startups

Software Development for Startups

Software development for funded startups by EltexSoft. Not an MVP factory. HeyTutor (Forbes 30u30), Arcade.ai ($42M), Ripe (acquired). $50-99/hr.

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EltexSoft builds software for funded startups. Not an MVP factory — we provide engineering teams that stay for years. HeyTutor came to us with a product spec on one page of A4 paper. 9 years later: Forbes 30 Under 30 founders, LAUSD contract, 10,000+ tutors. Ripe came as a catering business running on spreadsheets. 5 years later: acquired by Hungry. Greek House came with a stalled engineering team. 4 years later: Inc. 5000, acquired 2024. $50-99/hr.

What we ship

The Work

Not an MVP Factory. Engineering Teams That Stay.

HeyTutor came to us with a product spec written on one page of A4 paper. Two non-technical founders. No code. No CTO.

We extended the spec to 40 pages. Designed the prototype. Built the platform from scratch. Our co-founder became their de facto CTO and stayed for 9 years. The founders made the Forbes 30 Under 30 list. The platform grew to 10,000+ tutors. LAUSD — the largest school district in the United States — became a client.

Ripe came as a functioning catering business running on Excel spreadsheets. DigitalOcean, MongoDB, and Kickstarter were already paying customers. We built the entire platform from scratch. Supported it for 5 years. Hungry acquired Ripe after passing technical due diligence on our codebase.

Greek House came with a stalled engineering team. The previous team shipped releases every few months. We set up CI/CD, started shipping same-day, and supported the platform for 4 years through Inc. 5000 recognition and acquisition in 2024. The founder is now building his next company with us.

These are not MVP stories. They are partnership stories. The MVP is the first chapter. The product is the book.

Why Startups Choose EltexSoft

CTO Without the C-Suite Cost

Most early-stage startups cannot afford a full-time CTO. They need someone to make architecture decisions, select the stack, set up infrastructure, manage the engineering team, evaluate vendors, and prepare technical documentation for investors.

Our co-founder has served in that role for HeyTutor (9 years), Greek House (4 years), and Ripe (5 years). Not as a consultant who writes a report and leaves. As a hands-on technical leader who sets up CI/CD on day one, reviews every pull request, and is on call when production breaks at midnight.

See our CTO as a service page for the full model.

Teams That Scale With the Business

Start with 2-3 engineers for MVP. Add QA when you have users. Add frontend specialists when the product needs a redesign. Scale to 7-10 for growth mode. Scale down after acquisition.

Greek House: 3-7 engineers over 4 years, flexing with seasonality and business needs. Snapwire: 10 engineers (one-third of the 30-person team) for 2.5 years. HeyTutor: Team composition changed 5+ times over 9 years as the product evolved.

You do not hire a team once and keep it fixed. You scale the team with the business. We handle that scaling.

Code That Passes Due Diligence

If your startup raises a Series A, investors will look at the code. If your startup gets acquired, the acquirer will look harder. 6 of our startup clients have been acquired. Every codebase passed due diligence.

What due diligence looks for: test coverage, CI/CD pipelines, clean git history, documented architecture, no hardcoded secrets, proper database migrations, and code that a new engineer can understand without the original team explaining every file.

We build to that standard from day one. Not because we expect every startup to exit. Because code that passes due diligence is code that is easy to maintain, easy to onboard new engineers to, and easy to scale.

Equity-Free

We do not take equity. We charge $50-99/hr on monthly retainer. You keep 100% of your cap table.

When Greek House was acquired in 2024, the founder kept the full exit value. When Ripe was acquired by Hungry, same. When Snapwire was acquired by StudioNow, same.

Our business model is engineering services, not venture capital. Your success is not diluted by our share.

What We Build for Startups

V1 from scratch. Product spec to working software. Laravel, React, Django, Vue, iOS, Android. CI/CD, staging environments, and monitoring from day one.

Marketplace platforms. Two-sided matching, payments with Stripe Connect, messaging, search, reviews. Four marketplace clients acquired.

SaaS products. Multi-tenant, subscription billing, admin dashboards, API integrations. PropertyRate, RiseMD.

Mobile apps. Free Stuff Finder (2M+ installs), MOTTIV (10K+ athletes), Unfold (WWDC).

AI products. LLM integration, RAG pipelines, computer vision. Byron, RiseMD.

What It Costs

Senior engineer: $50-99/hr. No equity taken.

MVP (2-3 engineers, 3-6 months): $40K-$100K. V1 with mobile (3-5 engineers, 5-10 months): $80K-$200K. Growth phase retainer: $15K-$50K/month. Full team (5-10 engineers): $40K-$100K/month.

Who We Are

EltexSoft is a boutique startup software development company. 35-50 senior engineers. Headquartered in Lisbon, Portugal. Engineering team in Ukraine. Founded in 2015.

Startup clients: HeyTutor (9yr), Nautical Commerce ($30M), Greek House (acquired), Ripe (acquired), Snapwire (acquired), MOTTIV (10K+ athletes), Arcade.ai ($42M funded). 5.0 Clutch. 200+ Upwork reviews. Top Rated Plus and Expert-Vetted.

30-minute technical call. Bring your product idea, your one-page spec, or your Series A architecture challenge. We’ll tell you what we’d build and what we wouldn’t.

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FAQ

Common questions

Is EltexSoft an MVP development company?
No. We are not an MVP factory that builds a prototype and moves on. We build the first version and then stay for years: HeyTutor (9 years), MyFlyRight (10 years), Greek House (4 years), Ripe (5 years). The MVP is just the first milestone. The product is the long-term partnership.
What startups has EltexSoft worked with?
HeyTutor (EdTech, Forbes 30 Under 30), Arcade.ai ($42M funded AI company), Nautical Commerce ($30M Series A, acquired), Greek House (Inc. 5000, acquired 2024), Ripe (catering marketplace, acquired by Hungry), Snapwire (photography marketplace, acquired by StudioNow), and MOTTIV (endurance training). Most of these started as early-stage startups.
Do you work with non-technical founders?
Yes. HeyTutor's two founders were non-technical. Ripe's founder came from the catering industry. Greek House's founder was a business operator. In each case, our co-founder served as CTO: making architecture decisions, managing the engineering team, and translating business goals into technical execution.
How much does startup software development cost?
An MVP costs $40K-$100K (3-6 months with 2-3 engineers). A full V1 with mobile costs $80K-$200K (5-10 months). A mature product with multiple engineers costs $15K-$50K/month on retainer. EltexSoft charges $50-99/hr. We do not take equity.
Do you take equity?
No. We charge hourly rates on monthly retainer. You keep 100% of your cap table. When Greek House, Ripe, and Snapwire were acquired, the founders kept the full exit value. Our business model is engineering services, not venture.
Can you help with investor due diligence?
Yes. We have prepared technical documentation for investor rounds (Nautical Commerce's $30M Series A) and acquirer due diligence (Greek House, Ripe, Snapwire acquisitions). Clean code, comprehensive tests, infrastructure documentation, and architecture diagrams.
What happens if my startup fails?
You own the code, the infrastructure, and all assets. If the business does not work, you can pivot, sell the technology, or wind down. We do not hold your code hostage. Work-for-hire assignment means everything belongs to you.
How fast can you start?
Introductions with senior engineers in 1 week. Team assembled and working in 2-3 weeks. First deployable code in 4-6 weeks. HeyTutor went from one-page spec to working prototype in under 3 months.
Where is EltexSoft located?
Headquarters in Lisbon, Portugal. Engineering team in Kyiv, Ukraine. US presence in New York and Los Angeles. European timezones with 5+ hours of US business day overlap. All work is remote.
Who owns the code?
You do. Full work-for-hire assignment from day one. Source code, infrastructure configurations, deployment pipelines, documentation — everything belongs to you. No lock-in. No ownership disputes.

Tell us what you're building.

One business day reply. From an engineer, not a sales rep.

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