Process
How AVA Labs defines responsibilities, communication, professional conduct, and meeting scope when working with founders and existing engineering teams.
The quick take
AVA Labs generally prefers to work directly with the founder or one designated representative.
Communication is managed through one primary point of contact, with clearly defined responsibilities and regular progress updates.
Before direct collaboration
When direct collaboration with an internal engineering team is necessary, the founder must prepare that team in advance. Everyone needs to understand:
Engineering decisions often represent months of effort. Findings from an outside expert can be perceived as personal criticism, creating defensiveness and unnecessary conflict. Careful preparation helps keep the founder focused on developing the product.
Professional conduct
The following are unacceptable:
AVA Labs reserves the right to terminate an engagement if these conditions cannot be maintained.
Meeting scope
Standard engagements do not include participation in:
AVA Labs can assign a designated representative to attend meetings and provide project updates for an additional fee.
These policies are designed to prevent unnecessary conflict. Clear responsibilities, professional communication, and mutual respect help protect the founder’s investment and create the conditions for successful product development.
Bringing an outside engineering firm into an existing development team can create challenges that have very little to do with engineering itself.
In our experience, engineers who haven't worked together before can sometimes struggle to collaborate, particularly when one team is brought in to review or revise another team's work.
Engineering decisions often represent months of effort. When an outside expert identifies problems, those findings can sometimes be perceived as personal criticism.
Without careful preparation, this can create defensiveness, disagreements, and unnecessary conflict, leaving the founder managing relationships rather than developing the product.
For this reason, AVA Labs generally prefers to work directly with the founder or one designated representative.
When direct collaboration with an internal engineering team is necessary, the founder must prepare that team in advance.
Everyone needs to understand our responsibilities, the boundaries between teams, and who has final decision-making authority.
We also maintain strict expectations for professional conduct.
Deliberately withholding information, restricting access to necessary project files, directing profanity or personal insults at our engineers, or creating hostile arguments are unacceptable.
Constructive technical disagreements are welcome. Obstruction and personal attacks are not.
AVA Labs reserves the right to terminate an engagement if these conditions cannot be maintained.
Additionally, our standard engagements do not include participation in internal stand-ups, all-hands meetings, or recurring team presentations.
For clients who require this level of coordination, AVA Labs can assign a designated representative to attend meetings and provide project updates for an additional fee.
Otherwise, communication is managed through one primary point of contact, with clearly defined responsibilities and regular progress updates.
These policies aren't intended to discourage collaboration. They're designed to prevent unnecessary conflict, protect valuable engineering time, and keep the project moving forward.
Clear responsibilities, professional communication, and mutual respect help protect the founder's investment and create the conditions necessary for successful product development.