Custom AdTech Software Development: A Process Overview
Building a custom software product — whether a DSP, SSP, data platform, or any other AdTech or MarTech system — typically follows a structured lifecycle with four distinct phases: Discovery, Sprint 0, MVP Development, and Post-MVP. Understanding what happens in each phase, what gets produced, and how long things take helps teams set realistic expectations and make informed decisions at each milestone.
The Discovery Phase
The Discovery phase is where the engagement begins in earnest. It involves a series of meetings designed to surface business goals, technical requirements, and the overall scope of the project. Business development and business analysis resources are typically engaged at this stage to ask the right questions and document the answers.
Importantly, this phase carries no formal commitment. It is an information-gathering exercise that lays the groundwork for everything that follows — and produces two concrete outputs before any development contract is signed.
Objectives and Goals:
- Understand the goals, vision, and context of the project
- Identify initial requirements and potential technical challenges
- Work through the technical questions that naturally arise during scoping
Deliverables:
- A document establishing a clear, mutually agreed understanding of the project's assumptions, requirements, goals, and next steps
- A document outlining the terms of cooperation for the Sprint 0 phase
- A signed agreement to proceed to Sprint 0
Typical duration: 2–3 weeks
Development Phases
Sprint 0
Sprint 0 is the first formal stage of development, and its scope varies considerably depending on the project's goals, technical complexity, and the level of commitment a team is ready to make.
In some cases, Sprint 0 marks the beginning of the MVP build itself. In others, it focuses on scoping out requirements or conducting a proof of concept (PoC) to resolve key technical unknowns before committing to a full build. Once Sprint 0 concludes, the project can move into short-term or long-term development — or be paused to gather feedback from stakeholders and investors before proceeding.
The full range of disciplines typically participates in Sprint 0: business development, business analysis, project management, backend and frontend development, DevOps, QA, and design.
Objectives and Goals:
- Identify the technical unknowns of the project and explore possible solutions
- Select features for the MVP and produce a user story map that shapes the product backlog
- Research the optimal tech stack
- Design the infrastructure architecture
- Conduct research required for MVP development or PoC development
Deliverables:
- A proposal that includes the project's requirements, a list of backlog items (e.g. user story maps) for MVP development, and project milestones
- Where applicable, an interactive (clickable) mockup of the user interface and screen flows
- Technical documents that visualize and describe data flow in critical areas
- Time, cost, and resource (developer) estimates for the MVP Development phase
Typical duration: 4–6 weeks
The MVP Development and Launch Phase
With the bulk of planning and research completed in Sprint 0, the MVP Development phase is where the product is actually built. Work spans frontend, backend, and infrastructure development, UX/UI design, and QA and testing — culminating in a launch to initial users or stakeholders.
Development follows agile methodology, organized into 2-week sprints. At the end of each sprint, new or improved features are delivered for review. A dedicated project manager coordinates the development team and facilitates regular review meetings throughout.
Objectives and Goals:
- Build the project's MVP — covering frontend, backend and infrastructure development, UX/UI design, and QA and testing
- Launch the MVP to initial users or stakeholders
- Begin gathering feedback to inform the Post-MVP Development phase
- Monitor the platform and respond to any emergencies (optional)
Deliverables:
- A testing environment where the current state of the project can be reviewed at any time
- New or improved features delivered at the end of each 2-week sprint
- Bi-weekly review meetings to validate progress
- The first working version of the product, ready for testing by users and stakeholders
Typical duration: A minimum of 6 sprints (3 months)
The Post-MVP Development and Maintenance Phase
Once the MVP is built and released, the project enters its post-launch phase. This stage sometimes begins immediately after launch; in other cases it starts several months later, after sufficient user feedback has been gathered to inform the next round of development.
There are three standard paths at this point:
Continue Development
Development continues through the same agile process — 2-week sprints, with new or improved features delivered at the end of each cycle. This is the right choice when the roadmap is active and user feedback is driving ongoing iteration.
Maintenance Only
Ongoing support and maintenance of the software and infrastructure, governed by a separate Service Level Agreement (SLA). This suits projects that have reached a stable state and need reliability rather than new features.
Project Handover
When a team is ready to take full ownership of the codebase, a structured handover process is used. This includes:
- Documentation covering the project's architecture, infrastructure, and codebase
- Knowledge-transfer meetings to walk through the documentation as needed
- Access to repositories, codebase, tools, and systems
Each phase builds on the last. The Discovery phase ensures alignment before any budget is committed; Sprint 0 resolves technical ambiguity before the main build begins; MVP Development delivers a working product through short, accountable cycles; and the Post-MVP phase provides flexible options depending on how the product evolves. Understanding this structure upfront makes it easier to plan resources, set stakeholder expectations, and make go/no-go decisions at the right moments.