They spent months searching for two senior backend engineers. They ended up delivering 159% of what was committed.
A B2B startup in Madrid had funding and a validated product. What it couldn't find was people.
84% — Sprint 02 · delivered vs. committed
159% — Sprint 04 · delivered vs. committed
195 — tasks completed in one quarter
v1.0 — in production and evolving
The starting point
The company wasn't looking for technical leadership. It was looking for two senior backend profiles, full time, to accelerate the product.
The market wouldn't supply them. Months of searching, processes that never closed, and competition for the same profile against corporate salaries an early-stage startup can't match.
The cost wasn't the salary they weren't paying. It was the quarter they were losing in the search while the product stood still.
The objection
When we came to the table, the CEO was direct about his reservations. He'd had bad experiences with outsourced development and wanted something concrete: real dedication, full time, and control over progress. He didn't want a vendor. He wanted a team.
The objection was legitimate. We answered it with structure, not promises: sprints with a measured commitment, verifiable deliveries, and velocity metrics visible to the client at all times. If we delivered below target, it showed. That was the point.
What happened
Sprint 02 — 84% of the commitment — The first full sprint came in below target. We adjusted the estimate and the scope instead of justifying the deviation.
Sprint 04 — 159% of the commitment — With the team calibrated and the architecture stabilised, delivery far exceeded the commitment.
195 tasks completed in one quarter.
What was delivered
v1.0 in production, and evolving.
- Operations management platform, deployed and in real use
- User management module: onboarding, requests, in-app notifications, approval
- Attendance module with support for external users
- Guided setup of facilities and equipment, with maps integration
- End-to-end test suite and a shared data-access library
Where it stands today
v1.0 is in production. The relationship moved from product delivery to an ongoing evolution phase, with a contract running until February 2027.
They never did close those two hires. They no longer needed them.
Why it worked
A measurable commitment per sprint. The client sees what was committed and what was delivered, sprint by sprint. There's no hours report and no conversation about effort: there's a percentage.
A sprint below target gets corrected, not justified. The 84% from sprint 02 is in this case study on purpose. A vendor that only shows you its good sprints isn't showing you anything.
They were looking for capacity and got direction too. Two senior backend engineers would have written whatever code they were asked to. What was also needed was deciding the architecture, prioritising the backlog and upholding quality — work that never appears in a job posting but determines whether the product reaches production.
No equity, no hiring process, no lost quarter. Senior capacity up and running in weeks.