A Hamburg Agency Turns Its Best Client Projects Into a SaaS Rental Model
Digital agency Curious Company is repackaging past bespoke builds as subscription software modules — a bid to swap one-off project fees for recurring revenue.
The model
Hamburg digital agency Curious Company has launched a brand called "Catalyst" that offers previously custom-built client solutions as subscription modules. It currently markets seven modules, with pricing starting at €490 per month plus a setup fee. Development cost for clients can be as little as a tenth of a full custom build, and seven clients already use the service.
Founder and CEO Henning Westerwelle is candid about the open questions: intellectual-property ownership, and the risk of cannibalising the agency's own project business. The W&V write-up ran on 8 September 2026.
Why agencies are chasing recurring revenue
The economics of the traditional agency — bill hours, deliver a project, start again — are punishing: revenue resets to zero after every engagement. Productising past work into a subscription is one of the cleanest routes to recurring income, smoothing the feast-and-famine cycle and building enterprise value in a way project fees never do.
Our read: the model is smart but it surfaces a question agencies usually leave unspoken — who owns the work clients paid for? Reusing client-funded code as a rentable product is only clean if the original contracts allowed it. Curious Company deserves credit for naming the IP risk rather than hoping no one asks.
What agencies and clients should take from it
For agencies: if you want to productise, fix the IP position upfront in new contracts, and be honest internally about cannibalisation — a €490/month module that replaces a six-figure build is great for the client and awkward for your utilisation targets. Decide which side of that trade you are on.
For clients: this is a prompt to check what happens to work you commission. When an agency reuses a solution you funded and sells it on, you should know whether you have ownership, a discount, or nothing — and negotiate accordingly. The rental model is a good deal for buyers, but only if the ownership terms are clear.
Quick FAQ
What is Curious Company doing?
Via a brand called Catalyst, it rents previously custom-built client solutions as subscription modules — seven so far, from €490/month plus setup — reported by W&V on 8 September 2026.
Why does it matter?
It's a clear example of agencies productising past work to escape one-off project fees and build recurring revenue.
What's the catch?
IP ownership of client-funded work, and the risk of cannibalising the agency's own project business — both of which the founder acknowledges.
The traditional agency resets its revenue to zero after every project, so productising past work into a subscription is a genuinely smart escape. The uncomfortable question it raises is ownership: reselling client-funded code is only clean if the contracts allowed it. Credit to Curious Company for naming the IP risk instead of hoping no one asks. — Daniel Nikolla, Founder of Merx Marketing
Productising past client work is agencies' clearest route to recurring revenue — but it only holds up if the IP ownership was settled in the original contract.
If your agency resold a solution you paid to build, would your contract say you own it, get a discount, or get nothing?
If you would like to know more about this topic, please contact us on danieln@merxmarketing.co.uk
Sources: W&V, Curious Company.
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Written by Daniel Nikolla, Founder of Merx Marketing Ltd and Marketing Minute
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