Talk to a senior engineer, not a sales rep
Your first conversation is with the person who'd lead your project. Tell us what you're building and we'll tell you honestly whether we're the right fit — and if not, we'll point you to someone who is.
Tell us about your project
The more context you share, the more useful our first conversation will be.
Straight answers to the questions CTOs ask us
Questions we get from engineering leaders across the US, Canada, and UK before they decide to work with us.
Who will I speak to on the discovery call?
A senior engineer with a minimum of 7 years of production experience — the same person who would lead your engagement if we proceed. We don't use sales teams or account managers as the first point of contact. Your time is too valuable for that.
How quickly can you start?
Most projects kick off within 1–2 weeks of signing the engagement agreement. We keep capacity available for incoming work. If your situation is urgent, tell us and we'll be upfront about what we can do.
Do you work with US, Canadian, and UK legal requirements?
Yes. We handle US HIPAA and SOC2 compliance, Canadian PIPEDA requirements, and UK/EU GDPR from architecture level. We've worked under all three regulatory environments and know where the requirements differ.
Can we pay in USD, CAD, or GBP?
Yes. We invoice in USD, CAD, and GBP depending on your location and preference. We work with international banking and can accommodate most payment structures — wire, ACH, BACS, and corporate card.
What does an engagement actually look like?
Discovery call first (book at calendly.com/hello-swordtechlabs). Week 1: senior engineer reviews your situation and writes a technical assessment. Week 2: architecture proposal, your approval before we write a line of code. Week 3+: two-week sprints, Wednesday demos, production deployments. You can exit at end of any sprint.
Do you work with early-stage companies?
Yes — some of our best work has come from seed and Series A engagements. We work with companies from two-person founding teams to established scale-ups. The engagement model scales; the engineering standard doesn't.
Will we own the code and IP?
Unconditionally. Full IP assignment from contract day one. We never use proprietary frameworks or retain any claim over what we build. Your lawyers can review our standard IP clause before you sign anything.
What if we've already been burned by another agency?
We hear this more than we'd like to. Our discovery process includes a codebase audit if you have existing work — we'll give you an honest technical assessment of what you have before you commit to anything with us.
Still have a question not listed here? Email us directly — a senior engineer will respond, not an assistant.