Full Service Curate
From idea to market, through every stage, including active capital raising support. For founders who are starting from the idea rather than from a specification.
MVP Accelerator
How the MVP Accelerator works
A staged route from an idea to a product in the market, with a decision at the end of every stage instead of one large commitment at the start. You can stop after any stage and keep everything produced in it.
Two ways in
The Accelerator is tailored to meet founders where they are, which in practice means one of two starting points.
Low Touch Curate
You arrive prepared - strong documentation, design concepts, early wireframes, sometimes revenue modelling - and we move straight to Shape-It.
The four stages
Each one ends with something you own and a decision you make.
01
Idea Validation
Pressure-test the assumption the business rests on, before anything is built.
- Assess the target market and test feasibility.
- Lay the groundwork for a business plan that stacks up.
- Use data and AI to sharpen each decision rather than argue it.
02
Shape-It
The stage that stops a build discovering its own scope halfway through, which is where budgets go.
- A defined "Must Have" feature set, argued out and agreed.
- An initial scoping estimate of development cost and timeline.
- A clear assessment of technical complexity and risk.
03
Build-It
Quality is never accidental. It starts long before a line of code is written.
- The first version built against the frozen scope, on a regular cadence.
- Testing, which is where the truth lives and where every founder finds out.
- Final delivery, in your accounts and your repositories.
04
Market-It
Getting the product in front of the people it was built for, and reading what they do with it.
- App marketing across iOS, Android and web.
- Capital raising support, for founders going into a round.
What it costs
There is no price list, and the reason is the honest one: nobody can quote a build from a one-line brief. Two teams given the same paragraph will come back with numbers that differ by a multiple, and neither of them is lying - they have each guessed at a different scope.
That is what Shape-It is for. It ends with a defined feature set, an initial scoping estimate of development cost and timeline, and an assessment of technical complexity and risk. The number exists once the scope does.
Spending the time in Idea Validation and Shape-It is not an overhead on the build. In our experience it consistently cuts close to half the cost and time of Build-It.
What Actually Drives the Cost of Building an App
What moves the number, and how to brief a build so competing quotes are actually comparable. No prices, because the point is that there are none until the scope is settled.
The legal side does have published prices: the tailored legal packages that run alongside Idea Validation and Shape-It are itemised, with fees, on Protect your MVP.
How long it takes
It depends on the scope, and anyone who gives you a number before the scope exists is guessing. What we can tell you is where the time goes.
Founders who arrive prepared skip Idea Validation and start at Shape-It, which is the single biggest difference between two projects of the same size. After that, the pace is set by the feature set agreed at the end of Shape-It - which is why that argument is worth having properly rather than quickly.
What you can see while it runs
One benefit stands above the others: real-time transparency. Investors can ask where a founder is in the Accelerator at any point and get an immediate, visual answer. Founders get the same view of their own build, which is the difference between a progress report and actually knowing.
Questions we get asked
Do I have to do all four stages?
No. Each stage ends with a decision, and stopping is one of the options. Low Touch Curate exists precisely because some founders start at Shape-It.
Can I come in later with my own scope?
Yes - that is Low Touch Curate. Bring documentation, design concepts or wireframes and we start at Shape-It. We will still want the feature set argued out and frozen before anything is built.
Who owns the code?
You do. The build is delivered into your accounts and your repositories. Brand and IP protection is handled deliberately rather than assumed - see Protect your MVP.
Do you also help with the raise?
Yes. Capital raising support is part of Full Service Curate, and AppCurate invests through its own fund as well - the Investors side of the site covers how that works.
Together we rise
Tell us what you are building and the one assumption you most want tested.
Apply to the Accelerator