The Prototype You
Won’t Have to Rebuild.
We build cloud-native, production-grade prototypes for South African entrepreneurs — in weeks, not months.
Sound familiar?
Analysis Paralysis
Traditional consulting firms spend 3 months planning before writing a line of code. Your opportunity window doesn’t wait for a Gantt chart.
Throwaway Prototypes
Most MVPs get scrapped the moment they hit real users. You’re paying twice — once to build it wrong, once to rebuild it right.
Identity Risk
Hiring a freelancer means betting your idea on one person’s availability and skill. When they disappear, your codebase disappears with them.
RapidProto vs. The Industry
Compared to traditional consulting houses — here’s what actually changes when you work with us.
| Dimension | Traditional Consultancy | RapidProto |
|---|---|---|
| Speed | Months of planning & scoping | Working prototype in weeks |
| Cost Model | Open-ended time & materials | Fixed-price packages |
| Output Quality | Throwaway prototype | Production-grade foundation |
| Intellectual Property | Consultant retains leverage | Client retains 100% IP |
| Post-Delivery | Vanishes after handoff | Architect-as-a-Service retainer |
| Tech Stack | Whatever the team knows | Opinionated, battle-tested enterprise stack |
How It Works
Four steps from idea to investor-ready prototype — with no surprises along the way.
Scorecard
Answer 10 questions about your idea. Get a customised architecture report and a technical complexity assessment — free, in 5 minutes.
Blueprint Sprint
R5,000. A paid deep-dive that produces your technical blueprint and sprint map — architecture decisions, data models, API contracts, deployment plan.
Foundation Sprint
We build your production-grade prototype. Fixed price. Fixed timeline. Deployed to AWS with CI/CD pipeline included. No hidden extras.
Scale
Your system is live. Choose a retainer tier — we become your Ghost CTO. Security patching, architecture office hours, roadmap planning included.
Prototype Readiness Scorecard
10 questions. 5 minutes. Get a personalised technical architecture assessment — no sales call required.
What industry does your business idea operate in?
What is the value proposition of the business idea?
What differentiates the value proposition from existing solutions?
What is your expected user count in Year 1?
Do you have a technical co-founder or CTO?
What is your prototype timeline requirement?
What is your budget range for the prototype?
How will the prototype be used?
What matters most to you?
What is your email address?
We'll send your personalised architecture report to this address.
Our Packages
Designed to take you from idea to production without the open-ended billing surprises.
Readiness Scorecard
Understand your technical complexity before spending a cent. The automated audit tool that maps your idea to an architecture.
- 10-question technical assessment
- Customised architecture recommendations
- Complexity & compliance flags
- Personalised next steps
Blueprint & Sprint Map
A paid 1-week deep-dive engagement. Everything you need to brief an engineering team or proceed to a Foundation Sprint.
- Technical blueprint document
- Architecture Decision Records (ADRs)
- Sprint plan & backlog structure
- Data model & API contract draft
- Fee deducted from Foundation Sprint
After payment: onboarding form + calendar booking link provided.
Foundation Sprint
We build your production-grade prototype. 3–6 week fixed-scope build on our reference architecture. No surprises.
- Production-ready codebase (.NET 10)
- CI/CD pipeline (GitHub Actions)
- IaC (Terraform), deployed to AWS
- Swagger / OpenAPI documentation
- PostgreSQL + full README templates
Architect-as-a-Service Retainers
Your prototype is live. Choose how much architectural support you need each month.
|
Guardian
R8,500/mo
|
Recommended
Scale Partner
R18,000/mo
|
Fractional CTO
R35,000/mo
|
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Security patching | |||
| CloudWatch monitoring | |||
| Architect Online Office Hours | 2 hrs / mo | 4 hrs / mo | 8 hrs / mo |
| Infrastructure reviews | Monthly | Monthly | |
| AWS cost optimisation | |||
| Roadmap planning | |||
| Code reviews for hires | |||
| PR approvals (critical) |
The Stack
Opinionated. Battle-tested. Built for regulated industries from day one.
This is the same stack pattern used by South African financial institutions handling billions in transactions. We don’t experiment with your foundation.
Application Layer
Database
Cloud — AWS
DevOps & IaC
Security & Auth
Observability
Exit-Ready by Default
Case Studies
Real engagements. Real results. Anonymised to protect our clients.
How we built a zero-trust identity and permissions platform for a Tier-1 South African investment bank handling billions in daily transactions
A major South African corporate investment bank needed a centralised identity, permissions, and audit platform to replace siloed, inconsistently secured microservices across multiple high-value business domains.
Designed and delivered a cloud-native application platform using ASP.NET Core microservices, PostgreSQL, and Kafka. Implemented OAuth2/OIDC zero-trust security with mTLS, centralised audit trails, and OpenTelemetry observability. Full IaC via Terraform with zero-click-ops deployment pipelines.
Platform achieved ISO 27001 certification and is now the foundation for multiple business domains. Hundreds of production deployments per year with near-zero downtime.
How we accelerated a peer-to-peer lending marketplace to production for a South African fintech startup — connecting borrowers and investors in real time
A South African fintech disruptor needed to rapidly complete a peer-to-peer lending platform for both personal and SME borrowers, with live credit bureau integrations and a white-label variant for a securities exchange partner.
Delivered the SME lending module using ASP.NET MVC with real-time credit bureau API integrations. Migrated the legacy PHP personal loans application to .NET MVC and implemented a white-label integration for a 4AX exchange partnership targeting SME growth financing in Africa.
Platform launched serving personal and SME borrowers simultaneously, with white-label capability enabling the securities exchange integration within the same delivery cycle.
How we designed a Deloitte-audit-ready billing engine processing 30,000+ monthly invoices for a national private school network
A national private school network with 100+ campuses needed a scalable billing engine to automate student fee processing, attendance-based billing, and financial integration with Sage Evolution — replacing a fragile manual workflow.
Designed and built a full ASP.NET billing system that automated monthly batch invoice generation from third-party academic inputs, with exception reporting for finance staff and direct Sage Evolution integration. Parents gained online statement access and digital payment capability.
Processed 30,000+ monthly invoices by Year 5 with zero billing errors. Passed annual Deloitte financial audits every year from inception.
How we modernised a global fleet analytics platform by integrating live REST API streams into an enterprise OLAP reporting layer
A global fleet and asset management company’s analytics stack relied on static SQL Server Analysis Services OLAP cubes, disconnected from live operational data — limiting the business intelligence their analysts could generate.
Engineered REST API data connectors that integrated live telematics streams into the existing SSAS cube architecture, enabling holistic cross-source reporting in SSRS with near-real-time data freshness.
Business analysts gained a unified reporting view across static and real-time data, eliminating manual reconciliation and enabling operational decisions based on live telemetry.
The Architect’s Blog
Technical clarity for South African entrepreneurs navigating cloud, compliance, and code.
Most Prototypes Are Built to Be Broken.
Ours Are Built to Scale.
Production-Grade From Day 1
Your prototype runs on the same infrastructure patterns as enterprise financial systems. No cowboy infrastructure. No temporary shortcuts that become permanent technical debt.
Handoff-Ready Codebase
Full documentation, IaC scripts, and clean architecture. Any senior developer can take over the repo tomorrow — without asking us a single question.
Investor-Ready
Your codebase is structured for due diligence. No spaghetti code, no undocumented magic. Swagger-documented, test-covered, and architecture-reviewed before handoff.
Frequently Asked
Our Lead Architect — with 15+ years in financial systems and cloud architecture. You engage with the system and the work, not a face. Every codebase that leaves RapidProto meets the same opinionated standard.
You do. 100%. All IP transfers to you upon payment completion. We retain no licensing rights, no revenue share, and no ongoing claims on the codebase.
For qualifying prototypes, we offer a stake-for-build arrangement where RapidProto receives equity in lieu of upfront fees. Terms are agreed in writing before work begins. This model is reserved for high-potential ventures with a clear path to commercialisation.
That’s the plan. Every codebase we deliver is documented, containerised, and IaC-managed. Your team inherits a system they can understand, run, and evolve — without needing us to explain anything.
No. We specialise in custom, cloud-native systems built on our reference architecture. This is intentional — it’s precisely why we can guarantee scalability, security, and handoff quality.
You choose: self-manage, hire a team, or retain us on an Architect-as-a-Service basis. We offer three retainer tiers — Guardian, Scale Partner, and Fractional CTO — designed to scale with your business.
We understand the local regulatory landscape (POPIA, FICA, SARB), the payment infrastructure (PayFast, Peach Payments), and the funding realities of building in SA. Global frameworks don’t always translate cleanly to South African regulated environments — we do.
Take the free Prototype Readiness Scorecard above. It takes 5 minutes and gives you a personalised technical assessment. No sales call required — you’ll leave knowing exactly what kind of architecture your idea needs.