FAQ

We do not sign an NDA for a quote

We do not sign NDA for a quote because at any given moment, we are looking at three or four similar requests for proposals. We are not sure if we take you as a client or later someone comes with a similar project.

If you think you have something super secret that no one else should know, just don’t tell us about it. Oh – and check your assumption in that case – especially since the value is in creating the thing, not simply having the idea.

Even if we were inclined to sign an NDA, we’d have to go through the process of reading it and deciding if it had any problems, dealing with our attorney to change it; and you spending time with your attorney to accept or reject our requests. In some cases, we'd probably spend more time dealing with your NDA then with your idea.

We do not subcontract

We care about the quality of work we do. This is why we do not subcontract for other people nor subcontract our work.

Subcontracting for others never works because we do not have a direct responsibility to the end customer, and very often no direct lines of communication. It is impossible to work if we cannot properly communicate with clients, explain the way we work and set expectations.

Why we do not accept a fix price contracts

We don’t do fixed-price contracts. This is based on the experience that we and others have had with developing custom software.

When approaching a software project, clinets want to ensure a few things:

  1. Clients get the features they want

  2. The software is working as expected
  3. Their risk (i.e. the amount of money spent on the project) is as low as possible

In response to this, clients typically want fixed-price contracts, especially when the numbers on the amount of failures of software projects are typically high.

We are operating under a few assumptions:

  1. The customer cannot explicitly define the requirements up front. Clients cannot give the correct level of details (and one cannot teach it to non-technical people how it should be done). In order to get the sufficient level of details for the approximate quote, it takes sometimes 2 to 3 weeks, sometimes months working closely with the client.
  2. The customer will most likely change his mind late during the process of development

We have to conduct our research; gather requirements ourselves; and determine the road map. This process takes at least 2-3 weeks depending on the complexity of the project.

How we typically work with the clients:

We meet with clients on regular basis (weekly or be-weekly); discuss and show the progress of the project. If you are far away, we can schedule conference calls via Skype.

How we Bill Our Clients

We bill our clients on weekly or bi-weekly basis a set price; and go on until the client is completely satisfied.

  1. Our clients have the ability to update the requirements on a weekly basis, or completely stop the project
  2. As we have more information on the project, we can update our estimates accordingly, and that is communicated to the customer. So the customer can make a decision how he or she wants to proceed.

Transparency, communication, and continuous delivery rule, and in our experience is currently the best way we know to build trust with customers.

Why we do not work for equity

If a business that just can’t afford to pay for expert advice, it is not a serious business.The willingness to pay for our services is a great lead qualifier and, for me, an indication of how serious the founding team is about pursuing their idea.

How we Handle Communications

We use RedMine for the communication with the client for specific discussions related to the code and features.

We encourage our clients to use this system instead of emails because all documentation and requests are in one place. Developers and clients can track what is gong on every moment.

Ownership of Deliverables: Intellectual Property Rights

Client acknowledges that any and all of the Intellectual Property Rights created, developed or subsisting in the Deliverables are and shall remain the sole property of MarpaSoft LLC.

MARPASOFT will, upon request, provide to the client a complete copy of the Deliverables including electronic files, graphics, source code, and any other tangible materials developed by Vendor in performing the Project Services ("Source Materials"), with the exception of any software and information licensed or used by MARPASOFT which MARPASOFT does not have the right to transfer (for example, Linux, Apache, PostgreSQL, Oracle, Adobe Photoshop, Objective C, etc.), or software previously developed by MARPASOFT (such as form processing scripts). Nothing in this paragraph or elsewhere, however, will prohibit or limit MARPASOFT's use of code, graphics, ideas, concepts, know-how, methods, models, data, techniques, skill, knowledge and experience embodied in, gained, or developed in connection with the Deliverables.