Discovery Sprint — front door for ideas
Know what you're building before you pay to build it
Most build contracts get signed on top of two different mental models of the same product — and the gap surfaces months later as scope fights the founder loses. The Discovery Sprint closes that gap first: in one to two weeks you get a written definition, an honest feasibility verdict, and an indicative budget, in documents you own whoever you build with.
1–2 weeks · 3–4 working sessions
Not sure this is your door? Take the 5-minute readiness assessment.
Where you are
You have an idea and a budget, and every agency wants you to sign for the whole build. You can't tell whether the quote is fair, whether they actually understood the idea, or whether the roadmap is real — and once you sign, every gap between your picture of the product and theirs becomes a change request billed to you.
Where this leaves you
A written, owned definition of the product: what it is, who it's for, what the first version should be, whether it's technically feasible, and roughly what it should cost. Enough clarity to commit with confidence — with us or with anyone else.
This rung fits when
What you walk away owning
Documents that are yours, whoever builds
Everything below belongs to you — written to be usable with any competent team, and leverage in any future negotiation, including one that doesn't involve us.
Product definition brief
Your objective, the problem, target users, and the core idea — written back to you in our words. The source-of-truth document everything else references.
Lean requirements summary
The functional capabilities and key non-functional needs — security, compliance, scale — at the level a build team can price from. Sharp, not ceremonial.
Feasibility read
An honest technical verdict: buildable as-is, buildable with changes, or rethink — plus the technical realities you need to know before spending.
MVP scope recommendation
The minimum meaningful first cut, with an explicit in-scope / out-of-scope / later line, so version one proves the thesis instead of chasing it.
Tentative roadmap
Phased milestones from here to launch with indicative timeline bands — a real sequence, not committed dates picked to win a deal.
Indicative investment range
The team shape and budget band the build realistically needs — explicitly framed as firming up after Planning, never as a teaser quote.
The scope wall
Edges, in writing
A fixed fee stays honest only when the edges are explicit. Discovery answers what and whether. Everything below is how — that's the Planning Sprint's job, and we put this line in writing.
In this engagement
- Product definition brief
- Lean requirements summary
- Feasibility read
- MVP scope recommendation
- Tentative roadmap
- Indicative investment range
Deliberately not included
- System architecture and technology-stack design
- Data model and database design
- Use-case and user-journey diagrams
- Detailed, committed estimates
- UI/UX design and prototypes
- Statement of Work for the build
How it runs
The working rhythm
Kickoff deep-dive
You unload the idea; a senior lead runs a structured interrogation. We leave to research and start drafting.
Gap-fill & assumptions
Sharp follow-up questions, assumption testing, and an early feasibility read while the documents take shape.
Draft walkthrough
We present the requirements, scope recommendation, and tentative roadmap, and collect one consolidated round of feedback.
Final readout
You receive the full document set, we walk the roadmap together, and you get the Planning proposal — with zero obligation to take it.
Investment
Scoped and priced in your written proposal
Indicative — fixed in your written proposal · 1–2 weeks · 3–4 working sessions
Fee credit
100% credited toward the Planning Sprint if you continue within 30 days.
Already have code that stalled? The Build Audit is the front door for existing products. See the Build Audit
FAQ
Discovery Sprint questions
Start with the discovery sprint
Tell us what you're holding — an idea or a codebase — and you'll have a concrete proposal for the first rung, in writing.