Client FAQ
The questions that come before the contract.
How engagements start, how the work is priced, what happens to your data, and who owns what ships. If yours is not here, ask us directly.
General
4 questions
- What makes Sophilabs stand out from the pack?
We were founded by engineers, and the people who scope your work are the people who ship it — no layer in between. We build AI into software that already exists and has users, which is a different job from building a demo: your permissions, your data model, your UX, your release process. Most of our engagements start with a specific outcome rather than a headcount, and we would rather tell you a project is not worth building than staff it.
- How much time can I expect you to take to fill a position?
For staff augmentation, usually a day or two to come back with one or two engineers we would stand behind — not a list to sort through. If the role needs a niche technology, longer, and we will say so rather than send you someone approximate.
- Who owns the legal rights to the work produced by Sophilabs' engineers?
You do. Everything our engineers produce for you — code, models, prompts, documentation — is your intellectual property, and the hand-off is written to work without us.
- Who are your typical customers?
Companies with software already in production and a roadmap that outgrew the team. We have worked with Auth0 through its growth, Amgen, Cargo Sprint, Fiserv, CareerVillage, Influenster and Envio360 — from startups to large enterprises, in health, finance, research and logistics.
Engagements
4 questions
- How does an engagement start?
Usually with a two-week AI Discovery Sprint: fixed scope and fixed price, run by the senior engineers who would build the work, ending with an opportunity map, the two or three use cases worth building first, what your data can actually support, and a pilot scoped to ship. If you already know what you want built, you can skip it and go straight to implementation.
- How is the work priced?
Scoped projects are fixed price. Teams that keep building work on a monthly subscription priced on what ships, not on hours. Staff augmentation is priced per engineer. Whichever it is, you get the number before the work starts, and the Discovery Sprint fee is credited in full toward the implementation.
- Are there any upfront contract fees or costs?
No. There are no setup fees and nothing to pay before work begins. For staff augmentation, the first invoice comes after the two-week trial period.
- How does the risk-free trial period work?
Every engineer who joins your project starts with a two-week trial. At the end of it you decide whether to continue, and you are billed for that time only if you do.
Quality
2 questions
- How do you ensure the quality of your engineers?
Every engineer we present has been interviewed by our own senior engineers, on the work they have actually done — what they built themselves as distinct from what their team delivered. You get that in writing before the first call, and you meet them before anyone starts. After that, quality is a process question rather than a hiring one: specs written down, every change reviewed by a person, automated checks before anything ships, and a name on every release.
- What happens if I'm not satisfied with a Sophilabs engineer?
Tell us early and we fix it. Depending on what is missing, that means pairing them with a senior engineer who has done the thing before, or replacing them — your call, and we would rather replace someone than defend a bad fit.
AI & data
2 questions
- Does our data leave our environment?
It doesn't have to. What we build runs inside the access you grant — your cloud, your permissions, your audit log — because that is where your data and your systems already are. Where a commercial model is the right tool, we use terms that exclude your data from training; where that isn't enough, we run open-weight models inside your environment. It is an architecture decision, and we make it with you before anything is built.
- Who maintains it after it ships?
Your team, if you want. Everything ships with the evaluation set, the runbook and the rules the system has learned, and the hand-off is written to work without us. Many clients keep building with the same engineers month to month; either way, you are not locked in.
Location
1 question
- Where are your engineers, and what hours do they work?
Our headquarters are in Montevideo, and our engineers work across five South American countries, in your business hours. Everyone works remotely, with the equipment and setup to do it properly.
Payment
2 questions
- How can I pay you?
We currently accept ACH, bank wires, and checks.
- What are your payment terms?
In general, we send out invoices on the 1st and 16th of every month, with NET 10 payment terms.
Still deciding?
The fastest way past a list of questions is a conversation with the people who would do the work.