Mentoring · For individuals
Building it yourself? Bring an engineer with you.
A senior engineer alongside you while you build, whether that is in Lovable, Cursor, or by hand. Someone to think with, to review your work, and to get you to launch without the mistakes that sink first products. Monthly, pause or cancel any time.
Who it's for
Building the MVP yourself
You are building it in Lovable, Cursor, Bolt, v0, or by hand, and there is no engineer to ask. You get straight answers, reviews of what you have built, and someone to think through the next step with, for as long as you are building.
First product, not first code
You can code, but you have not shipped and run a product before. Architecture, hosting, costs, what to test and what to leave for later. Experience on tap so you spend your time building, not second-guessing.
Shipping, and want to get properly good
You have taught yourself enough to make things work. Now you want to know why they work, what will break with real users, and how experienced engineers would have done it. A senior engineer looking at your actual product, not a course.
What you get
Someone in your corner
A named senior engineer who knows your product and your goals. Not a helpdesk, and not a chatbot that only answers the question you thought to ask.
A regular call
Think out loud, work through the hard problem, and leave with a decision and a next step.
Questions between calls
Post a question or a short screen recording and get a reply within one working day. Stuck for minutes, not days.
Reviews as you go
Send us what you have built and we tell you what is fine, what is fragile, and what to fix first. If we spot a data or security risk along the way, we flag it and point you at the fix.
A launch check
Before real users arrive, we go through it with you on a call: hosting, running costs, data, backups, and what is likely to break when people turn up. You leave with a short list to sort before you go live.
You get better at this
Every session leaves you more capable. The aim is that you need us less, not more.
Pace it to your build
Twice a week while you build. Four times a week when launch is close.
While you are building
Two 30-minute calls every week, questions between calls, and reviews of your work one piece at a time. The steady pace for most of a build, with the launch check when you are ready.
In the run-up to launch
Four 30-minute calls every week, faster replies, reviews of two pieces of work at a time, and a plan to get you live. Made for the final stretch, often a couple of months. Once you have launched, drop to Build or pause.
Switch between them whenever your build changes pace. Full pricing.
What a review sounds like
Plain answers about your actual product.
An example of what we might tell a founder about an app built in Lovable, shortened.
- The data model will carry you well past your first hundred customers.
- Checkout uses the Stripe hosted page, so card details never touch your app.
- Your AI calls have no spending limit, so one busy day could cost hundreds.
- Most of the app lives in one very large file, so every change risks breaking something else.
- The orders table can be read without logging in. Turn on row level security before you share the link.
- There are no database backups. Switch on daily backups today.
What it is not
Not a security audit
We point out risks we notice and how to fix them, but we do not test, certify or sign off your product as secure. If you need that for a client or an investor, we will say so and suggest who to ask.
Not us building it
We advise, review and pair. You build it and you own what ships. If you would rather we built it, that is a project.
Not on call
Calls on a cadence and replies in UK working hours. Not evenings and weekends.
Who you'll work with
Available now.
Mayker is a small, senior team plus a network of specialists we have worked with for years. Every engagement is led by one of us and stays with them. This is who has capacity right now.
Robin Hayward
Twenty years building software: iOS since the App Store opened, now AI systems and the products around them. Startups, scale-ups and multinationals across sport, fintech and commerce.
A few places this quarter
Need a specialism you do not see here? Security, data, design, mobile, a particular platform. We bring in the right person from our network and stay accountable for the work: same price, same terms, one point of contact.
Starting is low risk
A free 30-minute call
Tell us what you are building and suggest a few times that suit you. No charge, no obligation.
Or try one session
An hour with a senior engineer for £180. Subscribe within 14 days and it comes off your first month.
Your first month back
If your first month has not been useful, tell us before your second payment and we refund it.
Pause or cancel any time
Quiet patch between build phases? Pause and keep your engineer. Or cancel from your billing portal, no notice period.
When it outgrows you
Some products get to the point where building it yourself is no longer the best use of your time. When yours does, we can build it as a project, and your last month of mentoring comes off the price.
Inside a company?
If you are building something for your employer, or you lead a team that is, engineering cover is the same idea bought as a service your company can approve.