When you have product-market fit, a roadmap that justifies a permanent salary, and the 3–6 months and management bandwidth to recruit, ramp, and retain a senior engineer.
ObsCode vs Hiring in-house
A full-time senior hire is the right long-term answer once you know what to build; ObsCode gets the first version shipped while you figure that out.
When you need the first real version in production now, not two quarters from now, and you'd rather not carry a $140k+ salary, equity, and hiring risk to validate an idea that hasn't shipped yet.
Side-by-side
Where the differences matter.
| Factor | Hiring in-house | ObsCode |
|---|---|---|
| Time to first line of code | 2–4 months (hire + onboard) | Day 1, building by week 1 |
| Annual cost | $120–180k salary + equity + overhead | from $6k for a Core MVP, fixed |
| Bus factor | One person; they quit, you stall | A team; named lead with backup |
| Ramp time | Weeks before they're productive | Senior, productive from day one |
| Commitment | Permanent, hard to unwind | Project-scoped, no long-term liability |
| Best stage | Post-PMF, scaling a roadmap | Pre-seed / seed, shipping the first product |
We're not a replacement for a great in-house team, we're how you earn the right to build one. Ship the MVP with us, prove the thing works, then hire permanently against a real product instead of a pitch deck. We'll hand over clean, documented code the day your first engineer starts.
Still deciding between ObsCode and Hiring in-house?
Send a 2-min Loom about your project. We'll Loom back within 24h with an honest take, including when you should pick the other option.
Send a 2-min Loom →
Core MVP shipped to production by week 4.
or send a 2-min Loom →or email hello@obsidiancode.io