The Unfair Deal

Six promises in writing that no agency will sign

Every one of these goes into the contract alongside the NDA and the signed scope. They are clauses, not marketing lines. AI-native delivery cuts the cost base by more than half, and part of that comes back to you as speed, price and promises.

Last updated: 16 August 2026

Foundreco writes six guarantees into every contract: miss a deadline and you pay 20% less; you can leave at any milestone with all your code; a live progress dashboard plus a weekly demo video; a free launch kit; a running-cost sheet before you sign; and 30 days of care after launch, included. All six are contractual clauses, not promises in an email.

Each one exists because a founder told Foundreco about a specific way they had been burned. They are printed below with the complaint that produced them, because the complaint is the point.

01. Miss the deadline and you pay 20% less

"They quoted 8 weeks. It took 6 months, and somehow every delay was my fault."

Every milestone has a date, and you only pay per delivered milestone. If the team misses one, that invoice drops 20% automatically. No arguing, no change-order theatre. The deadline risk sits with Foundreco, not with you.

02. Fire me anytime, and keep everything

"What if I want out? My last agency held the code hostage until I paid an exit invoice."

Everything lives in your repository, under your accounts, from the first commit. You can walk at any milestone with your code, your designs, and a plain-English handover document any developer can pick up in a day. There is no notice period and no exit fee, because there is nothing to hold hostage.

03. A live cockpit and a weekly demo video

"I paid $15K and then heard nothing for three weeks. I was chasing my own project."

A real-time dashboard shows what is done, what is next, and how much budget has burned. Check it at 3am if you want. On top of that you get a recorded demo of working software every week, so a nine-hour timezone gap never becomes a place for progress to hide.

04. A free launch kit, worth about $1,500

"My app went live and nothing happened. Nobody even knew it existed."

Every MVP ships with App Store screenshots, a 30-second AI-produced promo video, and launch copy for Product Hunt and social. Most developers hand you an app. This hands you an arrival.

05. A running-cost truth sheet, before you sign

"Nobody told me the app would cost $800 a month to run. I found out from the invoice."

You get the number most developers avoid giving: what your app costs to run every month — servers, database, APIs, store fees, AI usage. If the economics do not work, you hear it before you spend, not after. This is the guarantee that has talked founders out of building, which is exactly what it is for.

06. Your first 30 days after launch, on us

"The day we launched, their replies got slower. Suddenly every small fix cost extra."

30 days of bug fixes and store-compliance care, free. There is no retainer conversation until you have watched the team handle your live product. You commit to monthly support only after it has been earned.

Why an agency normally will not sign these

None of these clauses are generous. They are structural, and they are only possible because of how Foundreco is built.

GuaranteeWhy a traditional agency cannot offer it
20% late penaltyTheir estimates are padded for a bench and a sales cycle, so slippage is normal and priced in
Leave anytime with the codeLock-in is part of the revenue model; the repository is leverage
Live cockpitVisibility exposes how little of the retainer is spent on your project
Free launch kitIt is a separate line item they would rather bill
Running-cost sheetIt occasionally kills the deal, which is the whole reason it works
30 free daysPost-launch support is the highest-margin product they sell

Foundreco has no bench to fund, no sales team, and no office. AI does the repetitive build work, which is where the speed comes from. That cost structure is what makes six clauses affordable that would bankrupt a twenty-person shop.

Every software development agency quoted me at least €250,000 to build what I wanted. Foundreco got it built in a few weeks, and I never had to hire a development team.

Rachid Ghazil · Founder, MMA Plumbing

Questions about the guarantees

Are these actually in the contract, or just on the website?
In the contract, as numbered clauses, alongside the NDA and the signed scope. Ask for a copy before you commit to anything and you will get one. A guarantee that only exists on a marketing page is not a guarantee.
What counts as "missing a deadline"?
Each milestone has a written date and a written definition of done. If the delivery lands after that date, that milestone's invoice drops 20%. The exception is where the delay is caused by waiting on something from you, such as content, an account, or a decision. That is stated plainly in the contract rather than buried in it.
If I leave halfway, do I get a refund?
You pay per delivered milestone, so there is rarely anything to refund. You keep everything delivered up to that point, in your own repository, plus the handover document. What you do not pay for is work that was not delivered.
Who owns the code?
You do, from the first commit. It is committed to your repository under your accounts, not transferred at the end. There is no stage of the project at which Foundreco holds your intellectual property.
What happens after the free 30 days?
Nothing automatic. There is no auto-renewing retainer and no default monthly charge. If you want ongoing support, you agree it after the 30 days, having seen the actual response times.
Is the running-cost sheet a real estimate or a disclaimer?
A real per-line estimate: hosting, database, email, storage, store fees and any AI usage, with the assumptions written next to each. It is an estimate, so it can be wrong, but it is a genuine attempt rather than a range wide enough to be meaningless.

Related: Pricing in full · Vibe Code Rescue · Fifteen case studies · Free 24-hour idea audit

Your Turn

Read the clauses before you commit

Ask for the contract and you get it, guarantees included, before any money moves. Send your idea in three sentences and get an honest verdict within 24 hours.