Frequently Asked Questions

Every engagement starts with a free 30-minute strategy call. On that call we'll ask about your business, your goals, and your current constraints. If there's a clear fit, we'll send a Discovery Sprint proposal (typically 1–2 weeks, fixed price) that maps out exactly what we'd build and grow — before you commit to a full engagement.

We work primarily with B2B SaaS companies from pre-seed to Series B, FinTech companies, and enterprise teams building or modernising internal software platforms. We do not work with pure e-commerce or consumer brands (unless there is a strong SaaS or tech component). The ideal client has an existing product or a clear product vision, a desire to grow it deliberately, and the budget to do it properly.

Both. Fixed-price projects for defined scopes (MVP development, cloud migration, CRM build). Monthly retainers for ongoing work: product development sprints, continuous performance marketing, SEO/GEO content programmes. Most clients start with a fixed-price Discovery Sprint, then move to a retainer for the build and growth phase.

Our minimum project size is £15,000. This typically covers a focused 4–6 week build sprint or a 3-month performance marketing engagement. Smaller audits and strategy sprints are available from £3,500 (PLG Audit) or £7,500 (Architecture Audit) for clients who need a clear plan before committing to a full build.

We typically have a 2–3 week onboarding lead time for new clients. For urgent projects (regulated deadlines, launch windows), we maintain capacity for fast-track starts — discuss your timeline on the strategy call.

Our default stack: React (Next.js) for front-end, Node.js or Python for back-end APIs, PostgreSQL for relational data, Redis for caching and queues, AWS for cloud infrastructure (ECS/Fargate, RDS Aurora, ElastiCache, CloudFront). For AI features: OpenAI, Anthropic Claude, LangChain, and vector databases (Pinecone, pgvector). We will work with your existing stack when it makes sense to do so.

You do. 100%. All source code, infrastructure definitions, and documentation are transferred to your repository at the end of the project — no strings, no lock-in. We do not retain any rights to code we build for clients.

A focused B2B SaaS MVP (core feature set, auth, billing, basic admin) typically takes 8–12 weeks. A more complex MVP with AI features, multi-tenant architecture, or compliance requirements takes 12–20 weeks. The 2-week Discovery Sprint that precedes the build defines the scope precisely so you have an accurate timeline before any build work begins.

Yes — we offer a post-launch retainer for maintenance, monitoring, and incremental feature development. Most clients transition to a monthly engineering retainer after the initial build. For critical systems (FinTech, regulated platforms), we offer an SLA-backed maintenance contract.

Yes. We do project takeovers regularly. We start with a 1-week Technical Audit (£5,000 fixed) to assess the codebase, identify technical debt, and produce a remediation plan. If the existing code is salvageable, we'll extend it. If it needs to be rebuilt, we'll tell you upfront — not 6 months into a rewrite.

Google Ads (Search, Performance Max, Display, YouTube), Meta Ads (Facebook and Instagram), LinkedIn Ads (B2B lead generation and ABM), TikTok Ads, and programmatic display. Channel selection is driven by where your ICP spends time and where your CPA targets are achievable — not by which channels generate the highest management fees.

We recommend a minimum of £3,000/month per active channel. Below this threshold, it is difficult to generate statistically meaningful data for optimisation and exit the platform learning phases. Our management fee is charged separately from ad spend and scales with the number of active channels and campaign complexity.

We implement server-side conversion tracking — not just pixel-based attribution. For clients whose software we build, we wire conversion events directly into the application code, passing actual revenue data to ad platforms. For marketing-only retainer clients, we implement server-side GTM and Meta CAPI as a minimum. This eliminates the iOS 14.5 tracking gap and gives you clean, deduplicated conversion data.

We do not guarantee specific ROAS figures — no honest agency does. We do set clear benchmark targets in the Discovery Sprint based on your industry, ACV, and funnel complexity, and we commit to achieving those targets or escalating immediately with a revised strategy. We have a strong track record: our B2B SaaS clients average 3.8x ROAS within 90 days of campaign launch.

Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) is the practice of optimising your content so that AI systems — ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google Gemini, Google AI Overviews, and Claude — cite your brand as an authoritative source when answering queries in your category. As AI-generated answers replace traditional search results for informational queries, GEO determines whether your brand is mentioned as the answer or simply absent from the conversation.

For a new domain: meaningful organic traffic at 3–6 months, significant results at 6–12 months. For an established domain: improvements from technical SEO are often visible within 4–8 weeks. GEO citations in AI answers can appear within 2–4 weeks of properly structured content being indexed. We deliver a prioritised roadmap with quick wins (0–30 days) and compounding long-term initiatives.

We create it. Brantum's SEO team produces all content: service pages, pillar articles, FAQ hubs, comparison pages, and location pages. Every piece is structured for GEO (definition-first, schema-marked, authoritative) and traditional SEO (keyword-optimised, E-E-A-T compliant, internally linked). Human editorial review is applied to every piece before publication — we do not publish raw AI output.

LLM integration (OpenAI, Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini), agentic AI workflows (multi-step autonomous agents using LangChain or custom orchestration), RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) for knowledge bases, AI copilots for B2B SaaS, document processing pipelines, and AI-powered search. All implementations are SOC 2 and GDPR compliant by design.

We design all AI integrations with data privacy built in: PII redaction before data reaches LLM APIs, no training data retention (we configure all API calls with opt-out flags), GDPR-compliant data processing agreements with providers, and — where required — self-hosted models via AWS Bedrock or Azure OpenAI for maximum data residency control.

Project costs depend on scope and complexity. Typical ranges: MVP build (8–12 weeks): £25,000–£60,000. SaaS product build (12–24 weeks): £60,000–£200,000. Cloud migration: £40,000–£150,000. Custom CRM: £45,000–£120,000. AI integration project: £15,000–£80,000. Every project begins with a Discovery Sprint (£5,000–£7,500 fixed price) that defines the scope and produces a fixed-price quote for the full build before any commitment is made.

In exceptional cases, for pre-seed companies with strong fundamentals and a compelling opportunity, we consider a hybrid model: reduced cash fee plus equity or revenue share. This is evaluated case-by-case and is not our standard commercial model. For most companies, the standard project or retainer fee structure is the right approach.

Retainer scope is defined per client based on what the business needs. Typical engineering retainers include: a fixed number of sprint points per month, dedicated engineer(s) on your codebase, weekly demo calls, and access to our full engineering team for architectural decisions. Marketing retainers include: media buying and optimisation, monthly creative production, reporting, and SEO/GEO content production.