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app takeover · for apps a developer left behind

Your developer is gone. Your app still has customers.

I take over apps an agency or freelancer left behind. I get the code, accounts and servers back in your name, make it safe and keep it running. No rebuild unless it truly needs one.

Book a 15-minute call

See what week one covers
Lucian Lutas

You'll talk to me, Lucian

takeover from $3500 · first week fixed price · everything back in your name

where it starts to show

Sound familiar?

  • Our developer disappeared and the app is down.
  • The agency doubled the price to keep going and I don’t trust them anymore.
  • I don’t even know where the code is or who owns the servers.
  • Every new developer says they need to rebuild it from scratch.
  • I’m scared to touch it in case it all goes down.

Most of that is fixed by getting the keys back and writing down how it works, not by starting again.

what a takeover covers

Week one gets the keys back. Then the fires go out.

  • Access, recovered

    The code, the domain, hosting, the database and the app store accounts, moved into accounts in your name.

  • Everything, backed up

    A copy of the code and the data that you control, taken before anything is changed.

  • How it works, mapped

    What runs where, what it talks to, what it costs each month and what is exposed.

  • What’s on fire, fixed

    The urgent problems first, starting with the ones customers or staff hit every day.

  • A written handover

    One document that explains the app, yours to keep whoever works on it next.

how it works

A fixed first week, then your choice.

  1. Free 15-minute call

    You tell me what the app does, who built it and what you can still get into. I tell you whether I can take it over. No access needed.

  2. Week one: Access and Audit

    Fixed price. Everything recovered and backed up, how it works mapped and a written list of the risks.

  3. Stabilize

    The urgent fixes, in the order customers and staff feel them.

  4. Keep it

    Care, Own or a fractional CTO keeps it running. Or you walk away with the documentation and hire whoever you like.

named clients

A takeover that became a partnership.

AiudApp started as a takeover. The portal moved off a platform it had outgrown over six months, while the business kept running. The work grew into a fractional CTO role, then a partnership in the business.

AiudApp logo

AiudApp · takeover → fractional CTO

From a fleet tracking portal to a full technical partnership

Andres came to me for a fleet tracking portal that ran on Tookan. I rebuilt it as a custom Next.js portal, which cut costs by about 80%. It took six months, because the business kept running and an enterprise client kept changing the requirements. Then we built a tracking app for his customers, updated the Flutter app the drivers use, cutting backend requests per active user-hour from 192.3 to 81.8, replaced paid Google routing with our own Valhalla server and built an API gateway so enterprise clients connect with their own keys. It now handles about 60,000 tasks a month, and I became a partner in the business.

  • ≈60,000 tasks / month
  • ≈80% lower costs
  • −57.5% requests / user-hour
  • Tookan → Next.js
“I really hope my competitors don’t find out about you lol.”
Andres Bocanegra, founder of AiudApp
Read the AiudApp case

the price

Every step priced before it starts.

Access and Audit
$1500
One week, fixed. Everything recovered, backed up and mapped, with a written list of the risks.
Takeover
$3500
2–3 weeks. The audit, then the urgent fixes until it is stable.
Takeover Plus
$6500
4 weeks. The audit, the urgent fixes and up to 3 changes your clients are waiting on.
After the takeover
from $500/mo
Care $500 a month, Own $2500 a month or a fractional CTO from $3500 a month. Or none of them.

US dollars, excluding VAT where it applies. Hosting, domains and app store fees are billed to you by those vendors.

if it doesn’t work out

No access in week one, no bill for the audit.

  • If I can’t recover access in week one, you don’t pay for the audit.
  • The audit price is credited if you move on to a takeover.
  • You keep the handover document even if you hire someone else.

good fit

A working app, and nobody left to look after it.

  • An app customers or staff use every day.
  • The agency or freelancer who built it left, went quiet or doubled the price.
  • You want it back in your name and kept running, not started again.

not a fit

Better served by something smaller.

questions

Before you book.

Will you tell me to rebuild everything?
Not unless the audit shows it, in writing, with the reason and the cost. Most apps just need cleaning up.
The old developer still has the passwords.
Common. Recovering access is the first thing I do, and most of it can be done without them.
What if it’s built in something you don’t know?
I tell you on the free call. If it’s not something I can own well, I say so.
Do I have to give you access on the call?
No. The call is about what you have and who holds it. Access comes in week one, if we work together, and goes into accounts in your name.
What happens after the takeover?
Care keeps it running for $500 a month, Own takes over the technology for $2500 a month and a fractional CTO starts at $3500 a month. Or you take the handover document and go.

Tell me what your developer left behind.

Book a 15-minute call

15 minutes · no access needed · a straight answer on whether I can take it over