How the sharing model works

The question we get most often, usually with one eyebrow raised: "So you build it for free?" Not quite. Here is the whole model, step by step, including the part where it gets cheaper over time.

Step by step

1. We agree on the number. Before any code, we sit down (in Auckland, ideally over that coffee) and agree on the revenue outcome the software exists to create: more bookings, more repeat orders, a new channel that sells while you sleep. We write down today's baseline so nobody has to argue about it later.

2. SurpCode funds the build. On a sharing deal you get no build invoice. We carry the cost and the risk of building, at our expense, on our time. Your investment is attention: an hour early on to show us how you work, and honest reactions to what ships each week.

3. Revenue gets shared. When the software starts earning, the new revenue is split on a percentage we agree upfront. The split reflects who brings what: your brand, customers, and market knowledge on one side, our build and operation on the other. You keep the majority; we earn our share only while the number stays up. And to be clear about the money itself: your customers pay into your account, exactly as they do today. We never sit between you and your revenue. The split only ever applies to revenue the software itself handles and records, bookings through the page, orders through the store, so attribution is a database count, not a debate. Your own hustle stays 100% yours. The share is settled monthly, on numbers both sides can see.

4. Maintenance is included. Because we get paid from the revenue, keeping the software fast, secure, and running is our problem, not an extra line item. Same-day answers, ongoing improvements, no surprise invoices. Our incentive and yours point the same way for the life of the deal.

5. You can buy us out anytime. Every agreement includes a buyout formula from day one. If you want to own everything outright and stop sharing, you can, at a price both sides agreed before anything was built. No lock-in, no hostage negotiation.

Why it gets cheaper as we grow

Here is the part that surprises people. Most of what small businesses need is not exotic: bookings, payments, invoicing, customer follow-up, a storefront that works on a phone. Every business we partner with adds another battle-tested piece to our foundation.

That means the second booking system costs us less to build than the first, and the tenth less than the second. AI accelerates the pattern further: our agents get better instructions with every project we finish. We pass that on. Later partners get faster delivery and better terms, and earlier partners get the improvements too, because maintenance is part of every deal.

Growing together is not a slogan here; it is the cost curve. The more businesses in the family, the better and cheaper the software gets for every one of them.

What about features we cannot measure?

A fair question we hear once a partnership is running: "Can you add this? It will not move sales, but we need it." Free is not the honest answer, and neither is forcing it into a revenue formula that does not fit. Instead we sort the request by what it actually does.

If it helps you sell more, it belongs in the result deal. New booking option, a second location's storefront, a follow-up flow that brings customers back: sales are measurable, so the existing arrangement covers it and we get paid from the lift.

If it makes your operation smoother, think rosters, internal reports, admin screens, the value is real but harder to pin to a revenue number. For those we agree a plain hourly or fixed price upfront, negotiated openly, no mystery. You know exactly what it costs before we start.

If it is a small tweak to something we already run for you, that is maintenance, and maintenance is already part of the deal.

One partner, three honest lanes. The pricing follows what the work does for you, and you always know which lane a request is in before anything gets built.

If you would rather just pay by the hour

Fine by us, genuinely. Some work fits hourly or fixed-price better, and some owners sleep easier with a familiar arrangement. Talk to us anyway. The pricing model is the last thing we decide, not the first, and the honest read on your business comes free either way.