$65K agency quote. 8-week timeline.
Runstream shipped it in 9 days for $18.5K.
A telehealth startup needed a HIPAA-aware scheduling platform before their pilot launch. The agency quotes would have burned most of their seed round. Runstream delivered the complete MVP — provider matching, intake forms, automated reminders — at a fraction of the cost and timeline.
A pilot launch deadline and agency quotes that didn't fit
The founders had secured a pilot partnership with a regional healthcare network — 15 providers ready to use their platform. The catch: the network wanted to see a working product within 6 weeks. The founders had Figma designs, a clinical advisory board, and $320K in seed funding. They couldn't afford to spend $65K — nearly a fifth of their runway — on an MVP.
The stakes
A regional healthcare network with 15 providers was waiting for a working platform. If the founders couldn't deliver within 6 weeks, the pilot partnership — and the credibility that came with it — would go to a competitor.
The constraint
Two agency quotes: $65K / 8 weeks and $52K / 6 weeks. Both would consume a disproportionate share of their $320K seed round. Neither offered the speed needed to hit the pilot deadline with room for iteration.
4 parallel streams across 4 milestones
Brief analysis and architecture planning
Runstream ingested the Figma designs, clinical workflow requirements, and data handling specifications. The CTO reviewed and approved the database schema design with attention to how patient data would be structured, access-controlled, and queried.
Core scheduling and provider profiles
Appointment scheduling engine with availability management, provider profiles with specialty tagging, and the patient-facing booking flow. Two streams running: scheduling backend + provider management, and patient-facing UI.
Patient matching, intake forms, and reminders
Provider matching algorithm based on specialty, availability, and patient preferences. Customizable digital intake forms. Automated appointment reminders via email and SMS. CTO reviewed the matching logic and reminder scheduling architecture.
Admin dashboard, notifications, and deployment
Admin panel for the healthcare network, provider notification system, analytics dashboard for appointment metrics, and production deployment. Full test suite, documentation for every feature, and operational handoff.
CTO Oversight: 4 key decisions during the build
The CTO made architectural decisions at critical junctures: database schema design for patient records, the provider matching algorithm approach, appointment reminder scheduling architecture, and the deployment configuration for the production environment. Each decision was reviewed through the dashboard with full context — no meetings required.
Appointment Scheduling
Calendar-based scheduling with real-time availability, time-slot management, and conflict prevention for providers.
Provider Matching
Algorithm matching patients to providers by specialty, availability, location, and patient preference history.
Digital Intake Forms
Provider-customizable intake forms with conditional logic, pre-visit questionnaires, and secure data collection.
Automated Reminders
Email and SMS appointment reminders with configurable timing, confirmation requests, and rescheduling links.
Patient Profiles
Secure patient accounts with appointment history, provider preferences, and intake form pre-population.
Provider Dashboards
Per-provider dashboards with daily schedule, patient info, appointment notes, and availability management.
Admin Analytics
Network-wide appointment metrics, provider utilization, no-show rates, and patient satisfaction tracking.
Access Controls
Role-based access with patient, provider, and admin tiers. Audit logging for all data access.
Tech stack
From existential budget pressure to pilot-ready in 9 days
Runway preserved
$18.5K instead of $65K saved the founders $46.5K — over 14% of their total seed round. That money went to marketing and the pilot launch.
5 weeks of buffer
Delivering in 9 days instead of 8 weeks gave the team 5 extra weeks for iteration, user testing, and provider training before the pilot launch.
Production-grade handoff
Full documentation, test coverage, and clean architecture meant the founders' future engineering hire could extend the platform immediately.
An agency quoted us $65K and 8 weeks. Runstream shipped the same scope in 9 days for a fraction of the cost. The code quality was better too — fully documented, tested, and maintainable. We launched our pilot 5 weeks early and had time to iterate based on real provider feedback before the official rollout. That buffer might have been the difference between our pilot succeeding and failing.
— Co-founder, Telehealth StartupPilot launched 5 weeks early, budget preserved
The pilot processed 340+ appointments in its first month. The healthcare network expanded the partnership to 28 providers by month three. The founders used the runway they preserved to hire their first engineer, who was able to extend the platform using Runstream's documentation without a re-architecture.
Don't let agency pricing stall your launch
Ship your MVP in days, not months. Preserve your runway for growth.