Build a ProductPeople Will Pay For

Discovery is a focused sprint that validates and de-risks your idea before development starts. We work through the Four Phases (Business Understanding, Market Understanding, User Understanding and the Execution Plan), so you find out what's actually worth building before you spend a dollar on code.

The hard, expensive risk today is building the wrong thing. We wrote the long version in What is Product Discovery and Why Does It Matter?, and how our process works in Foundational Product Discovery.

Most sprints run 3 to 4 weeks. You see direction in the first week, and by the end you have a Blueprint your team can build from. We move through the Four Phases in order, and each one ends in something you can act on. It's collaborative throughout: workshops, documentation written as we go and an alignment session closing every phase, so nothing lands on you as a surprise at the end.

The full phase by phase breakdown is in Foundational Product Discovery.

A Blueprint built around your Product: what the Four Phases settled, written down so any capable team can build from it. What goes in it depends on what your Product needs, and we agree that with you at the start.

It's yours to keep, whoever ends up building it.

Knowing the problem isn't the same as knowing what to build, and knowing what to build isn't the same as knowing what to build first. Users often ask for the symptom, so we dig to the real need and then prioritize ruthlessly.

See Identifying User Requirements on requests-versus-needs, and Product Prioritization Frameworks on deciding what comes first.

A wrong build can cost months of runway, and Discovery costs a fraction of one wrong hire. If you need a working prototype too, we scope and price that with you before we start.

The most common money pit we see is Founders building commodities they should have bought, like custom auth or billing. More on that call in Build vs. Buy.

Maybe, eventually, but not before you've validated, and not to solve a problem a few weeks of Discovery and a monthly team can solve. A cofounder takes 20 to 40% equity, and it's a bet you can't undo.

We laid out the math, and when you genuinely do need one, in Stop Looking for a Technical Cofounder.

No. It works for an existing Product too, when it's scaling or changing direction. Our focus is new Products and early stage Founders, and we take on a few engagements with existing Products when the fit is right.

The difference is in Initial vs. Continuous Product Discovery.

We talk through your idea, where it stands today, and which of the Four Phases are still open. By the end you'll know whether Discovery is the right next step, and if it isn't, we'll tell you.