01
Partnership over vendor.
We don't bid against agencies. We embed with one or two partners at a time and stay long enough that the work compounds.
The studio
Built to last. Built together.
Cinnabar is a small senior engineering studio. We work with twelve partners across six verticals, and we keep our bench deliberately small so we can stay attentive to the work.
The name
Cinnabar — the rare red mineral that produced vermillion.
The metaphor is exact. Cinnabar — the mineral — is rare, durable, and produced the most prized pigment in human history. It took skill to refine; what came out lasted centuries.
We make software the same way. We exist to refine raw material — early product instincts, half-formed enterprise mandates, messy AI ambitions — into systems that are durable, beautiful, and built to outlast the team that shipped them.
Engagements run six to eighteen months. We embed deeply, ship calmly, and stay long enough that what we build is genuinely owned by our partners.
2024Founded
12Active partners
6Verticals
6–18Months / engagement
How we work, and why.
02
Calm shipping.
Weekly cadence, demos of what's real, no theatre. The work moves at the pace the system needs, not the pace the calendar demands.
03
Senior bench, small.
No staff augmentation, no outsourced execution, no juniors learning on your code. Every contributor on every engagement is senior and accountable.
04
AI as a tool, not a pitch.
We use AI extensively in our own work and build it into our partners' systems where it earns its keep — with evals, guardrails, and human-in-the-loop where it matters.
05
Built to inherit.
We write the code, document the system, and stay long enough that your team genuinely owns it. We measure success by what survives our exit.
The team
A small bench of senior engineers, designers, and AI researchers.
Cinnabar is intentionally small. Every contributor on every engagement has shipped real systems at scale before. There is no staff augmentation, no outsourced execution, and no juniors learning on partner code.
We add headcount slowly, after months of collaboration, and never to chase a deal.
Ready when you are.
A 30-minute conversation. We'll listen. If we're a fit, we'll say so. If not, we'll point you to someone who is.
No discovery decks · No sales calls · One conversation