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Engagements

Clear ways to start — and to keep going

Begin with a fixed-scope engagement that is useful on its own, or move straight into a project or ongoing partnership. Either way, scope, deliverables and exclusions are written down first.

Entry engagements

Three fixed-scope starting points

Each one answers a specific question, produces concrete deliverables and lets you see how we work before committing to more.

Assess

Technical Architecture & Codebase Audit

For teams who need an honest, independent view of the software they own — before investing, rebuilding or scaling.

Ideal client
Founders, CTOs and product leaders who inherited a codebase, are preparing to scale, or face a rebuild-or-refactor decision.
Business problem
Delivery is slowing, incidents are rising or nobody can say how healthy the system really is.
Duration
Typically one to three weeks, depending on system size and how quickly access is provided.

Scope

  • Architecture and data model
  • Code quality and test coverage
  • Security basics in code and config
  • Performance and scalability risks
  • Infrastructure, deploys and monitoring

Deliverables

  • Written report with prioritised findings
  • Risk register (impact × effort)
  • Recommended 90-day roadmap
  • Architecture diagram as-is
  • Walk-through session with your team

Not included

  • Formal penetration testing
  • Compliance certification (SOC 2, ISO)
  • Fixing the findings (quoted separately)

Dependencies

  • Read access to repositories
  • Read-only infrastructure access
  • A call with the current maintainers
Request an audit proposal Priced per system after a short scoping call.
Stabilise

Platform Stabilisation & Performance Sprint

For products in production that crash, slow down or break on release — and need focused engineering to calm things down.

Ideal client
Teams with a live web platform or mobile app where reliability problems are hurting users or revenue.
Business problem
Crashes, slow pages, failed jobs or risky deployments that consume the team's time.
Duration
Usually a two to four week sprint, agreed after a short assessment of the main issues.

Scope

  • Error and crash triage
  • Database and API performance
  • Background jobs and queues
  • Deployment and rollback process
  • Monitoring and alerting gaps

Deliverables

  • Fixes merged into your codebase
  • Before-and-after measurements
  • Monitoring and alerts configured
  • Deployment runbook
  • Backlog of remaining issues

Not included

  • New feature development
  • 24/7 on-call support
  • Full platform rewrites

Dependencies

  • Repository and staging access
  • Error tracking or logs
  • A product owner for priorities
Plan a stabilisation sprint Scope fixed after an initial assessment.
Explore

AI Integration Discovery & Prototype

For teams who want to know — with evidence — whether an AI feature is worth building.

Ideal client
Product and operations leaders with a repetitive, text-heavy workflow or a product feature idea involving AI.
Business problem
AI looks promising, but nobody knows how well it will work on your data, what it will cost or how to ship it safely.
Duration
Typically two to three weeks, depending on data access and the number of scenarios tested.

Scope

  • One clearly defined use case
  • Representative sample data
  • Model and approach selection
  • Quality evaluation on real cases
  • Cost and data-handling assessment

Deliverables

  • Working prototype
  • Evaluation results and examples
  • Cost-per-use estimate
  • Production architecture outline
  • Go / adjust / stop recommendation

Not included

  • Training custom models
  • Production rollout (quoted separately)
  • Guaranteed accuracy levels

Dependencies

  • Access to sample data
  • A subject-matter expert for review
  • Agreement on data-handling rules
Explore an AI use case Scoped to one use case; priced per proposal.

Engagement models

How longer engagements work

Three models we offer today. We would rather tell you what we do not offer than overpromise.

Fixed-scope projects

A defined product or feature set with agreed scope, milestones and acceptance criteria. Best when requirements are clear — often after discovery.

  • Written scope and milestones
  • Milestone-based billing
  • Change requests handled openly

Product engineering partnership

Ongoing development for evolving products: a reserved monthly capacity, a shared backlog and regular releases. Best for startups and growing platforms.

  • Monthly capacity and roadmap
  • Weekly demos and written updates
  • Senior ownership of architecture

Maintenance & support retainer

Keep a live product healthy: dependency upgrades, fixes, monitoring and small improvements within agreed working hours.

  • Agreed response times (business hours)
  • Monthly health report
  • Upgrades and security patches
Also available: dedicated developers from our senior team, embedded in your process. Not offered today: 24/7 managed operations, large teams on demand and anonymous contractors. If you need these, we will say so early and, where helpful, recommend another route.

After you enquire

What happens next

  1. Enquiry

    Share your goals, current state and constraints through the project form.

  2. Conversation

    A call to clarify the problem, success criteria and any NDA requirements.

  3. Proposal

    A written proposal with scope, deliverables, assumptions, exclusions and price.

  4. Kick-off

    Access, communication channels and the first milestone agreed — then work begins.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Do you publish prices for these engagements?

Not yet. Each engagement is scoped after a short call because system size, access and integrations change the effort considerably. You receive a written proposal with a fixed scope and price before any work begins.

Can an entry engagement turn into a longer project?

It can, but it does not have to. Each entry engagement ends with deliverables you can use on your own or with another team.

Do you offer staff augmentation or dedicated teams?

ImliStack is founder-led and keeps a small senior core. We embed with your team for ongoing product work, and for larger needs we add vetted specialists to a shared plan — always agreed openly before work starts. We do not resell anonymous contractors.

What happens after we send an enquiry?

We read every enquiry personally, reply with clarifying questions or a call invitation, and — where there is a fit — send a written proposal with scope, timeline assumptions and exclusions.

Next step

Have a product to build or a system to fix?

Tell us what you are working on. You will get a considered reply from an engineer — with questions, a suggested approach or an honest “we are not the right fit”.

Start a project Book a discovery call