The true cost of an engineering team over 36 months
The monthly rate is the least interesting number in the spreadsheet. Here’s the rest of it.
- The monthly rate is only part of what a team costs over three years.
- Recruiting, ramp-up, churn and management overhead quietly add up to more than most rate differences.
- A dedicated team managed by a partner carries those costs for you: hiring, delivery, HR and replacements.
- Hire directly for the roles that must sit with you. Let a managed team carry the build.
Most team decisions come down to one number: what an engineer costs per month. That’s a bit like choosing a house by the price of the front door. It matters, but it isn’t the house.
Here’s how we look at the full picture with founders and CTOs, over the three years that matter.
The costs that never appear on an offer letter
- Recruiting. Every hire takes weeks of sourcing, interviews and negotiation, usually from your most senior people. Agency fees add up fast.
- Ramp-up. Every new engineer spends weeks learning your product before they’re fully productive. Teams that change often pay that tax again and again.
- Churn. When someone leaves, knowledge leaves with them. Two departures a year can quietly undo a quarter’s progress, and restart the recruiting clock.
- Management overhead. Someone has to run sprints, review work, unblock people and keep the team aligned. That person is expensive, and usually you.
- Running the team. Payroll, benefits, equipment, workspace, compliance and performance reviews all take time and money before a line of code ships.
Code is cheap to write and expensive to understand. Teams that stay keep that understanding.
What a managed team takes off your plate
A dedicated team managed by Launch Ventures works only on your product, in your tools and your rituals. The costs above become ours to carry:
- Hiring and vetting. Our senior architects interview every engineer and match them to your stack and domain.
- Delivery management. A delivery lead runs sprints, standups and weekly reporting, so you see progress without managing people day to day.
- Continuity. If someone moves on, we replace them with a proper handover. The roadmap doesn’t stall while you rehire.
- Quality. Code review, automated testing, CI/CD and security practices are built in from the first sprint.
- People operations. HR, payroll, equipment and workspace are handled. You own the code, the repos and the IP.
When to hire directly instead
A managed team isn’t the answer to every role. Hire directly when:
- It’s your first technical co-founder or CTO, the person who owns the technology strategy.
- The role has to sit in the room with your customers, every day.
- You already have strong engineering management and recruiting capacity, and want to grow it.
Many of our clients do both: a small core in-house that owns direction, and a managed team that carries the build.
The 36-month shape
In the first months, a managed team starts faster: no recruiting cycle, and a delivery lead from day one. Around the first year, the team’s knowledge of your product starts to compound, and because we keep the team stable, it stays. By month 36, the difference shows up in how quickly you ship, not just in the spreadsheet.
How long is the roadmap? Which roles do you need, and how senior? How fast do you need to start? Who will manage the team day to day? And what happens to the knowledge when someone leaves?
Choose on the whole house, not the front door. Then spend the time you get back on the product.
