2026-07-11
The new definition of pre-seed
Mohamed BadwiiHead of Investment, Falak Startups
Badwii revealing that pre-seed requires inital traction, revenue and a clear path to market from day one..
Engineering studio · since 2017
We Build or Fix Your MVP in a Week Using the Enigma Method. No Vibe Coding. No AI Slop.
We build first products around what your customers are actually trying to do. We build them on our own foundation, so changing direction later takes hours rather than another project.
19 industriesSince 2017$32M+ raised by our clientsToptal Top 3%1 Nasdaq-listed (DUOL)
Clients
Backed by Y Combinator, ElevenLabs, CapitalG, Kleiner Perkins, Union Square Ventures, Anova Investments, Silicon Badia, and the Asian Development Bank.
How we build
Two things decide whether a first product works.
Building what your customers actually need, and being able to change it once you learn where you were wrong.
01
The right thing
People do not buy software. They hire it to make progress in their lives, in a specific context, against specific fears and habits. We start there rather than with a feature list.
Discover
We watch and interview real users, and map the progress, forces, and friction behind their decisions.
Define
We define the value to your customer and the value back to you, then decide what is worth building first.
Execute
We build, ship, measure real behaviour, and iterate.
02
Built to change
Data access, background work, concurrency, and pipelines run on patterns we have solved and reused for years. A build carries a fraction of the code it would elsewhere.
Less code
Fewer lines means fewer places a change can reach, and fewer places a bug can hide.
Solved once
Your budget goes into your product rather than the plumbing underneath it.
Swappable
Models, integrations, and whole flows slot in and out without touching the platform around them.
What we do
Services
Building a first product, scaling one that already works, auditing what you have, or taking over a project that is stuck.
MVP Development
We build the first version around the progress your customer is actually trying to make, on a fixed timeline, in code built to pivot as you learn.
Product & AI engineering
The team you call to build features, scale a funded product, and ship the hard AI most shops cannot: custom neural networks, and on-chain systems included.
Audit
An evidence-based read of your architecture, code, AI, and DevOps, delivered as a flag map that tells you exactly what to change and when.
Crisis Rescue
When a build is stalled, on fire, or inherited and broken, we parachute in, find the root cause, and get you moving again.
Retainers
An ongoing engineering partnership, at the level of involvement you need, from advisory to full technical ownership.
What we build
Solutions
Builds we have done enough times to scope up front, each with a set timeline and price.
AI agents & agentic RAG
An agent that reads your data and answers accurately, grounded in a knowledge graph rather than a guess. Swapping the model later is configuration, not a rebuild.
Workflow automation
The manual handoffs that eat your team's day, running automatically end to end. When the process changes, the automation changes with it.
AI studio (audio & video)
A full production suite: content in, studio-quality audio and video out, in any language.
Data & knowledge graphs
The data your competitors pay a fortune for, scraped, structured, and kept current, as a service.
The work
Case studies
What we built, how long it took, and what happened after.
Automotive AI2024, 2025
80%
Cybertron Labs
Automated the V-model for the first safety-aware engineering AI serving German Tier-1 OEMs.
Read case study->
AI & Media2022
YC-backed
Wondercraft
Built the MVP and the neural networks behind a YC- and ElevenLabs-backed AI audio studio.
Read case study->
HR-Tech2020, 2021
Pre-ChatGPT
Tarjama / Ureed
Built the NLP-powered candidate matching behind the Middle East's largest freelancer marketplace, in 2020.
Read case study->
Defense2025
2 weeks
Saudi Armed Forces, Quality Corps
Delivered in 2 weeks what was scoped for 2 years. The Quality Corps of the Saudi Armed Forces, off paper.
Read case study->
GovTech2023
10× cheaper
Civi Digital
Automated what competitors sold at $20K per month on two-year contracts. Disrupted the market.
Read case study->
F&B2023
Industry shift
YallaPlus
Simple, effective restaurant reservation and waitlist automation. Staff adopted it without training.
Read case study->
Interviews
Insights
Conversations with founders and investors building in Egypt.
"Enigma has been a true partner, solving our toughest challenges and accelerating our progress. When we needed custom AI, they delivered flawless results in days. We trust Enigma for high-stakes innovation.
Ahmed AbdienCEO and Founder, Cybertron Labs
Who you work with
Team
Muhamed Fahmy
Founder & Lead Engineer
10 years in automation. Toptal Top 3%. Ex-Tarjama lead.
Eike B. Post, PhD
Strategic Advisor
Berkeley, Stanford. 4 companies across 4 countries.
Ben Sheppard
Growth Advisor
4x founder, 1 exit. Speaker at Google HQ, the UN, the WEF.
Aline Avellar
Head of Projects
Università di Bologna. International delivery across 4 countries.
Tell us what you're building.
A 30-minute call. We will tell you how we would build it, what it takes, and a fixed scope. If we are not the right team, we will say so.
