Ship software, not slide decks.
A 2-week fixed-fee Product Discovery Sprint. A 10- to 12-week production MVP. A customer portal that deflects 40% of inbound support. An app modernization plan that does not require a rewrite your board will not sign. FI Digital's Product Engineering practice is built for the US SMBs and growth-stage companies who are done with offshore staff-augmentation lotteries and consultancy slide decks.
Why US SMBs Hire a Product Engineering Partner
Three patterns trigger this hire. Pattern one: the founder or product leader has an MVP commitment and no engineering bench that can ship it on time.
Pattern two: the operations-led business has outgrown off-the-shelf tools and needs a customer portal, a partner app, or a workflow tool that Zoho, Salesforce, or NetSuite will not ship natively.
Pattern three: the technology debt from a legacy app (Classic ASP, old .NET, old Rails, on-prem Laravel) is slowing the business down and a rewrite is too risky.
All three are product engineering problems, not staff-augmentation problems. We solve them with a US account lead, a senior engineering squad, and a scope that publishes a fixed fee after the Discovery Sprint.
What We Build
| Offer | Outcome | Timeline | Commercial Model |
|---|---|---|---|
| Product Discovery Sprint | Architecture, scope, fixed-fee estimate, and decision-ready report | 2 weeks | Fixed fee |
| MVP Build | Production MVP on React / Next.js + Node / Python + Postgres | 10-12 weeks | Fixed fee after discovery |
| Customer Portal | Authenticated portal with Zoho / Salesforce / NetSuite integration | 8-12 weeks | Fixed fee after discovery |
| Internal Workflow App | Operations app for dispatch, approvals, planning, or inventory | 6-10 weeks | Fixed fee after discovery |
| Mobile App (React Native) | iOS + Android app on a shared React Native codebase | 10-14 weeks | Fixed fee after discovery |
| App Modernization | Incremental modernization of a legacy codebase without a rewrite | 12-24 weeks | Milestone-based |
| Integration Engineering | Custom integrations between CRM, ERP, fulfillment, and payment | 4-12 weeks | Fixed fee or milestone |
Our Engineering Method
Every Product Engineering engagement begins with a 2-week Product Discovery Sprint to eliminate risk before we write a line of code.
Discover
We run stakeholder interviews, decompose the problem, produce a reference architecture, identify integration risk, scope the build, and deliver a fixed-fee proposal. You can take the artifacts and walk — we will not lock you into a build.
Design
We staff a product squad (senior engineer, engineering manager, optional designer, QA) and finalize wireframes, schema, and API contracts.
Build
We ship on 2-week iterations with a live preview environment, so you never wait 10 weeks to see what we built.
Operate
We hand over code, IP, and a runbook to your team, or we continue to operate and maintain the application under an SLA.
Technology Stack
We are not "technology agnostic" — we are opinionated. We will tell you which stack fits your ops team, not the one that gets us the most hours.
What Changes the Price of Product Engineering
Scope
Number of screens, user roles, and major workflows.
Integrations
Number of external systems (CRM, ERP, payment, auth) and their API maturity.
Data Complexity
Legacy data migrations, multi-tenant requirements, reporting depth.
Compliance
SOC 2, HIPAA, GLBA, CCPA / CPRA requirements.
Mobile
Whether iOS + Android are in scope and whether offline-first is required.
Ownership
Whether we transfer code, IP, and DevOps to your team on day one or hand over after an operate phase.
Frequently Asked Questions — Product Engineering
Do you do staff augmentation?
No. We deliver scoped outcomes with a US account lead. If you want bodies-in-seats, we will politely decline and suggest a staff-aug firm.
How senior are your engineers?
Our product squad leads are senior engineers with 8+ years of US SMB and growth-stage delivery experience. We do not put junior engineers in lead roles.
Where are your engineers based?
US-based account leads and senior engineers drive every engagement. Our global engineering bench supports delivery under US leadership.
Do we own the code?
Yes. Every engagement transfers full IP to the client on acceptance. We do not retain derivative rights to client code.
Can you work with our existing engineering team?
Yes. Many engagements are hybrid — our squad leads delivery while your engineers ramp up on the codebase. We leave your team with a code handover, documentation, and a runbook.
What is a Product Discovery Sprint?
A 2-week fixed-fee engagement that produces a reference architecture, a scope, a fixed-fee build estimate, and a decision-ready report. It is the cheapest way to find out whether you should build or buy.
How long does a typical MVP take?
Most production MVPs ship in 10 to 12 weeks after Discovery. Complex, multi-tenant, or regulated builds take 14 to 20 weeks.
Do you write unit and integration tests?
Yes. Every build ships with unit tests, integration tests, and a CI / CD pipeline. Test coverage expectations are set in Discovery.
What about security?
Every build ships with authentication, authorization, input validation, encryption at rest and in transit, and a security review before go-live. For regulated workloads we add SOC 2- or HIPAA-aligned controls from day one.
How do we start?
Book a fit call or book the Product Discovery Sprint directly.