Tech Co-Founder, Freelancer or Agency?

I think agencies can work well when there’s a clear scope, timeline, and budget. They’re structured for predictability, not flexibility. But many early-stage founders don’t actually need that. They need a technical partner who can adapt, experiment, and evolve the product alongside them, more like a co-founder or fractional CTO than a vendor.

The challenge with agencies is alignment. Their business model is time-boxed delivery, while startups thrive on iteration and learning.

Having worked at agencies in the past, I’ve seen first-hand how often they’re overpriced and underdeliver, not because of bad intentions, but because they’re optimised for client throughput, not long-term product success.

That’s why I became a fractional CTO, to help founders build the right thing, not just ship something.

Maybe it has to do with the stage you are in? I’m still very early and trying to understand feasibility and constraints. Right now I'd like feedback from individual devs so I can learn from them. Agencies seem like the place to go once you’re ready to build something end-to-end.

Agreed — most founders don’t avoid agencies, they avoid uncertainty and drag.

In my experience, negative agency stories usually come from long timelines, bloated scopes, and unclear ownership. Those concerns are valid.

When agencies are structured around fixed scope, short timelines, and clean handover, they often deliver more reliably than freelancers or early co-founders.

It’s less about the model, more about incentives and execution.

Akshmit
(Founder @mvpnavigate -> X)

Tech

I chose an agency, and I'm still not having a great time at it. 2.5 years in, and I have an MVP finally, but now we can't agree on corp setup. (They were co-founders in exchange for equity). My mistake, totally. I didn't get the paperwork in order first.