Software development • Montreal

MVP Development for Startups in Montreal

MVP development is for founders who need to put a real product in front of real customers before the money or the patience runs out. If you are in Montreal with an idea and a list of people who said they would pay, the next step is a working first version, not a bigger plan.

DaniMaster builds fixed-scope MVPs in four to eight weeks for startups across Quebec and Canada. We have shipped our own products, FacilInvoice and BizLocal among them, to paying users. We help you decide what to cut, build what remains well, and launch with billing so you learn whether customers pay.

What we build

An MVP is the smallest version of your product that lets a customer get the outcome they are paying for. We build it as real software, not a prototype you will throw away.

What a typical MVP from us includes:

• One core workflow, done completely, end to end.
• Accounts and login, with the minimum roles needed.
• Payments through Stripe if customers will pay, so you test willingness to pay from day one.
• A simple admin view so you can see users and handle support requests.
• Hosting, backups, analytics and error reporting.

What we leave out, on purpose: multiple pricing tiers, native mobile apps when a responsive web app will do, integrations customers have not asked for, custom branding options, and reports nobody will read for six months.

We build MVPs as web applications first, using Next.js or PHP with PostgreSQL or SQLite, deployed with Docker behind Cloudflare. Mobile-first products ship from one cross-platform codebase to iOS, Android and the browser. Either way, the first version is built to be extended, not rebuilt.

How we work

Our process protects the one thing a startup cannot buy back: time.

Discovery, week one. A half-day workshop in Montreal or online. We write down the customer, the problem, the single workflow and the success measure. Then we cut. Every feature goes into version one, version two or the parking lot, and version one must fit the budget.

Design, weeks one and two. Low-fidelity screens for the core flow, reviewed with two or three of your prospective customers before code exists.

Build, weeks two through six. Weekly demos on a staging site. Changes are allowed, but each one trades against something else in scope.

Test, weeks six and seven. Real signups, real payments in test mode, broken networks and bad input.

Launch, week seven or eight. Production hosting in your name, domain, analytics, first customers in.

Support. After launch we offer a monthly plan to fix, measure and build version two from what customers actually did.

Products we have taken from first version to paying users

We have built and launched our own products, which is the experience that matters most for an MVP.

FacilInvoice (facilinvoice.ca) is our bilingual invoicing SaaS for Canadian freelancers and small businesses. Its core job is simple: create a correct invoice with the right Canadian taxes and get paid. Around that core sit Stripe subscriptions, promo codes, a multi-province tax engine for GST, HST, QST and PST, automatic Interac e-Transfer reconciliation and an admin console. The lesson for any MVP is that a product earns the right to grow by doing one job well first.

BizLocal (bizlocal.ca) is a French-first directory of about 49,000 businesses in 336 categories across Quebec and Canada, with a quote-request funnel that routes leads to matching businesses, partner billing and Odoo CRM sync.

ClearCall, our accessible calling app with live captions for deaf and hard-of-hearing users, was built around one user need and nothing else.

Your MVP inherits the hosting, deployment and security tooling we run for these products rather than paying to build it.

What an MVP costs and how long it takes

Fixed scope means a fixed price. Canadian-dollar ranges for MVP development:

• Lean MVP: one workflow, accounts, Stripe payments, basic admin, hosted and launched: from $8,000, four to eight weeks.
• Standard MVP: two or three connected workflows, roles, email notifications, one integration: $15,000 to $35,000, eight to twelve weeks.
• Mobile-first MVP shipping to iOS, Android and web from one codebase: $20,000 to $45,000, ten to fourteen weeks, including store submission.
• Monthly support after launch: from $500 for fixes and monitoring, more for a steady flow of version two features.

What pushes an MVP out of these ranges is usually integrations, marketplace-style products with two user types, and real-time collaboration. We tell you that in the discovery workshop.

What we never charge for separately: deciding what to cut. Montreal founders who come to us with a twelve-feature list usually leave with a three-feature version one and a clear reason for each cut.

Why Montreal founders build their MVP with us

Here is why a local team makes sense for the MVP.

Speed of decisions. An MVP lives or dies on quick answers. Same time zone, same city, and the option to sit in a room in Montreal for the discovery workshop means a decision takes an hour, not a day.

Bilingual from the first release. If your market is Quebec or Canada, the MVP needs French and English at launch. We build both without doubling the cost.

Law 25 and investor due diligence. Quebec's Law 25 applies the moment you collect personal information. We set up consent, data minimization and a privacy policy that matches what the software actually does. Canadian hosting is available on request.

Canadian payments. Stripe in CAD, correct GST, HST, QST and PST on your invoices, and Interac flows if your customers expect them.

Honest advice. We will tell you when an MVP is premature and a landing page would answer your question for less.

Who MVP development is for

MVP development fits founders in these situations.

Pre-seed with a validated problem. You know the pain from customer interviews. You need a product people can pay for before the next investor conversation. A lean MVP in four to eight weeks gives you revenue and usage data, not a slide.

A no-code version that hit its ceiling. The prototype proved demand, but it is slow, cannot handle payments the way you need, or breaks with more users. We rebuild the core as real software and migrate the data.

A service business testing a product. A Montreal consultancy wants to turn a method its clients already pay for into software. An MVP lets existing clients be the first users.

If you have a clear problem and a rough feature list, the next step is simple. Start with a free 30-minute call. We will tell you what version one should be and what it would cost.

Frequently asked questions

What exactly do you cut from an MVP?

Anything that is not on the path from signup to the core outcome. Typical cuts: multiple pricing tiers, native apps when a web app will do, integrations nobody has requested, team roles beyond owner and member, custom branding, and dashboards. Every cut goes on a version two list so nothing is lost.

Can the MVP grow into the full product, or will it be rebuilt?

It grows. We build MVPs as production software on the same stack we use for full products: Next.js or PHP, PostgreSQL, Docker, Stripe. The scope is small, but the foundations are real. Our own products, FacilInvoice and BizLocal, run on the same stack, so the first version has room to grow.

Do you work with non-technical founders?

Yes, most of our startup clients are domain experts, not developers. We explain decisions in plain language, show working software weekly, and give you an admin console so you can run the product without a developer. We also document the system so a future technical hire can take over quickly.

Do you take equity or only cash?

We work for cash on a fixed price for the MVP. This keeps the relationship simple and leaves your cap table clean for investors. Payment is usually split into milestones tied to demos. If you need to spread the cost, we can phase the scope so each payment delivers something you can show.