Definition
What is an MVP Rescue?
A definition, and a price.
An MVP Rescue is a fixed-scope, fixed-price engagement that hardens an existing prototype for production, without rewriting it. It is the right answer when an AI-built v1 (Lovable, v0, Bolt, Cursor) works for the demo but is one paying customer away from breaking.
01
What does an MVP Rescue include?
A typical MVP Rescue covers four things: a codebase audit on six axes (auth, data, security, tests, deploy, observability), critical-path test coverage, a CI/CD pipeline with error monitoring (Sentry) and uptime monitoring, and a production deploy on the founder's own AWS / Vercel / Supabase accounts.
It is scope-locked. New features are explicitly out of scope, because the goal is to make the existing build production-safe, not to extend it. Adding features mid-flight defeats the price and the timeline.
02
When should you choose an MVP Rescue over a full MVP build?
Choose an MVP Rescue when the prototype works (the user flow is validated, customers are interested), but the engineering foundation is fragile. Choose a Production-grade MVP build when you have no prototype, or when the prototype needs new features alongside hardening.
If a rescue is impossible (the codebase is unsalvageable), the honest answer on the discovery call is to switch to a full MVP build instead.
03
What does it cost, and how long does it take?
Around €9.500, delivered in 3 weeks (W1 audit, W2 hardening, W3 ship), with 2 weeks of bug-fix support after launch. Phased payment: 30% at kickoff, 70% milestone-based.
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