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How we partner

Partnerships that fit how you work

Some teams need a whole product designed and built. Some need three more engineers by next month. Some are agencies who have won the pitch and need it made properly, under their own name. D&C Studios works all three ways from Mumbai: as a fixed scope partner, as a dedicated team, or as a white label web development partner, with a founder on every account.

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Who we partner with

Five kinds of team we do our best work with.

What they share is simple: they care how the product feels on day one and whether it still works in year three.

  • 01

    Funded founders with a deadline

    Seed to Series B teams who need version one designed and built properly, and fast, by a partner who will still be around for version three. Made By Bharat went live with 100+ vendors in seven months.

  • 02

    D2C and retail brands

    Brands in India and the Gulf who need the store, the app and the marketing to behave like one business. For a skincare brand in Dubai, that added up to 38% higher conversion.

  • 03

    Enterprise and institutional digital leaders

    Heads of digital, IT and operations modernising portals and integrations without stopping the business. We are at home with procurement and security reviews. IVCA cut renewals from three weeks to four days.

  • 04

    Agencies and consultancies

    Creative agencies and consultancies in the UK, the US, Australia and the Gulf who sell the idea and need a design and engineering team they can put their own name to.

  • 05

    Nonprofits and mission-led teams

    Organisations that need clarity, accessibility and a partner who respects a tight budget. The accessible site we built for Creating Abilities doubled volunteer enquiries in six months.

Engagement models

Five ways to work together, with the prices in plain view.

Every figure below is a starting point in rupees, dollars and dirhams. We publish them because nobody should need three calls to find out whether a conversation is worth having.

01 · 3 weeks

Discovery Sprint

Three weeks to a plan you can sign

The first three phases of the Ampersand Method, Listen & Learn, Map & Measure and Sketch & Shape, compressed into three weeks. You finish with a problem everyone agrees on, a prototype real users have tried and an estimate you can take to your board. It is yours to keep, whether or not we build it.

From
₹3.5 lakhUS$4,000AED 15,000

Best for New products, rebuilds with a fuzzy scope, and anyone who needs a number they can defend.

  • Workshops, stakeholder and customer interviews
  • A two sentence problem statement with success measures
  • A clickable prototype tested with real users
  • A technical blueprint and a costed roadmap

02 · 8 to 24 weeks

Product Build

Design and engineering, from blueprint to launch

A fixed scope project run by one team of designers and engineers, from the first sketch to go-live. Two week sprints, working software to click every Friday, and a well rehearsed, pleasantly boring launch at the end. Most of the websites, apps, stores and platforms we make start life this way.

From
₹12 lakhUS$15,000AED 55,000

Best for Websites, web apps, mobile apps, stores and platforms with a clear scope.

  • A named founder and a delivery lead
  • Product design, engineering and QA in one team
  • Weekly demos of working software
  • Launch, training and a runbook
  • 60 days of warranty after go-live

03 · Monthly, three months minimum

Embedded Team

Dedicated designers and engineers inside your roadmap

Designers and engineers from Mumbai who join your stand-ups, work your backlog and use your tools. It suits product teams with more work than people. Unlike hiring dedicated developers through a staffing firm, a D&C lead still reviews the code and answers for its quality.

From
₹6 lakh a monthUS$7,500 a monthAED 27,500 a month

Best for Product teams with a roadmap, a backlog and not enough hands.

  • Full time designers, engineers and QA on your product
  • Your tools, your rituals, your backlog
  • A D&C lead who reviews code and quality
  • Scale up or down with 30 days' notice

04 · Ongoing, monthly

Care & Grow plan

A live product that gets better every month

The sixth phase of our method, and the one we have practised longest. We host, monitor, patch and support what is live, then spend a bank of hours each month making it better. It works as well for products we inherited as for ones we built, and it runs on our cloud and hosting practice.

From
₹40,000 a monthUS$500 a monthAED 1,800 a month

Best for Anything already live, whoever built it.

  • Managed hosting, monitoring and backups
  • Security updates and uptime watch
  • Support with agreed response times
  • A monthly bank of hours for improvements
  • A quarterly roadmap review with a founder

05 · Per project or retainer

White label partner

For agencies: our team, your brand

For agencies in the UK, the US, Australia and the Gulf. Our designers and engineers work under your brand and in your tools, and your client only ever meets your team. Start with one project on a fixed quote, or book capacity by the day. Day rates are on request.

From
₹45,000 a dayUS$550 a dayAED 2,000 a day

Best for Agencies and consultancies who win the idea and need it built properly.

  • Unbranded work under a mutual NDA
  • Your process, your client calls, your credit
  • Fixed quotes or day rates, whichever suits the job
  • Progress waiting for your London or New York morning

For agencies

Your name on the work. Our team behind it.

Agencies in London, New York, Sydney and Dubai bring us in when they have won the idea and need it built to the standard they sold. We design and engineer under your brand, join client calls as part of your team if you want us there, and never put our name in the footer or approach your client directly.

Most agency partners start with a single project on a fixed quote, then book a monthly retainer once they trust the rhythm. Prem Raval looks after our agency partnerships himself, so there is always a founder who knows your accounts by name.

As the managing partner of a creative agency in London put it: "We hand D&C our most demanding builds. They ask the right questions early and they hit the dates."

  • A mutual NDA and a non-solicitation clause before any client detail changes hands
  • Unbranded code, Figma files and documentation, handed over in your name
  • Your project tool and rituals, or ours if you would rather borrow them
  • Shopify, WordPress, Next.js, React Native and Flutter builds, plus AI and integration work
  • Designers and engineers on the same call, so nothing is lost between the pitch and the build

Time zones

Honest about time zones.

Mumbai sits in a useful place on the clock. Our working day overlaps almost fully with the Gulf and Singapore, so decisions happen the same day, and a workshop in Dubai is a short flight away. More on that on our Dubai page.

With the UK we share about four hours of your morning, and the daily call lands at 10am London time. Sydney and Melbourne share their afternoon with our morning. With the US East Coast the window is shorter, one to two hours at the start of your day, and the rest becomes overnight progress: you sign off in the evening and the next build is waiting with your coffee.

We will not pretend a studio in Mumbai is down the corridor from Manhattan. We name a partner who keeps your hours, write everything down, and send a short written update every day, so nobody waits for a meeting to know where things stand.

How pricing works

Starting points, not rate cards.

The figures on this page are where engagements begin. A five page website and a marketplace with vendor payouts are both web projects. They are not the same price, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.

Every estimate we send lists its assumptions, so you can see what moves the figure and question any line of it. Defined work gets a fixed price. Products that will change as you learn run on time and materials, with a monthly cap you set. For ballpark figures, read our guides to what a website costs and what an app costs.

  • Starting points, not rate cards
  • Estimates with every assumption, exclusion and risk written down
  • Fixed scope for defined work, time and materials with a cap for evolving products
  • Milestone billing on projects, monthly billing for teams and care plans
  • Quotes in INR, USD or AED, with taxes shown separately
  • Changes priced in writing before any work begins

What to expect

Your first 30 days with us.

This is the first month of a typical Product Build. Discovery Sprints and Embedded Teams keep the same rhythm at a different pace.

  1. Before day 1

    Light paperwork

    An NDA, a short statement of work and access to your tools. You meet your founder and delivery lead, and a shared channel opens on WhatsApp or Slack.

  2. Days 1 to 3

    Kickoff workshop

    Designers and engineers in one room with your team. We agree the goal, the constraints and a problem statement short enough to fit in two sentences.

  3. Week 1

    Listen & Learn

    Interviews with your customers and colleagues, and an honest look at what already exists: content, systems, data and the workarounds nobody mentions.

  4. Week 2

    The first Friday demo

    Something to see and react to, whether sketches, a clickable flow or working code. The decision log starts here and never stops.

  5. Week 3

    A plan you can sign

    The roadmap, the architecture and the estimate, each with its assumptions shown. Sprints begin once you are happy with all three.

  6. Day 30

    The first review

    A founder sits down with you to ask what is working, what is not and whether the team is the right shape. Then we adjust.

What you can hold us to

  • You own the code, designs, domains and accounts

    Everything is registered in your name from the first day, with D&C added as a user you can remove. At Hosting Seva we met too many owners whose domain sat in a former agency's account. We decided early never to be that agency.

  • A founder leads every account

    Saurabh, Prem or Suraj is named on your project, joins the reviews that matter and picks up the phone when it counts. Meet the founders.

  • Weekly demos, not status decks

    Every Friday you see and click what changed that week. If there is nothing to show, you hear why from us before you think to ask.

  • Decisions in writing

    WhatsApp for speed, written decisions for memory. A shared log records what was agreed, by whom and why, so nobody reopens week two in week nine.

  • We stay after launch

    Launch is where the useful part begins. It is one reason 82% of our clients come back for a second project.

FAQ

Questions we hear often

Should we hire a studio, an agency or a freelancer?

It depends on the size of the risk. A good freelancer is often the right call for a small, well defined site. Once a product needs design, engineering, testing and someone answering the phone after launch, a studio gives you continuity: one accountable team, cover for holidays and a founder on the account. If a freelancer suits you better, we will say so.

Do you work on a fixed price or time and materials?

Both, and we will recommend one in writing. Fixed price suits work with a clear scope, such as a Discovery Sprint or a defined build, so you know the number before we start. Time and materials with a monthly cap suits products that will change as you learn. Embedded Teams bill monthly. Every estimate shows its assumptions.

How do time zones work if our team is in London, New York or Sydney?

London gets about four hours of shared morning and a daily call at 10am your time. New York gets a one to two hour window at the start of your day, plus overnight progress. Sydney shares its afternoon with our morning. A named partner keeps your hours, and a short written update arrives every working day.

Who owns the code, design files, domains and accounts?

You do. Domains, hosting, app store listings, analytics and cloud accounts are registered in your name from the start, with D&C added as a user you can remove. Code lives in your repository and designs in your workspace. Intellectual property passes to you as each invoice is paid, and nothing is held back at handover.

What happens after launch?

The useful part begins. Every build carries 60 days of warranty, then most clients move to a Care & Grow plan: hosting and monitoring, security updates, support with agreed response times and a monthly bank of hours for improvements. We began as a hosting company in 2018, so looking after live products is a habit, not an upsell.

Can you work white label under our agency's brand?

Yes. We sign a mutual NDA before any client detail is shared, work in your tools, join client calls as part of your team if you wish, and deliver unbranded code, designs and documentation. We never approach your clients directly. Agencies in the UK, the US, Australia and the Gulf work with us on fixed quotes or day rates.

Can we hire dedicated developers instead of a whole project team?

Yes, through an Embedded Team. You choose the mix, from two engineers to a pod of designers, engineers and QA, and they work full time on your backlog in your tools. A D&C lead still reviews code and quality, which is the difference between a dedicated team and hired hands. Teams start from ₹6 lakh a month.

What should we send you before a first call?

Whatever you have. A paragraph on the problem, who it is for, what exists today and any deadline or budget range is plenty, and decks or screenshots help. To go further, our guide on how to brief a digital product studio shows what a useful brief contains and what to leave out.

Tell us how you like to work.

Bring the project, the team shape or just the rough idea. A founder replies within one working day with a suggested model and an honest starting estimate.

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