Recommendation · 6 pagesHigh-level indication
From $5,000- The recommendationp. 1
- The first versionp. 2
- Build approachp. 4
- Timeline and investment rangep. 5
Enough to decide, and to explain the decision.
Know what to build before you spend on building it.
A discovery is a fixed engagement of a few weeks. We work through your idea or your broken process together and decide whether it should be built, what it will take, what the first version is, and who builds it. You leave with the reasoning in a form you can defend to a co-founder or board.
- Investment
- From $5,000
- Duration
- Two to six weeks
- Your time
- Three to five sessions
01 · What it decides
Five questions that guide the next investment.
- 01
Should this be built at all?
Sometimes the honest answer is no, or not yet, or not by you. You will hear it plainly, and you will hear exactly why.
- 02
Does it already exist?
Plenty of problems are solved by something you can buy, integrate, or configure. We check before you pay to build a copy.
- 03
What will it take?
A directional timeline and investment range, in months and dollars. Honest projections, not optimistic guesses.
- 04
What is the first version?
Usually smaller than the one you arrived with, sequenced so the riskiest assumption is tested before the expensive work starts.
- 05
Who builds it?
Your team with our leadership, our team, or another team working from a brief they can quote. We say which fits and why.
You bring the domain knowledge. We bring the judgment.
02 · How it works
A few sessions with you. Most of the work happens between them.
Sessions are scheduled around your calendar, not ours. Some engagements mix application and automation work, and we tell you which you have in the intro session.
Intro session
One hourWe hear the idea or the broken process in your words, decide which kind of discovery this is, and agree what the sessions need to cover.
Working sessions
Two to four sessionsEach runs 30 minutes to two hours with you and the people who know the problem. Scheduled around your calendar. Between them, we research, pressure-test, and synthesize on our own time.
The document
ThenWe take the time to write the recommendation properly, at the depth you chose, and walk you through it.
In the sessions · you in the room
- Stakeholder interviews
- Customer and market analysis
- Technical feasibility assessment
- Competitive landscape review
Between them · our time
- Prioritized first-version scope
- Technical architecture direction
- Realistic budget and timeline
- Go or no-go recommendation
Estimates come back in months and dollars, not hours. We build with AI, and the hour is no longer the unit of work. Read how we build →
03 · What you get
One document, at the depth you need.
Every discovery ends with a written recommendation. How detailed it needs to be depends on what you will do with it next.
A discovery does not produce code, UI design, vendor selection, or hiring. Each of those is its own engagement.
If the next useful step is a working experiment, we explain what it should test and scope that work separately.
Recommendation · 6 pagesSpecification · 30+ pagesFull product specification
Priced above the base- Everything in the indicationp. 1
- User flows and screensp. 7
- Data model and integrationsp. 14
- Sequenced delivery planp. 22
- Acceptance criteria a team can quotep. 27
Detailed enough for a development team to quote from, whether that team is us or someone else.
04 · Outcomes
We don't promise a document. We promise you'll know what to do next.
- Sometimes
Do not build it
The most valuable outcome we produce, and the one that saves the most money. If this should not be built, or not yet, or not by you, you will hear it plainly and you will hear exactly why.
- Sometimes
Build less, in a specific order
A smaller first version than the one you arrived with, sequenced so the riskiest assumption gets tested before the expensive work starts.
- Sometimes
A scope a team can start on
Prioritized, feasible, costed honestly, and ready to hand to whoever is building it. Including us, if that turns out to make sense.
The reasoning, in your hands.
Whatever the answer is, you leave able to explain it to a co-founder, a board, or the person who was most excited about the original idea.
05 · After the discovery
We build it, or we hand it over.
You are never obliged to build with us. If you do, the discovery becomes the first weeks of the engagement rather than a separate project. If you don't, you leave with a brief another team can bid on.
You are here · Discovery
Another team builds it
The full specification is written so a development team can quote from it. The work and its reasoning are yours either way.
06 · FAQ
Questions people ask before a discovery.
If yours isn't here, ask it on the call. Schedule a call →
- How much does a discovery cost?
- From $5,000. A full specification detailed enough for a development quote costs more.
- How long does it take?
- Four to six weeks for an application, two to four for an automation.
- How much of my time does it take?
- A one-hour intro, then two to four sessions of 30 minutes to two hours.
- What do I get at the end?
- A recommendation, the first version, how to build it, and a timeline and investment range. Or a full specification, if that is what you need.
- What if the answer is “don’t build it”?
- Then that is the answer, with the reasoning.
- Do I have to build with you afterward?
- No. We can build it, or hand you a brief another team can quote and build from.
- What does a discovery not include?
- Code, UI design, vendor selection, or hiring.
- Is it for software, or for automations too?
- Both. Some problems need an application, some need work between systems you already have, and some need a platform configured to fit.
Next step
Stop planning in a bubble.
We'll talk through your idea, assess fit, and decide together whether a discovery is the right next step. If it isn't, we'll say so.