AI MVP Development Services: Ship a Real Prototype Fast

An AI MVP is the smallest version of a system that proves the core AI capability works against real data: not a slide deck, not a demo on made-up rows, but a real dataset, a real inference step, and a result a real user could act on end to end.

**Key numbers**
- We build a **free prototype** you click through before you commit to anything, and it is yours to keep if you walk away.
- Netguru's MVP timeline benchmark (updated March 2026) puts a typical MVP at about three to four months, foundational MVPs at 6-12 months, and more complex ones at 12-24 months.
- Our pods start working within 5 business days of kickoff, with first shipped work landing in week 1 or 2.
- Build-out pricing after the prototype is $5,000/month (Builder Pod) or $10,000/month (Growth Pod), both month-to-month with a 30-day cancellation notice.

## What actually counts as an AI MVP

An MVP earns the "minimum" in its name by cutting scope, not by cutting rigor. The version that proves the idea has to include the one thing that could kill the project: does the model produce a usable answer against your actual data, in your actual workflow, often enough to be worth building on.

That means an AI MVP is not a chatbot demo answering a canned question, not a model benchmark run on a public dataset that looks nothing like your production data, and not a UI mockup with hardcoded responses standing in for the model. It is a working slice: real data in, a real inference or generation step, a real output a user can act on, end to end.

Everything else, the polish, the edge cases, the secondary features, can wait. The MVP's only job is to answer one question honestly: does this work on data that looks like the mess you actually have.

## The free prototype and why it changes the risk math

Most of the risk in an AI MVP sits before the first invoice. You do not yet know if the vendor understands your data, your workflow, or your domain's constraints, and a scoping call rarely surfaces that.

We remove that step from the risk equation. Before any commitment, we build a free prototype you can click through yourself: a working slice against a version of your real workflow, not a wireframe. If you walk away after seeing it, you keep it. Nothing is owed, nothing rolls into a contract by default. The process (laid out in full on our [how it works](/how-it-works) page) runs: a single discovery session, the free prototype, and only then does a pod start on your codebase.

That ordering matters for AI specifically, more than it does for a standard web app. A CRUD app's risk is mostly in the requirements. An AI system's risk is mostly in whether the model behaves against your actual data distribution, and no amount of talking on a call answers that. A prototype does.


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## How long should an AI MVP actually take

There is a real range in the industry, and it is worth naming honestly rather than picking the number that flatters any one vendor. [Netguru's MVP timeline benchmark](https://www.netguru.com/blog/mvp-timeline) (updated March 2026) puts a typical MVP at about three to four months, foundational MVPs with only essential features at 6 to 12 months, and more complex MVPs at 12 to 24 months. Those are third-party figures for MVP builds generally, not a number we are claiming for ourselves.

That variance mostly tracks two things: how much of the timeline is spent hiring and ramping a team before any code ships, and how much compliance and integration work the domain demands. A consumer app MVP with no regulatory surface sits at the fast end. A healthcare or fintech MVP with audit logging, access control, and a BAA to negotiate sits at the slow end, not because the AI is harder, but because the surrounding controls are.

We compress the front half of that timeline, not the compliance half. A pod starts working within 5 business days of the discovery call, with first shipped work landing in week 1 or 2, because there is no requisition, no interview loop, and no ramp-up on unfamiliar tooling before code starts moving. That is where the weeks come out: the hiring cycle, not the engineering. Small projects with a pod typically run 1-3 months start to finish; medium ones, including most regulated MVPs with a real compliance load, run 3-12 months. Past a year on a single build is rare.

| Build type | Timeline | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Typical MVP | About 3-4 months | Netguru MVP timeline benchmark, updated March 2026 |
| Foundational MVP, essential features only | 6-12 months | Netguru MVP timeline benchmark, updated March 2026 |
| Complex MVP | 12-24 months | Netguru MVP timeline benchmark, updated March 2026 |
| Our pod, small build | 1-3 months | Asaasin FAQs, our own project history |
| Our pod, medium build | 3-12 months | Asaasin FAQs, our own project history |

## What belongs in the MVP scope and what waits

The single most common way an AI MVP fails is scope creep dressed up as thoroughness. Everyone with a stake in the launch wants their edge case handled first, and every one of those requests pushes back the date when you actually learn whether the core idea works.

The discipline is to draw a hard line around two things and defer everything else:

1. **The core model or data pipeline.** Whatever the AI actually has to do, generate a structured note from a voice recording, score a lead against historical outcomes, flag an anomalous transaction, has to run against real data, not a fixture.
2. **One real user workflow, end to end.** Pick the workflow that matters most to the business case and build it completely, from the user's first action to the output landing where they need it. A half-built version of five workflows proves nothing; a fully built version of one proves the idea.

| In scope for the MVP | Deferred to the next cycle |
|---|---|
| Core model/pipeline against real data | Model fine-tuning and accuracy tuning beyond a working baseline |
| One complete end-to-end workflow | Secondary workflows and admin tooling |
| Basic auth and access control | Full role-based permission granularity |
| Error handling for the common path | Exhaustive edge-case and failure-mode handling |
| A usable interface | Visual polish, animation, brand refinement |

This is how the pattern plays out on our regulated builds. For a dental sleep and airway medicine group, the whole system was organized around one record type carrying a person through six end-to-end workflows on a role-based access baseline, rather than a sprawl of separate applications, which is the same discipline an MVP needs at a smaller scale. For a compounding-pharmacy network, the build was spec-first: each phase, covering pharmacy routing with failover, consent and e-sign, and a seven-year immutable audit log, was verified against numbered requirements before it merged. Prove the core loop first, everywhere else follows the same order. For a longer view of how that scoping discipline extends into a full build, see our [guide to custom AI development](/blog/custom-ai-development).

## What it costs to go from prototype to a real build

The prototype itself costs nothing and commits you to nothing. Once you decide to build it out, pricing is published, not quoted per project:

| Pod | Price | Build tracks | Team | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Builder Pod | $5,000/month | 1 active track | Pod lead + 2-engineer bench | A single-workflow MVP |
| Growth Pod | $10,000/month | 2 concurrent tracks | Pod lead + 3-engineer bench | An MVP plus a second parallel build |
| Enterprise Organization Pod | Custom | 3+ parallel tracks | Dedicated lead + 3-8 engineers | Multiple departments building at once |

Every tier is month-to-month with a 30-day cancellation notice by email, no per-hour billing, and no change orders for ongoing work. A paused month is not billed and the seat is held. Most single-workflow AI MVPs fit a Builder Pod; if you already know the MVP needs a second track running in parallel, a Growth Pod covers that from the start. Full detail on what each tier includes lives on our [pricing page](/pricing). For a sense of how AI MVP cost compares to a full production build, our [AI app development cost breakdown](/blog/ai-app-development-cost) walks through the difference in scope, and if you are weighing a pod against hiring outright, our [hire vs. pod cost comparison](/blog/ai-engineer-cost-2026-hire-vs-pod) lays out the loaded-cost math on a US senior engineer.

## Who owns the code, the data, and the model once the pod is done

This is the question every founder should ask before signing anything, and the answer should not require a lawyer to parse. You own all code, all data, and all IP from day one. There is no license-back to us, and nothing in the system depends on a service we run. If the engagement ends, the system keeps running exactly as it did the day before.

Concretely, that means the build ships into your own repository and your own cloud account or VPC from week one, not a staging environment we control. Handover at the end of an engagement includes the repository, database migrations, the deploy pipeline, and documentation, because there is nothing held back to hand over separately. AI-assisted code goes through the same review gate as any other line: a pull request in your repository, reviewed by the named engineer who owns it, typed contracts, tests in CI. We do not train models on your data unless you ask us to. Full detail on the security and ownership posture, including how we handle regulated data, is on our [security page](/security).

For teams building in a regulated domain, that page also covers the compliance side directly: a SOC 2 Type II report available under NDA, and Business Associate Agreements signed on request. We do not claim a "HIPAA certification," because none exists to hold, the honest claim is HIPAA-aligned controls backed by a signed BAA. Two production examples carry that posture today: a compounding-pharmacy platform and a Medicare/Medicaid medical-billing audit platform, both built and running under HIPAA-aligned controls from the first commit.

## When an MVP pod is the right call, and when it is not

A pod fits well when you have a specific AI capability to prove (a model, a pipeline, an agent) against data you already have, and you need someone who can start writing code against that data inside days, not after a hiring cycle.

It does not fit as well when the actual blockage is not engineering capacity but product direction. If nobody in the company can say what the one workflow to prove is, that ambiguity needs to resolve before code starts, no team, internal or external, ships a good MVP against a target that keeps moving. It also is not the right frame if what you actually need is one or two specific specialists folded into an existing team's process rather than a self-contained build; that is a different engagement, closer to what our [engineering staff augmentation](/blog/engineering-staff-augmentation) guide describes.

If you are earlier than an MVP, still deciding whether to hire an engineer, contract a freelancer, or bring in a team, our guide on [hiring generative AI developers](/blog/hire-generative-ai-developers) breaks down that decision in more depth than fits here.

## A checklist for what to see before you pay

Before you commit budget to any AI MVP build, from us or anyone else, these are the things worth confirming up front:

1. **A working prototype against something close to your real data**, not a deck or a demo on sample rows. If a vendor cannot show this before a contract, ask why.
2. **A named workflow the MVP proves end to end**, stated in one sentence, not a list of five features half-built.
3. **A clear statement of what is deferred**, in writing, so scope creep during the build has something to be measured against.
4. **Where the code lives from day one.** If it is not your repository and your cloud account from the start, ask what happens if the relationship ends.
5. **What compliance posture applies**, if the domain calls for one, and whether that posture is backed by an actual signed agreement (a BAA, a SOC 2 report) or just a word on a landing page.
6. **The exact pricing model**, month-to-month with a stated cancellation notice, not an open-ended statement of work with change orders baked in.

## The short version

A real AI MVP proves one thing: that the core AI capability works against your actual data through one complete workflow, not a demo running on clean sample rows. We remove the biggest risk in that scoping decision by building a free prototype you click through before any commitment, and if you walk away, you keep it. Build-out after that runs on published, month-to-month pricing (Builder Pod at $5,000/month, Growth Pod at $10,000/month), starts within days rather than a hiring cycle, and ships into your own repository and cloud account with full ownership from the first line of code.