Free Resource

The MVP Scoping Checklist.

The 20 questions we ask before quoting any build — including our own $6,000 pilots.

Every bad estimate starts with a question nobody asked. Before we quote a build, we walk founders through these 20 questions — they kill more scope creep than any contract clause. Steal them. Use them on any agency, including us.

Problem & Users

  1. 01Who has this problem, and how are they solving it today?"Nobody solves it yet" usually means nobody has it.
  2. 02What's the one action a user must complete for the product to have worked?
  3. 03Who pays — the user, their company, or someone else?
  4. 04What happens if you don't build this for six months?If the honest answer is "nothing," build something else.
  5. 05How will the first ten users find it?

Scope & Cuts

  1. 06What's the smallest version a real user would pay for?
  2. 07Which three features are you sure about — and which three are guesses?
  3. 08What can be manual behind the scenes at launch?A human doing it for the first 50 users beats three weeks of automation code.
  4. 09What can we glue together instead of build?Auth, payments, email, and admin panels are solved problems.
  5. 10What gets cut first if the timeline slips?Decide now, calmly — not in week seven.

Technical

  1. 11Web, mobile, or both — and what does the first platform decision cost you later?
  2. 12What data do you already have, and who owns it?
  3. 13Does AI actually improve the core loop, or is it decoration?We publish AI research and we'll still tell you when you don't need it.
  4. 14What breaks at 100× your launch traffic — and does that matter yet?
  5. 15Which compliance constraints exist before the first user signs up?GDPR, HIPAA, and payment rules are cheaper to design in than bolt on.

Budget & Risk

  1. 16What's the budget ceiling — not the target, the ceiling?
  2. 17What's the riskiest assumption, and what's the cheapest experiment that tests it?
  3. 18Who makes decisions on your side, and how fast?A three-day approval loop turns an 8-week build into a 16-week one.

After Launch

  1. 19Who maintains it after handover — your team, ours, or nobody?
  2. 20What number tells you in 90 days whether this worked?

If you can answer fifteen of these, you're ready to build. If you can't, that's what the free discovery call is for — 30 minutes with a senior engineer, written summary within 24 hours.

Book a Free Discovery Call →See the $6,000 Pilot