Written before billed
You sign off on a written discovery and a written scope before any work is invoiced. Surprises happen in the writing, not in the invoice.
Process
From the first email to the running system, six steps deep.
Most agencies treat process like a black box. We don’t. Here is exactly how a Next Arc engagement runs — what we do at each step, and what you get out of it.
01
Discovery Call
Thirty to forty-five minutes. You describe the problem in your own words; we ask the questions a senior engineer would. No pitch deck, no template. By the end of the call, we both know whether there's a project to talk about.
02
Written Discovery Package
Within a few days of the call, you receive a written document — the problem as we understand it, our reading of the constraints, the proposed shape of the solution, and the open questions we still need to resolve. You read it. You correct it. You confirm before we go further.
03
Scope & Quote
A precise scope of work and a clear price. Depending on the engagement, that's a fixed-price proposal, an hourly time-and-materials estimate, or a monthly retainer — whichever structure actually matches the work. You approve before any code is written.
04
Build With Weekly Demos
We build in weekly increments. Every week, you see working software — not a status doc, not a Jira board. You give feedback. We adjust. The system gets smarter every demo, and there are no surprises waiting at the end.
05
Phased Launch
We don't believe in big-bang releases. We roll out in stages — pilot users, expanded group, full cutover — so adoption stays controlled, edge cases surface in low-stakes settings, and your team has time to learn the new system before depending on it.
06
Ongoing Support
After launch, we stay on as your engineering partner. Bug fixes, enhancements, evolution as your business changes — at the cadence and structure you need (retainer, hourly, or fixed-bid for new scopes). The same people who built the system are the ones who keep it running.
What this gets you
Trust signals you can actually verify.
Demos, not status reports
Working software every week. If something is off, we both see it on day seven, not day ninety.
You own what we build
Code, infrastructure, runbooks, documentation. The engagement ends; the asset stays with you.
Step zero
Step one is a thirty-minute call.
Send a few sentences about the problem and the timeline. Josh reads every inquiry and replies personally.