How We Work: Process, Guarantee, IP and NDA
Arcesso runs every project in five steps, from a free 30-minute call to supported production. You see a working demo every week. The code lives in your repository and your cloud from the first commit, and you own all of it in writing. A mutual NDA is available within 24 hours of asking.
Updated · By Tanner DeJean, Founder
The five steps of an Arcesso project
Every Arcesso project follows the same five steps, each with a typical duration and a named deliverable. The steps are the same for a custom software build, a SaaS product, a mobile app or an AI agent. Only the length of the build step changes with the size of the work.
Durations are typical ranges, not promises for every project. The scope document from step two replaces them with dates agreed for your project.
| Step | Typical duration | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Discovery call | 30 minutes, free | Fit decision and a ballpark range within 3 business days |
| 2. Scope and fixed price | 1 to 2 weeks | Scope document, architecture sketch, fixed quote, risk list |
| 3. Build in weekly sprints | 2 to 8 weeks for pilots and MVPs | Weekly demo, test suite, eval report, repo you own |
| 4. Launch | About 1 week | Production release, runbook, handover recording |
| 5. Measure and support | 30-day warranty, then optional retainer | Results report, warranty fixes, retainer option |
Discovery call and fixed-price scope
The discovery call is 30 minutes with an engineer, not a sales rep. We ask about the problem, the systems involved and what success looks like. If Arcesso is not the right fit, we say so on the call and point you to a better option. Within 3 business days you get a fit decision and a ballpark range.
Step two is a paid scoping sprint or an AI readiness assessment, usually one to two weeks. We map the workflow, the data and the risks, then give you a fixed price and a dated plan. The scoping fee is credited in full to the build if you go ahead. If you do not, you keep the scope document and can take it to any team.
Weekly build sprints, launch and support
A senior engineer leads a small team through weekly sprints. You see a working demo every week and can change priorities between sprints. Every AI feature gets evals before it gets prompts, so quality is measured, not guessed. Pilots and MVPs typically take two to eight weeks; larger products run longer and are split into milestones.
Launch takes about a week. Arcesso deploys to your accounts, not ours, with monitoring, logging and a human approval step on from day one. We train your team on a recorded handover call.
After launch, we compare results against the baseline set in step two and fix anything that misses during a 30-day warranty. Then you choose a monthly retainer or walk away with everything documented.
Communication cadence: daily updates, weekly demos, one channel
Arcesso keeps communication predictable so you never have to chase status. Every working day you get a short written update. Every week you get a live demo of working software. All project talk happens in one shared Slack channel, so decisions are written down and searchable.
We work US business hours, Eastern and Central, from offices in Jacksonville, Florida and Arlington, Texas. A senior engineer replies to new enquiries within one business day.
- Daily async update: what shipped, what is next, what is blocked.
- Weekly demo: 30 minutes on working software, not slides.
- One Slack channel per project, shared with your team.
- Sprint notes and decisions kept in your repository or wiki.
- A named lead engineer you can reach directly.
Tooling: your repository, your cloud, your accounts
Arcesso builds inside accounts you own from the first day. The code goes into your GitHub or GitLab organization, the app runs in your cloud account, and API keys for model providers sit in your billing account. You add our engineers as members, and you can remove them at any time.
This setup avoids lock-in. If you end the engagement, nothing needs to be transferred, because nothing was ever ours to hold. Typical stacks include Next.js, React, Node, Python and Postgres on Vercel, Supabase or AWS, with React Native or Flutter for mobile. For AI work we use OpenAI, Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini or open-weight models, chosen per project.
Access follows least privilege: each engineer gets only the permissions the task needs.
IP ownership and NDAs in plain words
You own 100% of the code and intellectual property Arcesso writes for you, from the first commit, and the contract says so in writing. There is no license-back, no hidden platform fee and no clause that lets us reuse your product code for another client.
Arcesso signs a mutual NDA within 24 hours of you asking, before you share anything sensitive. The NDA protects both sides: your business information stays confidential, and so does anything we share about our methods.
General know-how stays general. Our engineers keep the skills they use on your project, and open-source libraries keep their own licenses, which we list for you at handover. Your product code, data, designs and documents belong to you.
The Arcesso Kickoff Promise
The Arcesso Kickoff Promise is a short list of commitments we can keep on every project. We do not offer free sprints or other promises that depend on luck. Each line below is either written into the contract or part of our standard process.
If a promise is missed, tell us and we will put it right. If you want any of these lines in your contract word for word, ask during scoping.
- Fixed-price discovery, credited in full to the build.
- You own 100% of the code and IP from the first commit, in writing.
- Mutual NDA within 24 hours of asking.
- Kickoff within 14 days of signing, as a standard process commitment.
- A senior engineer replies within one business day.
How we use AI in our own delivery
Arcesso engineers use AI coding tools for drafts, tests and reviews. A named engineer owns every line that ships, you get the IP, and our rates do not change because of it.
AI tools speed up routine work such as boilerplate, test cases and first drafts of documentation. They do not replace review. Every change goes through a pull request that a human engineer reads, tests and approves before it merges. Client code and data only go to AI tools whose settings exclude training on your data, and you can ask us not to use AI coding tools on your project at all.
The full rules, including which model providers we use and how data is handled, are in our AI Use and Data Policy at /legal/ai-use/.
The eval template every AI feature ships with
Every AI agent or AI feature Arcesso ships comes with an eval: a written set of test cases that measures whether the AI does the job. We write the eval before tuning prompts, so you can see quality move from week to week instead of trusting a demo.
The eval report is a deliverable in every build sprint and lives in your repository, so your team can rerun it after handover.
- Task definition: what a correct answer or action looks like.
- Test set: real or realistic examples, with personal data removed.
- Scoring: pass rate, failure types and cost per task.
- Safety checks: refusals, made-up facts and data leaks.
- Human approval step: which actions a person must confirm.
- Go-live threshold: the score agreed with you before launch.
FAQ
Questions buyers ask us
How long does an Arcesso project take from first call to launch?
A typical Arcesso pilot or MVP takes about four to twelve weeks from first call to launch. That covers one to two weeks of scoping, two to eight weeks of build sprints and about one week to launch. Larger products run longer and are split into milestones, each with its own demo and date.
Do I own the code Arcesso writes for me?
Yes. You own 100% of the code and intellectual property from the first commit, and the contract states it in writing. The code lives in your repository and runs in your cloud account from day one, so there is nothing to hand back at the end and no license fee to keep using it.
Will Arcesso sign an NDA before our first detailed call?
Yes. Arcesso signs a mutual NDA within 24 hours of you asking. Send your NDA or ask for ours, and we will return it signed before you share anything sensitive. The first 30-minute discovery call can also stay at a high level if you prefer to talk before any paperwork.
Is the discovery fee refundable or credited?
The fixed-price discovery fee is credited in full to the build if you go ahead with Arcesso. If you decide not to build with us, you keep the scope document, architecture sketch and risk list, and you can take them to any team. The discovery call before scoping is free and lasts 30 minutes.
How often will I see progress during the build?
You see progress every day and a working demo every week. Arcesso sends a short written update each working day, runs a 30-minute live demo each week and keeps all project talk in one shared Slack channel. You can change priorities between weekly sprints without restarting the project.
Does Arcesso use AI tools to write my code?
Arcesso engineers use AI coding tools for drafts, tests and reviews, and a named engineer owns and reviews every line that ships. Only tools with no-training settings touch client code. If you prefer, we can turn AI coding tools off for your project, and our rates stay the same either way.
Tell us what you need. An engineer replies within one business day.
Three fields to start. Book a 30-minute call on the same screen, or ask for a mutual NDA first.
Reply within one business day · mutual NDA within 24 hours · ballpark estimate within 3 business days