Fixed-fee engagement · 10 business days
Stabilization Review.
Get your stuck software project moving.
A 10-business-day paid engagement. Written 30/60/90 action plan. Live debrief. One senior operator on the work. Fixed fee. No surprises.
Why this offer exists
Most stuck-product buyers can't justify signing a retainer cold.
You have a software project that's live or in-progress and it's stuck. Features aren't shipping. The roadmap keeps slipping. Your dev partner or in-house team has gone quiet. You don't know what's wrong, or whether the current setup is recoverable at all.
The Stabilization Review is a 10-business-day engagement where a senior operator reads your codebase, your backlog, and your team dynamics, then gives you a written 30/60/90 action plan you can run yourself, hand to another team, or continue with us.
Small enough to approve without a board conversation. Specific enough that you know exactly what you're getting. Structured so it naturally converts into a retainer or fixed-scope engagement if the fit is right. Stays useful to you even if it doesn't.
Included
What you get
- 60-minute kickoff call with you, your product lead, and your technical contact
- 10 business days of review: codebase read, backlog, delivery process, team interviews
- Written deliverable (~10 pages): situation summary, top risks, quick wins, 30/60/90 plan, recommended resourcing path
- Delivered to you 24 hours before the debrief
- 90-minute recorded live debrief call
- You own the plan. No clawback if you decide not to continue.
Not included
What you don't get
- A full security audit
- New production code during the review
- Refactors or rewrites during the review
- Promised timelines that depend on our capacity
- Legal, compliance, or regulatory certification
- A sales pitch in a PDF
If any of those are required, we'll point you to a partner who specializes in them.
The 10 days
What we do
Three phases, structured around getting you a usable answer. Not a theater piece.
Days 1–3
Access and orientation
Kickoff call with your team. Repo access granted. Deploy pipeline traced. Backlog and roadmap collected. Interview schedule confirmed.
Days 4–8
Review and interviews
Experienced code read focused on delivery risk. Backlog prioritization review. 30-minute interviews with the 2–3 people closest to the work. Delivery process review.
Days 9–10
Synthesis and delivery
Written deliverable finalized and reviewed internally. Sent to you 24 hours before the debrief. Live debrief call. Next-steps conversation.
The deliverable
~10 pages you can run yourself or hand to another team
Sent to you 24 hours before the debrief call, as a PDF and a Google Doc. Six sections:
- 01Situation summary. What we saw in the codebase, backlog, team, and delivery process.
- 02Top risks. The three to five things most likely to stall, break, or cost real money in the next 90 days.
- 03Quick wins. What we'd ship in the first two weeks if given capacity.
- 0430/60/90 action plan. Prioritized roadmap with effort estimates on each item.
- 05Recommended resourcing path. Retainer, fixed-scope, or internal hire, with rationale.
- 06Optional next steps. One-page proposal for continuing with Kingbird, zero pressure to accept.
Right for you if
- Founder, operator, or engineering leader of a 10–100 person company
- You have a live or in-progress software product
- Something is stuck, slipping, or uncertain: the roadmap keeps moving or the partner has gone quiet
- You want an honest outside read from a senior operator
- You'd rather pay $4,500 for a structured answer than sit through another free sales call
Not right if
- Pre-build (nothing to review yet). Book a fit call instead.
- Looking for free advice. The paid wedge is the filter.
- Trying to use a review to manage a team relationship problem
How to start
Three steps, no guesswork
- 1.Click Purchase. Pay the $4,500 fixed fee through Stripe Checkout. Corporate card or ACH both work.
- 2.Pick a kickoff slot on the calendar that loads after checkout. Kickoff happens within the following week.
- 3.Within 24 hours of booking, you get an access list (what we need from your repo, tools, and team) and an interview schedule for Phase 2. The 10-business-day clock starts on kickoff day.
FAQ
Common questions
- What if we decide not to continue with you?
- You keep the plan. You own it. No clawback, no restrictive clauses. If you come back in three months, we pick up where the plan left off.
- Who does the work?
- Chris King (senior operator) runs the kickoff, team interviews, delivery review, and debrief. A senior engineer from our delivery partner joins the codebase read. You get one named operator on the engagement, not a rotating consultant pool.
- What if you slip on the 10-day turnaround?
- You get 25% of the fee refunded ($500). The commitment is real on our side too.
- Do you sign an NDA?
- Yes. A mutual NDA is sent with the kickoff confirmation. Mutual, no trick clauses. If you want to sign it before the kickoff call, the standard Mutual NDA PDF is linked below the FAQ.
- Can this convert into a retainer or fixed-scope project?
- Yes, and roughly half do. If you continue on a retainer the month following the debrief, 10% of the review fee credits back against month one. No pressure if you don't.
- What if I'm pre-build and have nothing to review?
- This isn't the right fit yet. Book a fit call with Chris and we'll figure out the right path. Usually a fixed-scope conversation with AJ.
Need the NDA up front?
Download the standard Mutual NDA (PDF), sign it, and email it back to chris@kingbirdsolutions.com. Two-year term, mutual, Arizona governing law.
Ready when you are
Ten days. Written plan. Honest read.
$4,500 flat. No surprises, no clawback, no pressure to continue. If the plan is useful, the work speaks for itself.
Prefer a conversation first? Book a fit call. Already have a scoped project? Talk to AJ.