Why I charge clients directly instead of going through agencies

Agencies are built on a simple arbitrage model: sell senior talent at a premium, hire junior developers to build the system, and pocket the difference. The result is almost always a bloated budget and misaligned expectations.

When founders hire a software engineer through an agency, they pay a massive markup for a layers-of-management buffer that slows down execution. Important technical discoveries get filtered through product managers who don't write code, leading to design bottlenecks and compromised systems.

By working directly with a senior remote engineer, founders eliminate the agency markup and establish an immediate, high-fidelity feedback loop. If a design spec needs adjustment or a database schema has a performance bottleneck, it is solved in a direct chat, not a scheduled meeting.

A direct-to-engineer relationship aligns incentives perfectly: I build clean, high-performance software that works, and you get direct access to technical expertise without administrative bloat. No markup, no layers, just code.