICAL AGENCY
KAKERA
Pricing model
Hourly retainer (incentive to drag)
Fixed scope, fixed price
Engagement length
12+ months minimum
4–8 week scoped sprints
Status updates
Weekly meeting + slide deck
Async demo + written update
Who you talk to
Account manager → PM → engineer
The engineer, directly
Handoff
Wiki page nobody updates
Docs + runbooks + 30-day support
Active engagements
20+ at a time
3 at a time, hard cap

Sound like a fit?

Three slots open at any given time. Tell us what you're building and we'll let you know if we can help.

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