The Architecture & Roadmap Study
A hardware architecture and roadmap study is a fixed-fee, two-week engagement that turns a product concept into a rough architecture, the parts carrying real risk, the forks where the roadmap can go two different ways, the tradeoffs behind each, and the development effort to get through them. Kyros's costs $5,000.
The deliverable
What the study delivers
We start from the platform you already have — development kits, off-the-shelf modules, existing hardware. A custom board comes only once the risky part is proven.
A rough architecture
Block-level, built on the platform you already have. Enough to reason about cost, schedule and risk — deliberately not a frozen design.
The parts carrying real risk
Named plainly: the subsystems and assumptions that decide whether the product works, and how each could be proven cheaply first.
The decisions and forks
The places where the roadmap can go two different ways — the choices that are expensive to unwind once a schematic is frozen.
The tradeoffs behind each
For every fork, what each path costs and buys you, so the decision is made on the record rather than by default.
The development effort
What it takes to get through those forks, phase by phase, so the next budget is set against real scope.
What lands on your desk
A sample table of contents
Every study is shaped by the product, but the structure holds. It opens with the page your approver actually reads.
One page, written to be forwarded to whoever approves the next step. The recommendation, and that next step already scoped as a price range.
The question as you framed it, and the documents, code or hardware we worked from.
Block diagram and platform choices, starting from the dev kits, modules and hardware you already have.
The parts carrying it, and the cheapest way to retire each one.
Where the roadmap can go two different ways, and the tradeoffs behind each.
What it takes to get through each fork, phase by phase.
Scoped, with a price range, so it can be approved without another round of discovery.
Assumptions, open questions, and the materials reviewed.
Who it is for
Startup founders and CTOs
Before committing to custom hardware. The study tells you whether a dev kit or off-the-shelf module carries you through the next milestone, and which fork is worth paying to settle first.
Medical device teams
Before verification and validation spend. Settling the architecture and the risky parts first means the evidence you pay for is generated against a design that is going to hold.
How it is bought
- One fixed fee: $5,000. One invoice, one NDA.
- Sized to fit inside a typical engineering manager’s approval authority, so it rarely needs a board or procurement cycle.
- Small enough that most grant-funded labs can buy it without competing quotes.
- A concept with many open architecture decisions gets a second study, not a bigger price.
What happens after
- The decision summary scopes the next step as a price range, so the approval conversation can start the day the study lands.
- You own the work product on payment, and you keep it whether or not you continue with us.
- If you continue, bounded build work typically runs $8,000–$20,000 over three to eight weeks, billed against milestones.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How much does a hardware architecture review cost?
- Kyros's Architecture & Roadmap Study costs $5,000 fixed for two weeks, on one invoice and one NDA. A concept with many open architecture decisions gets a second study rather than a bigger price, so the number you approve is the number you pay.
- What should a hardware feasibility study include?
- A rough architecture, the parts carrying real risk, the decisions and forks where the roadmap can go two different ways, the tradeoffs behind each, and the development effort to get through them, opening with a one-page decision summary.
- Do we need custom hardware before the study starts?
- No. The study starts from the platform you already have: development kits, off-the-shelf modules and existing hardware come first. A custom board is designed only once the risky part is proven.
- Can a grant-funded lab or a single manager approve it?
- It is sized to fit inside one engineering manager's approval authority, so it does not need a board or procurement cycle, and it is small enough that most grant-funded labs can buy it without competing quotes.
- What happens after the study?
- The decision summary already scopes the next step as a price range. You decide whether to continue, with Kyros or anyone else. You own the work product on payment and keep it whether or not you continue.
Settle the expensive fork before the money is committed
Tell us what you are building and what you already have. The first conversation is with the principal engineer who would run the study.
Start a study