Jonathan Stark

Retainer Agreement

When you have a mobile initiative in the works, learning things the hard way could easily waste tens of thousands of dollars. Hiring me on retainer gives you access to the expertise you need, when you need it.

How does it work?

Our retainer agreement entitles you to unlimited 24/7 access to me via phone, email, IM, and SMS. I return all messages no later than the next business day, although in practice response time is much quicker (particularly between 9am to 5pm ET, but also nights and weekends).

Meetings are scheduled in advance, typically take place over the phone, and are sometimes supplemented with online meeting and/or screen sharing software (e.g. GoToMeeting, iChat, Yugma).

There are 6 possible areas of involvement:

1. Participation in an initial in-depth, in-person meeting.
2. Regular meetings with the primary project contact to discuss strategy, longer-term issues, and business goals.
3. Strategic and tactical advice based on a series of ongoing meetings with team leaders. These are individualized and mutually agreed upon. In addition, I'll serve as a sounding board as they work to achieve their business and technical goals.
4. Technical review of APIs, IDEs, source code, documentation, and the like. Where appropriate, I'll provide code samples, proof-of-concept examples, and design mockups. Please note that authoring shipping code, designs, or documentation is not included in this agreement.
5. Periodic competitive analysis and market insight based on interactions with the developer community, both in person (e.g. speaking engagements, meet-ups, user groups), and online (e.g. Twitter, RSS feeds, blog posts/comments, mailing lists).
6. Situational responsiveness to needs that arise that you deem require my assistance, which are not covered elsewhere.

The fee for the retainer is based on the length of our agreement. Monthly, quarterly, and yearly retainer arrangements are available. Participation is limited. You can elect to be added to the waiting list if spots are not available.

Please contact me to sign up or for more information.