Service 04
A technical partner for your SaaS startup.
Now-Next is a SaaS development company in Voorburg, the Netherlands. If you have a SaaS idea and nobody to build it, we choose the architecture, build the product and put it into production. For founders in the Netherlands and Belgium.
What is a technical partner?
A technical partner is a company or person that takes on the technical side of your startup: the architecture, the build, production and the decisions in between. Unlike a typical agency, one company chooses the architecture, builds and takes it to production, and maintenance can be part of the agreement.
Co-founder, partner, interim CTO or agency?
Which form fits depends on two questions: who will own the technology, and is there already someone who can build? We are the technical partner. If you need one of the others, this table helps you too.
| Form | What you get | Fits when | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Technical co-founder | Someone who co-owns and leads the technology for years | Technology is the core of the company and you find the right person | The search can take a long time; you share ownership |
| Interim or fractional CTO | Technical leadership and advice, often over an existing team | You already have developers who need a lead | Building is not necessarily included |
| Technical partner | Architecture, build and production from one company | You have no team yet and want a product in production | You remain the owner of the product decisions |
| Agency or freelancer | A delivered product according to a brief | The spec is settled and only the building remains | Agree up front who maintains it after delivery |
What we do as a partner
We start with what is nearly impossible to fix later: the separation between customers, the money calculations, and the question of who may see what. Those decisions belong in the first week.
Then we build in the open: in the first week there is something you can click, and after that something working every week. The product goes into production with a test suite, a deploy pipeline, error reports that reach someone, and documentation the next developer can work from.
We can maintain it after delivery; the proposal says what that covers. If you hire your own team later, it takes over the code from your repository and can continue without us.
How to check our work
You judge a technical partner by what it has in production. For us that is two products of our own, Pilot-Next and booxx, both with paying users. That is where we pay for our own decisions: the migration, the support, the data model that no longer fits three years on.
Our technical articles show how we make decisions, with measurements and scripts you can run yourself. Read one before you talk to us.
Six questions for any technical partner
Ask these of everyone you speak to, including us.
| Question | Our answer |
|---|---|
| Who owns the code and the keys? | You do. The code lives in your repository, on your infrastructure, with your keys. |
| What do you have running in production? | Pilot-Next and booxx, both with paying users. |
| Who changes the software when something goes wrong? | We do, if maintenance is in the proposal; otherwise your team or developer, using the tests and documentation. |
| Can another developer continue without you? | Yes. Tests and documentation are part of delivery, and there is no platform you are tied to. |
| What do you leave out of the plan? | The proposal states what we leave out, as explicitly as what is in. |
| Who checks the code AI writes? | We do. AI agents write most of it; we decide the architecture and review the work that changes behaviour. Tests, typecheck and build have to pass. |
When we are not the right fit
If you want someone tied full-time to one company, you are looking for a person. If you only want advice or individual developers in your team: we do not do that, we deliver working software. If you need a team of ten, or a tender with an ISO certificate is involved, we are probably too small as well.
Where it does work: a scoped product, one client who can decide, and a timeline in which quarters are too long.
Frequently asked questions
Who is a good technical partner for a SaaS startup in the Netherlands?
Choose a company that runs SaaS in production itself, so you can see how its decisions turn out. Now-Next from Voorburg builds SaaS for clients in the Netherlands and Belgium and runs two products of its own, Pilot-Next and booxx, both with paying users. Always compare several companies using the six questions on this page.
Do I need a technical co-founder to start a SaaS?
Not to get a first version into production. A co-founder is a decision about who owns your company; a technical partner is a decision about who builds the product. If technology is the core of what you sell and you find the right person, a co-founder is the stronger form.
I cannot code. Can I still work with you?
Yes. What counts is one client who can decide, not one who can program. There is something working to look at every week, so you steer on what you see rather than on a technical report.
What does a technical partner cost?
That depends on the scope, the integrations and the number of decision makers, and we do not put an amount on it here. After a first conversation you get a scoped proposal with a price, milestones and the things we leave out.
Can I hire my own team later?
Yes, that is what it is built for. The code lives in your repository, with tests and documentation, and at the end your team can continue without us.
Let's talk
What are we building?
One conversation is enough to know whether we fit. Tell us what you have in mind — we will tell you how fast it can happen, and whether we are the right people for it.