New York City

MVP development for NYC founders
New York founders

NYC is the second-biggest pre-seed metro in the US and AngelList's biggest solo-founder hub. Hiring senior engineers here is a 90-day fight against FAANG comp expectations and a dozen well-funded fintechs. We are a one-engineer shop that ships product in one-week sprints, flat-priced, code yours from day one.

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$0K

Year-one cost of hiring locally

0+ days

Average time to fill the role

$0K

Our starting price

0 week

Lean MVP delivery

How this works

One AI-native engineer.
The output of a team.

Senior engineers who deploy AI agents as force multipliers, shipping what traditional teams of 3 to 4 used to, at half the cost. Built specifically for pre-seed to Series A founders in New York.

The local read

Why this works for NYC

NYC founders have it harder than the headline funding numbers suggest. Half your top engineering candidates are deciding between your seed-stage offer and a $400K Google package. The dev agencies in town either bill agency-of-record rates by the hour or are staffing shops shoveling juniors into your team.

We are none of that. One senior engineer owns your build from spec to deploy, flat-priced after a discovery call. Same time zone as your investors at General Catalyst, your customers in midtown, and your weekly standup.

Time zone

--:--:--

Eastern Time, same as you. Meetings happen during your morning coffee, not midnight Slack pings.

Sectors we work in here

FintechAI infrastructureMedia techB2B SaaSConsumer tech

What we ship

Built by one,
shipped in weeks

Same engineer owns the build from spec to deploy. Flat-priced after a discovery call. Code yours from day one.

Production MVPs in 1 to 4 weeks (Next.js, Postgres, Stripe stack)

AI features and LLM integrations (OpenAI, Anthropic, open models)

Mobile apps with React Native, native when the use case needs it

Built from New York

Founders here shipped these

Real New York founders. Real shipped product. Not a stock-photo lineup of "trusted by" logos.

Content Platform · 2022

Sweet and Savory Meals

Homemade recipes blog and e-commerce platform for food lovers. Easy and delicious dishes with integrated recipe management and shopping features.

Visit the product

“When we started, there was no website, no technical foundation, just an idea and a clear vision of what I wanted to build. Valery and the Start Matter team took that vision seriously and helped me turn it into a real product from scratch. What I appreciated most was how easy and human the collaboration felt. They listened carefully, explained things in a way I could understand, and genuinely cared about building something that would work long-term, not just "finish a task." I always felt supported and involved in the process. Start Matter handled everything end to end and made the whole journey smooth and stress-free. Today, Sweet and Savory Meals is live, growing, and built on a solid foundation I trust. I’m truly grateful for their work, their patience, and their commitment, and I would happily recommend Start Matter to anyone looking for a reliable and thoughtful development partner.”

Catalina Castravet

Founder, Sweet and Savory Meals

Health Platform · 2023

Brain.fm

Music platform designed to help focus, relax, and sleep better. AI-generated music optimized for cognitive performance and mental wellness.

Visit the product

“Working with Start Matter has been a fantastic experience. When we brought Start Matter into the Brain.fm project, we were looking for more than just developers — we needed a team that could think with us, help shape the product, and execute at a high level. Start Matter did exactly that and more. From early iterations to complex feature development, the team showed deep technical expertise, strong problem-solving skills, and a clear focus on delivering value. Communication was always open and honest, and they were great about adapting to changes and challenges without missing a beat. What really stood out was their ability to integrate seamlessly with our internal team and match our pace. They consistently delivered high-quality work and made sure we felt supported at every step. I'm very grateful for their professionalism, creativity, and commitment to excellence. I would highly recommend Start Matter to anyone who wants a reliable, skilled, and thoughtful development partner.”

Daniel Clark

Co-founder, Brain.fm

The math

Why founders pick
path B in New York

Same shipped product. Different cost, different speed, different risk. Here is how year one plays out.

Path A · The expensive way

Hiring in NYC

$310K year-one cost per senior engineer
90+ days to fill the role at competitive comp
40% chance they leave inside year one
You compete with Google, Stripe, and a dozen fintechs
Three-month notice when it does not work out

Year-one outlay

$310K+before shipping a line of code

Path B · Our way

Most chosen

Working with us

Lean MVPs from $5K, flat-priced
Discovery call this week, build starts next
Senior engineer, named, on every call
Code, deploys, and docs yours from day one
Walk away at the end of the contract clean

Year-one outlay

from $5Kper shipped build, week 1 live

Skip path A · Start path BDiscovery call free · quote in 24 hours

Not in New York?

We work with founders in other cities too

Austin San Francisco Los Angeles Seattle Atlanta Denver Boston Miami

Got a question about working from New York?

Ask me anything

Real chat with our actual answers. I will surface the closest match from our FAQ in seconds, or email you back tomorrow.

Valery Satsura

CEO · Start Matter · usually replies in minutes

Hey, I'm Valery. Ask me anything about working with us from New York.

Ship your next thing from New York

Discovery call is free. Quote is flat-price. You keep the code.

Start a project

MVP development for NYC foundersNew York founders

One AI-native engineer.The output of a team.