Fixed-price MVP pilots — shipped in 8–12 weeks, code is yours. 2-week trial. See pricing →
AI-native product studio · Founded 2019 · 30+ products shipped

Build it. Ship it. Keep the team.

Senior engineers who ship your product in 8-12 weeks, then stay on as your tech partner. Fixed-price from $3k. 2-week trial — walk away if it's not right, no invoice.

HZN-ASSIST· trained on 30+ projects · responds instantly
NDA-safe · no logs retained
H
Hey — I'm trained on 30+ Horizon Labs projects. Describe your build and I'll ballpark cost + timeline in seconds. Or pick a question below.
30+
products shipped
5.0
Clutch rating
YC ×4
alumni clients
$0
risk — 2-week trial
2019
founded
Trusted by YC-backed startups, bootstrapped SaaS, and enterprise teams
Bloom YC W21
Arketa YC S20
Flair Labs YC S22
MKProducts
RareWaters
Kidsy
Corros
Urbane
Optima
Boat.Rent
Commons
Joyride
Curtsy
TrueChoice
Patcom Medical
Cresance
30+
Products shipped
2019
Founded
4
YC alumni clients
10+
Yr avg. engineer exp.
5.0
Clutch rating
§ 01  ·  process

Scope. Build. Partner.

Most agencies disappear after delivery. We're designed to stay. Every pilot is structured to convert into a long-term partnership — because that's where the compounding value is.

STEP 01
Scope in 48 hours

Share your idea or existing build. We price it fixed and deliver a written estimate within 48 hours — or a clear "not a fit" if it isn't. No endless discovery calls.

Zero commitment to start. 25-min call or async Loom — your call.
STEP 02
Build with senior engineers

MAANG and YC-caliber engineers on every project — no juniors, no bait-and-switch. Weekly demos, async Slack, clean code reviewed at every checkpoint.

2-week trial. Don't like the output? Walk away — no invoice.
STEP 03
Partner on the roadmap

We co-own the codebase. Monthly retainers, sprint-by-sprint features, AI upgrades — handled by the same team who built it. No context lost, no onboarding a new person each cycle.

6-month code warranty. Bugs after delivery are on us.
§ 02  ·  pricing

Start with a pilot. Scale from there.

Fixed-price packages for startups and small businesses testing a tech partnership. Senior engineers + AI compress timelines — roughly 50% below our hourly equivalent.

WIREFRAMES  ·  2 WEEKS
$3,000 / fixed
$1,500 at signing  ·  $1,500 on delivery
Dev-Ready Wireframes

Every user flow, screen, and interaction mapped from signup through completed transaction. The blueprint any engineering team can execute on — or your foundation before committing to a full build.

  • Full flow coverage: signup → conversion → edge cases
  • Annotated for engineering handoff
  • Credited in full toward MVP if you continue
LAUNCH + GTM  ·  8–12 WEEKS
$40,000 / fixed
6 × $6,666 monthly installments
Launch Ready + Go-to-Market

Everything in the Custom MVP, plus the full engine that gets you first users: ICP definition, automated SEO infrastructure, weekly posts, email outbound, paid landing pages.

  • Custom MVP included
  • ICP definition + automated outbound sequences
  • SEO infrastructure + AI-assisted content pipeline
  • Paid ad landing page variants

Already have a product?

Senior specialists on demand. Hourly or sprint-scoped. Same quality bar — 6-month warranty on every line we write.

STAFF AUGMENTATION  ·  ONGOING
$120 / hour+
Full-Stack Engineering

Senior engineers embedded with your team. 10+ years average. Overlapping US hours. Direct Slack access. Net-new builds, experiments, backlog clearance — same week start.

AI ENGINEERING  ·  ONGOING
$200 / hour+
Custom AI Engineering

Senior AI specialists for voice pipelines, multi-agent systems, and on-prem LLMs. Llama, Whisper, vLLM, LangGraph, LiveKit. Real AI in production — not wrapper scripts.

§ 03  ·  why Horizon Labs

We're not an agency. We're not a freelancer.

We're a small senior team that builds alongside you and stays. That's a different model — and different economics.

HORIZON LABS
Big Agency
Freelancer
Price predictability
Fixed-price, always
Hourly + scope creep
Hourly, variable
Engineer caliber
Senior (10+ yr, YC/MAANG)
Mixed — juniors on your work
Variable
Timeline commitment
Guaranteed, contracted
Estimates often 2× actual
Unpredictable
Post-delivery support
Same team, stays on retainer
New team each sprint
Usually disappears
IP ownership
100% yours, signed day 1
Yours — check the MSA
Yours — usually
Trial / risk reversal
2-week trial, no pay
None
Rare
"Delivered what our larger team could not."
Engineering Manager, MKProducts
"Swift executors across OpenAI, LLMs, APIs, Kubernetes."
Samir Sen, CEO — Flair Labs (YC S22)
"On time and without busting the budget."
Josh Archer, CTO — Arketa (YC S20)
§ 04  ·  case studies

What we've shipped.

YC-backed AI startups, 59-year-old manufacturers, fintech, marketplaces. Delivered — not just started.

📱
Replace with MKProducts Android controller app screenshot or product photo
EMBEDDED  ·  ANDROID  ·  INDUSTRIAL
MKProducts
"Delivered what our larger team could not."
59-year-old ISO-certified manufacturer. Internal 20-person team stuck for 2 years on embedded controller + Android real-time layer. Horizon's 2-engineer team got it shipping in weeks.
Engineering Manager, MKProducts
UARTCANBLEAndroidOTA
🤖
Replace with Flair Labs AI product screenshot (app.flairlabs.ai or similar)
AI  ·  LLMs  ·  KUBERNETES
Flair Labs  YC S22
"Swift executors across OpenAI, LLMs, APIs, Kubernetes."
Needed a production-ready AI app customers could actually use. Shipped OpenAI-backed app with API layer, K8s deployment, and cloud infra — on time, within budget.
Samir Sen, Co-Founder & CEO
OpenAIK8sGCPFastAPI
📈
Replace with Bloom mobile app screenshot (paper-trading / portfolio screen)
FINTECH  ·  MOBILE  ·  ALPACA
Bloom  YC W21
"Technically gifted… swift executors."
Needed a paper-trading feature shipped before the launch window. Delivered end-to-end with Alpaca integration in ~2 months — on time for the marketing push.
Sonny Mo, Co-Founder & CEO
AlpacaReact NativeNodePostgres
🏋️
Replace with Arketa platform screenshot (dashboard or booking flow)
DEVOPS  ·  MARKETPLACE  ·  GCP
Arketa  YC S20
"On time and without busting the budget."
MVP needed to become a production-grade fitness marketplace. Built CI/CD, automated deploys, Docker + Kubernetes on GCP — the platform that powers their instructor network today.
Josh Archer, CTO
DockerK8sGCPCircleCI
Case visual slot

UniFreelancer

Marketplace build case study slot for the freelancer/client workflow, onboarding, and conversion proof.

MarketplaceProduct designFounder-led
Case visual slot

RareWaters

Product and marketplace proof slot for the buyer journey, operations tooling, or booking/commerce flow.

CommerceMarketplace opsCustom build
§ 05  ·  team

Founders who stay in the room.

Small senior team by design. You get founder-level involvement on every project — never handed off to a junior who just joined last month.

photo
Sinan Sari
CEO  ·  CO-FOUNDER
Co-founder of Cuboh (YC S19). Ex-senior engineer at Oscar Health & Tasso. Previously co-founded Kidsy. CS, Bilkent University.
Irvine, CA
photo
Saif Akhtar
COO  ·  CO-FOUNDER
Ex-VC, investor, and operator. Founding team at Cresance and Intellus.ai. Mechanical Engineering, San Jose State.
San Jose, CA
photo
Serdar Pehlivan
CTO  ·  ENGINEERING LEAD
PhD, Computer Engineering — University of Connecticut. Math Olympiad medalist. Former Vice Dean of Engineering at Zirve University.
Istanbul, TR
photo
Esra Nur
LEAD PRODUCT MANAGER
Bridges client objectives and technical teams. CS, Bilkent University. Master's in Graphic Design, Istanbul Arel University.
San Antonio, TX
photo
Gorkem Bendin
DELIVERY LEAD
9+ years full-stack across web, mobile, and embedded systems. Startups and enterprise. Computer Engineering, Erciyes University.
Istanbul, TR
photo
Basmah Masood
UI/UX DESIGNER
10+ years as photographer, videographer, and illustrator before UI/UX. Social Sciences, IBA Pakistan.
San Jose, CA
§ 06 · FAQ

The honest answers.

Things founders usually ask after they have been burned by an agency or freelancer before. We answer them upfront.

Ask us directly

How is $30k fixed if every project is different?

Because we scope first. Before any contract is signed, we invest time understanding exactly what you need. The fixed price covers that defined scope, not a vague brief. If the scope expands, we flag it early and price it transparently.

What if my idea changes mid-build?

That is normal. Minor pivots are absorbed into the sprint. Meaningful scope changes are priced as a change order and discussed before work starts. You do not get surprise invoices.

Why not just hire in-house?

A senior full-stack engineer in San Jose can cost $180k to $250k per year before benefits and recruiting time. A fixed pilot gives you a scoped senior team without a six-month hiring cycle.

What does the 2-week trial actually look like?

We start real work on your project from day one. By the end of week two, you have working output: screens, endpoints, or specs depending on scope. If the quality or communication is not right, you do not pay.

Do you work with non-technical founders?

Yes. Most clients are non-technical or lightly technical. We translate jargon into plain English, include you in decisions, and give weekly walkthroughs of what was built and why.

What tech stack do you use?

It depends on the project. Most web apps use React or Next.js, Node or FastAPI, Postgres, and GCP or AWS. Mobile is usually React Native or Flutter. Existing stacks are supported when that is the better path.

2-week trial
Don't pay if it's not right
Real working output in two weeks. If quality, communication, or direction isn't there — walk away, no invoice.
6-month warranty
Bugs are on us
We stand behind every line we write. Post-delivery bugs and regressions fixed at no charge for six months.
US-law contracts
IP stays yours. Always.
US-law MSAs and NDAs ready on day one. Your IP, your code — signed before a line is written.
Weekly demos
No surprises, ever
Every sprint ends with a working demo and documented output. You always know exactly where things stand.
Ready to test us?

Start a $3k pilot.
Keep the team if it works.

Book a 25-minute scoping call. Written estimate in 48 hours — or a clear "not a fit" if it isn't.

+1 (408) 320-6261  ·  saif@horizon-labs.co  ·  27 Mauchly Ave, Irvine CA 92618
Trusted by founders and operators

Client logo slots

Use this row for the approved customer logos or a single combined logo image.

Unifreelancer.com
Basic.tech
SickDaySportsClub.com
Yura Health
Kidsy
Rarewaters
Flair Labs (YC S22)
Arketa (YC S20)
Bloom (YC W21)
01
Homepage product screenshot
02
AI chat workflow screenshot
03
Proposal or scoping output screenshot