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Notes from the studio

Practical writing on building and running AI in real businesses: what works, what we shipped, and what we learned doing it.

·App Development

SaaS MVP development, and the decisions that are expensive to reverse

A SaaS MVP carries structural decisions a normal MVP does not. Which ones are cheap to defer, which are expensive to change later, and what it costs to build.

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·App Development

Why software projects fail, according to the data rather than the anecdotes

Roughly 19% of software projects fail outright and 50% are challenged. The size effect in that data is larger than any methodology effect, and it is actionable.

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·App Development

No-code or custom development, and where the line actually sits

No-code is genuinely the right answer for a large class of problems. The specific properties that push a project across the line into custom development.

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·App Development

How long it takes to build an app, and what actually sets the clock

The average app project runs about 11 months. Almost none of that is coding. What actually consumes the calendar, and how to compress it honestly.

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·App Development

What a real discovery phase produces

Discovery is worth paying for only if it produces documents you can hand to any developer. What those documents are, how to judge them, and what discovery costs.

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·App Development

How to run an AI proof of concept that survives contact with production

Most AI proofs of concept succeed and then go nowhere. What to define before starting, what to deliberately include, and the criteria that make the result mean something.

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·App Development

Proof of concept, prototype, pilot and MVP are four different things

Four terms used interchangeably that answer four different questions, cost different amounts, and fail when you build the wrong one for the question you have.

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·App Development

Fixed price or time and materials, and how to choose

Both contract models fail in predictable ways. Which one fits which kind of work, what each does to behaviour, and the structure that avoids both failure modes.

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·App Development

How to hire a software development company

Development companies all present the same way. The questions that separate them, the answers to reject, and what to check before signing anything.

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·App Development

Legacy system modernization without the rewrite

Full rewrites are large projects, and large projects fail. How to modernize a legacy system in pieces, which piece to take first, and what it costs.

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·App Development

The software development process, judged by what each stage produces

Every stage of the software development process explained by the artifact it must hand to the next one, and how to tell when a stage was skipped.

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·App Development

Custom app development, and when it beats buying software

The build versus buy question asked at the right altitude: which parts of your workflow are actually differentiated, and what each answer costs.

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·App Development

AI app development: three different jobs, three different costs

AI app development means three separate jobs at very different prices. What each one involves, what the failure data says, and what it costs to build.

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·App Development

MVP development: what the process should actually produce

An MVP exists to produce a decision, not a product. What each phase has to deliver, what it costs, and why the 90-day MVP is a sales artifact.

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·App Development

What custom app development actually costs in 2026

Real 2026 app development cost data from Clutch and Accelerance, what actually drives the number, and the price ranges Advantch charges for builds.

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App Development articles · Advantch