How we scope a prototype in 23 days (median)
What actually happens between “this is a fuzzy bet” and a clickable prototype - and why we time-box it to a median of 23 days.
We quote a median of 23 days from brief to a clickable prototype. Not six months of discovery, and not a weekend sketch. This is what those 23 days actually contain, why the number isn't a sales trick, and where the variance comes from.
Week one is the interview week. We pair with your team for a week of short conversations - the founder's instinct about the market, the product owner's list of must-haves versus should-haves, the support tickets that keep coming back. Most of what people call scope is actually unspoken fear about who the product is for. Interviews surface that in days, not months.
Week two we draw. Wireframes, flows, and the occasional outright no - we kill ideas on paper so they don't ride along into build. The rule: every screen must exist for a reason you can explain in one sentence.
The last week we make it real. Working UI, real copy, clickable on a device. It's hi-fi enough that a roomful of users can react honestly, and light enough that we can throw it away - because most prototypes should be thrown away.
The 23 days is a median, not a promise for every project. Simple consumer flows come in faster; riskier B2B journeys run closer to six weeks. You get a date in the one-pager within 48 hours of first contact, and we tell you up front what would move it.
Why keep it this tight? A prototype loses its job the moment it starts pretending to be the product. Its job is to force a decision - and decisions get better after 23 uncomfortable days than after six calm months.
Like this? We write about scope, pricing and hand-offs whenever we learn something - roughly monthly. Tell us where you're stuck and we'll reply with a one-pager within 48 hours.