Rescue & Turnaround · from $15,000
Get stuck software shipping again.
A codebase you can actually ship from: tests that pass, deploys that work, documentation that exists. It starts with a fixed-price audit, so you know what you have before you spend more.
Get my optionsFree 20-min call: whether I can help, a typical price range, no pressure.
Already have a quote, a plan or an idea, and just want an expert's read on it?
A Software Second Opinion is 90 minutes with a senior engineer and a written summary. $500.
Signs you need a rescue
- Releases are slow, risky or stopped.
- The people who built it are gone, and nobody knows how it works.
- Every fix breaks something else.
Good fit
- Companies whose developer or vendor left an unfinished product behind
- Teams that inherited a codebase and need to know what they actually have
- Products customers depend on that nobody wants to touch
Not a fit
- Rewrites for their own sake
- Quick patches with no plan to stabilize
What you get
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Codebase audit
What you have, what works, and what's holding you back.
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Risk assessment
Security, data and single points of failure, ranked.
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Stabilization plan
Rescue or rebuild, with reasons and a price.
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CI/CD setup
Tests that pass and deploys that work.
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Documentation
So the next person doesn't start from zero.
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Team onboarding
A clean hand-off to your developers or your next vendor.
How it works
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Week 1
Audit
A Scoping Sprint that audits the code and the delivery process, and answers rescue or rebuild.
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First 2–3 weeks
Stabilize
Stop the bleeding: backups, monitoring, and a deploy that works.
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Next
Ship
Clear the backlog in small, safe releases.
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Finally
Hand off
Docs and onboarding for your team or your next vendor.
Typically 3–8 weeks after the audit.
Pricing
From $15,000
Scoped in the sprint.
Timeline: Typically 3–8 weeks after the audit
Start with the Scoping Sprint as an audit. You get a straight answer on rescue versus rebuild and a fixed price, and the sprint fee comes off the work if you go ahead within 30 days.
Free 20-min call: whether I can help, a typical price range, no pressure.
Why work with me
Mischa Serlin
Fractional CTO · zCube8
I build AI automation and software that grows revenue and takes manual work off your team. Then I keep it running.
- Moved a ~2M-monthly-visitor site off its legacy platform with traffic and revenue intact
- Rebuilt the engineering team twice without interrupting service to the enterprise client
- AI-assisted analysis led to a 50% cut in a project's third-party API spend
- Solely responsible for every technical decision at the company for three years
FAQ
Should we rescue it or rebuild it?
Can you work with our current team?
What if it's really bad?
Start with a free 20-minute call.
If it's a fit, the next step is a 5-day Scoping Sprint, $2,500 (founding-client price, regular $5,000), credited in full if we keep going.
Get my optionsFree 20-min call: whether I can help, a typical price range, no pressure.
Not ready to talk? Rate my workflow (2 min)