How we work
Three ways to work together. One way we build.
Every track runs through the same five steps: call, scoping, proof slice, trial release, commercial release. What changes is how you pay and how we recover. Pick the one that matches your cash and your customers. A first commercial release typically runs £40k to £100k. Deal terms are set per client after scoping and written down before anything starts. See a sample term sheet.
Side by side
The three tracks compared.
| Paid Build | Founder's Path Flagship | Studio Bet By selection | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who it is for | Funded founders and operators who want speed and clean ownership. | Domain experts with some cash, a real market, and customers close to paying. | Founders with committed pilot customers who have paid deposits, and no budget. |
| Upfront cash | Milestone fees. Discovery is milestone one. | Short paid discovery, a paid proof slice, then a reduced, paced monthly fee credited to the Build Value. | None from you. Pilot deposits from your customers fund operating costs. |
| How we recover | From the fees. Nothing else. | Capped revenue share until the Build Value is recovered. The cap is the Build Value. | Revenue share to recover the Build Value, plus the equity stake. |
| IP | Yours on payment. Deed of assignment at final payment. | Held by us until recovery and equity issuance, or early settlement. Operating licence meanwhile, exclusive worldwide from Commercial acceptance. Assignment deed held in escrow from signing. | Same as Founder's Path. |
| Equity | None. | Optional minority stake, fully diluted, nominal consideration, vesting against delivery. Maximum fixed at signing. | Technical-cofounder minority stake with vesting. Maximum fixed at signing. |
| Control | Yours. | Yours. No board control, no veto. | Yours. No board control, no veto. Converts to Founder's Path if you raise a round. |
| What you need before we start | A budget for the first release and time to decide weekly. | Discovery paid, proof slice paid, real paying pilot customers committed. | Signed pilot customers with paid deposits, a full-time founder, a market you know from the inside. |
Price guide: Fundraising Tech Pack from £2,500. Paid Build first commercial release typically £40k to £100k. Revenue share percentages, equity maximums and vesting splits are set per client after scoping. The sample term sheet shows a typical Founder's Path deal with example numbers.
Track 1
Paid Build
You have the budget. We build to a written scope for milestone fees. You own everything on payment.
Who it is for
Funded founders, operators with a budget line, and companies adding a product they cannot build in-house. You want the fewest strings and the cleanest ownership.
How it works
Discovery is the first milestone and sets the scope, architecture, cost and timeline. From there, fixed milestones invoiced as each is accepted. A first commercial release typically runs £40k to £100k. Weekly working sessions, a shared board, working software at every milestone.
Ownership and protection
100% of the company and the project IP on payment. Deed of assignment at final payment. Scope changes are priced by change order. 30-day defect warranty after trial-ready acceptance.
Track 2, the flagship
Founder's Path
A reduced, paced fee plus recovery from the product. Never zero-cash. You keep control. This is how a live revenue-and-equity aligned partnership already runs today. Read a sample term sheet with example numbers.
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Paid discovery
Short, paid upfront, sized to your scope. Output: first-release scope, architecture and compliance notes, and the Build Value.
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Paid proof slice
A working slice of the hardest part of the product. Fixed fee, paid in full. It does not credit toward the Build Value; it buys certainty for both sides before the full commitment.
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Build Value fixed in writing
For a defined, committed scope, split into a Trial Release and a Commercial Release. Work outside that scope is a change order, priced separately, and never raises the equity.
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Kickoff gate
Real paying pilot customers committed before build starts. Letters plus founding fees, not verbal interest. The number is agreed per venture and written into the agreement.
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Monthly cash from kickoff
Invoiced net 14 and credited toward the Build Value. Reduced and paced, not free. This is what keeps both sides honest.
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Capped revenue share
A percentage of subscription revenue, net of tax and refunds, paid monthly until the Build Value is recovered. It stops at recovery. A step-up applies if recovery is still open after an agreed period. The percentage and the timing are set per client.
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Optional minority equity
Fully diluted, nominal consideration, vesting against delivery in tranches: Trial acceptance, Commercial acceptance, recovery. The maximum is fixed at signing and never renegotiated. The revenue share continues until shares are issued and registered, so nobody can stall the paperwork.
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IP held until recovery
Pixelperinches holds the project IP until recovery plus equity issuance, or early settlement. You hold an operating licence while payments are current, exclusive worldwide from Commercial acceptance. The deed of assignment is signed at contract signing and held in escrow. Your data and verified content stay yours. Our background tools are licensed to you perpetually, non-exclusive.
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Operating costs and early settlement
Hosting, AI usage and third-party services are yours from pilot launch, in accounts you control. You can settle the balance early at any time and every credit carries over.
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Protections, both ways
Balance due in cash on abandonment, termination for convenience, or rebuilding elsewhere. On a sale, the balance plus the cash value of the equity is paid first. A non-circumvention period. Genuine commercial failure after a sustained good-faith push reduces the unrecovered balance and spreads the rest over an agreed period. 30-day defect warranty after trial-ready acceptance.
Track 3, by selection
Studio Bet
No upfront fee from you. Only for founders who bring committed pilot customers with deposits before build starts, and only a limited number at a time.
The gate. All of it, before kickoff.
- Pilot customers who have signed a letter and paid a founding deposit. The number is set in scoping and written into the agreement.
- A founder working full-time, or committed in writing to go full-time by Trial release.
- A market you know from the inside. We do not learn your industry on your time.
- A first release we can ship in months, not years, and a business that can pay a revenue share: subscriptions or repeat revenue.
If any of these is missing, the answer is Founder's Path or not yet. We turn down most Studio Bet applications, and we say so early.
How it works
We take a technical-cofounder equity stake with vesting, plus a revenue share to recover the Build Value. Same five build steps. Same IP stance as Founder's Path: held by us until recovery, operating licence meanwhile, assignment deed in escrow from signing. You keep control of the company and the roadmap.
If you raise a round
The deal converts to Founder's Path. A paced fee and a capped revenue share replace the zero-cash terms. The equity stake stays as agreed at signing. Your investors get a funded build team without renegotiating from scratch.
How we select
- Customer pull: deposits, not promises.
- Domain depth: you have done the job, not read about it.
- Founder time: full-time, or a dated plan to get there.
- A shippable first release and a revenue model that can carry a share.
- Honesty in the first call. It shows.
Lines we hold
What we never do.
- Zero-cash builds without committed customers.A build nobody has paid a deposit for is a hobby with our time attached. Studio Bet exists precisely because the customers come first.
- Silent investing.We are not investors. We do not write cheques, sit on cap tables we did not earn, or take stakes for introductions. Our equity, where it exists, vests against delivery.
- Unlimited scope.The Build Value is fixed to a written scope. Everything outside it is a change order with a price. Scope creep never raises the equity.
- One-size deal terms.We publish price ranges so you can tell early whether we fit. Revenue share, equity and vesting are set per client after scoping, because a fixed percentage on a website is wrong for most of the people reading it.
- Taking control.No board control, no veto, no roadmap by committee. You earned the insight. You keep the company.
- Building in the dark.Weekly sessions, a shared board, working software at every step. If you cannot see it, it is not done.
Not sure which track? Let the router decide, then apply.
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