Cost isn’t mostly about hours
Founders often think about software cost as a function of hours times rate. So many people, working for so long, at so much per hour. Add it up and there’s your number.
That model isn’t wrong. It’s just incomplete. Most of what really drives cost in software projects isn’t the time spent coding — it’s decisions made about scope, complexity, scope, and risk. Those decisions can change the total cost by an order of magnitude, with the actual programming hours barely shifting.
Understanding what drives software cost is one of the most useful things a founder can develop. Without it, you’re left at the mercy of estimates that turn out wrong, and you can’t tell why.
Scope is the biggest lever
By far the largest cost driver is what you decide to build.
Every feature...
