Our own product
Writford
A workspace for UK legal firms connecting cited research, matter records, time recording and billing. The research workflow keeps source checking and professional review with the solicitor.
Explore WritfordMVP Development
MVP Development for UK Founders
A working first version of your product, live with real users in four to eight weeks for most ideas, at a fixed price agreed before we start — built on accounts in your company’s name, so it is an asset you own rather than a prototype you rent.
A typical MVP build4–8 weeks
Week 1Scope, wireframes, accounts
Week 2–4The core job, end to end
Week 4–6Payments, admin, analytics
Week 6–7Real-device testing
Week 7–8Launch and handover
What You Get
Everything to Launch and Learn
A Working Product, Not a Prototype
Frontend, backend, database, sign-in and deployment — real users can sign up and use it on day one of launch.
AI Where It Earns Its Place
Search, drafting, classification or an assistant, built in when it does a real job and left out when it would only be a label.
Fixed Price, Agreed First
Scope and a fixed price agreed before we start. Any change is re-quoted before it is built, never after.
Most Live in 4–8 Weeks
Weekly demos on a live preview, so you see working software every week rather than status reports.
What Makes It an MVP
What We Build First, and What We Deliberately Leave Out
An MVP is the smallest product that lets real users test the one thing that has to be true for your business to work. Most first versions go wrong by building the second version too early. This is where we draw the line unless your users give us a reason not to.
In the first version
- The one job the product must prove, done end to end
- Sign-up, sign-in and the account screens users actually need
- Payments, if you charge from day one
- An admin view for you to see users and fix problems
- Analytics set up to answer the questions you are testing
- Error monitoring, backups and a privacy notice that matches what the product does
Parked until users ask for it
- Features for users you have not met yet
- Settings, themes and edge-case preferences
- Native iOS and Android builds when one cross-platform codebase will do
- Scaling for traffic you do not have
- Integrations nobody has asked for
- A second user type, unless the product cannot work without it
What We Build
MVP Types We Specialise In
SaaS platforms
Marketplace apps
AI tools
Mobile apps
B2B portals
E-commerce stores
Booking platforms
Community platforms
If it needs to be on a phone, see mobile app development; if it is really an internal tool or portal for an existing business, see custom software and web development.
Scope
What a Project Looks Like
Every project is scoped and quoted after a free discovery call, so you get a fixed price for your situation rather than a number that assumes someone else’s. These are the shapes most engagements take.
Lean MVP
Founders testing whether anyone wants this at all.
Typical timeline: 4 weeks
- One core job done end to end
- Landing page and onboarding
- Payments if you charge
- Analytics to learn from users
Most common
Standard MVP
A validated idea that needs two or three connected features to be usable.
Typical timeline: 6–8 weeks
- Two to three connected features
- Admin dashboard
- AI feature where it adds value
- Post-launch iteration sprint
Complex MVP
Marketplaces and multi-sided products with integrations and compliance.
Typical timeline: 8–12 weeks
- Marketplace or multi-sided products
- Integrations and compliance
- Mobile plus web
- Investor-ready metrics
Timelines are typical and depend on how many systems are involved and how ready your data is. Tell us what you need and we will give you a fixed price and a date.
Week by Week
What Happens Each Week, and What We Need From You
A standard six-to-eight-week build. A lean MVP compresses the middle; a complex one adds integration and compliance time. The column that decides whether it lands on time is usually the right-hand one.
| When | What we do | What we need from you |
|---|---|---|
| Before week 1 | Discovery call and scoping: the one job, the users, the systems it touches. Written scope and fixed price. | An hour of your time, and your honest view of what must be true for this to work. |
| Week 1 | Wireframes and the data model. Accounts set up in your company name: repository, hosting, domain, app store developer accounts if needed. | Sign-off on the core flow, and access to create the accounts (organisation enrolment with Apple needs a D-U-N-S number). |
| Weeks 2–4 | The core job built end to end on a live preview, with a demo every week. | Thirty minutes a week to use it and tell us what is wrong. |
| Weeks 4–6 | Payments, admin view, analytics and any AI feature. Test users invited to the preview. | Five to ten people who fit your target user and will actually try it. |
| Final week | Testing against real devices and edge cases, accessibility checks, launch, and the handover pack. | Final sign-off, and store listings and privacy details ready if it is a mobile app. |
The clocks outside the build — app store review, Google Play’s testing rule, a regulator — are in our guide to how long an MVP takes to build in the UK, and what moves the size of an app project is in what decides what an app costs.
UK Practicalities
Four Things UK Founders Find Out Too Late
None of these is code, and each can hold up a launch that is otherwise ready. We raise them in week one.
App store accounts belong to your company, and take time to set up
Apple’s developer program requires an organisation to be a recognised legal entity with a D-U-N-S number before it can enrol, and Apple verifies both. Google Play requires personal developer accounts created after 13 November 2023 to run a closed test with at least 12 testers for 14 consecutive days before applying for production access. Enrolling as an organisation from the start avoids publishing a company’s product under someone’s personal name.
Collecting personal data usually means the ICO data protection fee
Under the Data Protection (Charges and Information) Regulations 2018, the ICO says organisations that process personal data as a controller must pay the data protection fee unless an exemption applies. An MVP that takes sign-ups is processing personal data, so register before launch, not after, and publish a privacy notice that describes what the product really does.
Cookies and analytics need consent done properly
Non-essential cookies and similar analytics tracking need consent under the UK’s electronic communications rules, which the ICO enforces. We set analytics up so it only runs once a user has agreed, rather than bolting a banner on at the end.
R&D tax relief is a question for your accountant, early
HMRC’s merged R&D scheme and its enhanced support for R&D-intensive companies apply to accounting periods beginning on or after 1 April 2024. Whether any of your build qualifies depends on whether it resolves genuine technological uncertainty, which is a judgement for your accountant, not your developer — but they will want records from the start, so ask before the build, not at year end.
Handover
What You Have at the End
An MVP you cannot hand to another team, or to an investor’s technical adviser, is not an asset. Everything below is part of the fixed price, not an extra at the end.
Code and accounts
The repository, hosting, domain and developer accounts in your company’s name, with us as an invited user you can remove.
Documentation for whoever comes next
How to run it locally, how it deploys, where the data lives, and the decisions we made and why.
Environments and monitoring
A staging and a production environment, error monitoring and backups switched on and explained.
A list of what we left out
Every feature parked during the build, with the reason, so the next version starts from evidence rather than memory.
FAQ
Questions Founders Ask Before Hiring Us
What is included in an MVP?
The one job your product has to prove it can do, done end to end: the user flows for that job, the backend and database behind it, sign-in, payments if you charge, and the analytics you need to learn from real users. Everything else waits until those users tell you what matters. The section above sets out what we deliberately leave out.
How long does an MVP take?
Most take four to eight weeks of build: around four for a product that does one job, six to eight for two or three connected features. Marketplaces and multi-sided products with integrations or anything regulated take eight to twelve. The clocks outside the build — app store review, Google Play’s testing rule for new personal accounts, a regulator — are set out in our guide to how long an MVP takes to build.
Do you offer fixed pricing?
Yes. We agree the scope and a fixed price before any work begins, after a free discovery call. If you want to change scope mid-build, we say so and re-quote before doing it, not after.
Should I build it with no-code tools first?
Sometimes, and we will say so. If the question is simply whether anyone wants the thing, a no-code build can answer it faster. If the product depends on logic, integrations or data the tools cannot handle cleanly, or you already know it will need its own codebase, building it properly once is cheaper than building it twice. Our comparison of no-code tools against a coded build sets out the four signals that no-code has run out of road.
Web app or mobile app first?
Usually web first, unless the product only makes sense on a phone — it needs the camera, location in the background, push notifications as its core, or it lives in someone’s pocket all day. A web MVP launches without app store review and changes the same day. If mobile is essential, one cross-platform codebase for iOS and Android keeps an MVP to a single build; our native versus cross-platform guide covers when that stops being true.
Can you add AI features to an MVP?
Yes, where they do a real job — search over your own content, drafting, classification, a support assistant — rather than as a label. We choose the model for the task and keep it replaceable, so you are not locked to one provider, and we tell you plainly when a feature does not need AI at all.
What tech stack do you use?
Mainstream, well-documented tools another team can pick up: TypeScript throughout, Next.js and React for web, React Native for mobile, Node.js APIs and PostgreSQL, hosted on your own cloud accounts. Nothing proprietary to us.
Who owns the code and the accounts?
You do, on completion and full payment — the repository, the hosting, the domain, the app store accounts if there are any, all set up in your company name rather than ours. For a first product this matters more than for anything else we build, because an investor will ask, and an MVP you cannot hand to another team is not an asset.
How do we know you will still be here in two years?
You should not need us to be. We build on mainstream frameworks another developer can pick up rather than anything proprietary, everything runs on your accounts, and the handover includes documentation written for whoever comes next. Big Berri Limited is registered in England and Wales, company number 16562429. Ask any agency what happens to your product if they close, and take a vague answer as the answer.
Do you help after launch?
Yes, if you want it. The Standard tier includes an iteration sprint after launch, because the first weeks of real use always change the plan. After that, ongoing work is quoted the same way as the build — scope first, then a fixed price — rather than an open-ended retainer you have to justify every month.
Weighing up tools first? Read the best no-code tools for an MVP, and when to write code instead, native, cross-platform or web, and how to scope an MVP right.
Guides
Read before you buy mvp development
- MVP Development
How Long Does It Take to Build an MVP in the UK? The Clocks You Control and the Ones You Do Not
The honest answer is weeks for the build and months for the things around it. What decides the timeline, the external clocks nobody can shorten, and how to read a supplier’s estimate.
- MVP Development
The Best No-Code Tools for an MVP, and When to Write Code Instead
An honest comparison of Bubble, Glide and a coded build on substance rather than price: what each is genuinely good at, where each stops, who maintains it, and the four signals that tell you no-code has run out of road.
- MVP Development
What Decides What It Costs to Build an App in the UK? A 2026 Guide
A straight answer on what drives app development cost for UK businesses in 2026 — the scope decisions that matter, the features that move a quote up or down, the ongoing costs nobody mentions on the sales call, and how UK agencies compare with freelancers and offshore teams.
- MVP Development
MVP Development for UK Startups: Cost, Timeline and How to Scope It Right
What an MVP costs in the UK, what actually counts as one, build vs no-code vs in-house compared, and the UK-specific practicalities founders miss.
Before You Get In Touch
What you can hold us to
Review our own live products, check our company registrations and read the commitments that shape a project. These give you concrete work and clear terms to discuss before booking a call.
Our own product
Let AI Browse
Tools for connecting shopping assistants with storefront product, cart and checkout actions. Its WordPress and storefront integrations show the kind of connected web workflows we build.
Explore Let AI BrowseRead the LetAIBrowse case studyWhat the discovery call actually is
Thirty minutes, free, no obligation and no salesperson. You describe what is costing you time or customers, we ask about the systems involved, and you leave with an honest view of whether this is worth doing. We regularly end that call by saying the tool you already pay for covers it.
You own the result
The code, the repository and the accounts are set up in your company name rather than ours, and they are yours on completion and full payment. Nothing runs on infrastructure we control, so ending the relationship does not end the thing we built.
A fixed price, never a day rate
Every project is quoted as a fixed price with a written scope after the call, so an over-run is our problem rather than yours. If the scope changes, we say so and re-quote before doing the work, not after.
Where your data sits
In the UK or EU, under a data processing agreement, kept only as long as you specify. Any model provider we rely on is named as a sub-processor rather than left implicit, and we will tell you plainly where something you have asked for would put a commitment of yours at risk.
What happens when it goes wrong
Agreed before launch rather than negotiated during an incident: what is covered, how quickly we respond, and what counts as new work. Every build has a defined escalation to a person, because the failure that costs you is the one nobody noticed.
Two things you can check
Big Berri Limited is registered in England and Wales, company number 16562429, and registered with the Information Commissioner's Office under reference ZC119995. Both are public registers. Look us up rather than taking our word for it.
Got an Idea? Let's Work Out the First Version.
A free thirty-minute call. We will tell you what the smallest useful version is, how long it takes, and whether you should build it with us, with no-code tools, or not yet — then a fixed quote if it makes sense.
Book a Free Discovery Call