A buyer's checklist · 12 questions · 5 minutes
12 questions to ask before anyone builds software or AI for your company
Ask them of any developer, agency or AI vendor — including us. Each one comes with what a good answer sounds like, and what should make you walk away.
Building software got cheap. Knowing what to build — and making sure you still own and control it afterwards — did not. These questions are about the second part. They take five minutes to ask and can save you a year.
Ownership
Is it really yours?
1.Who owns the code and the data when we're done?
A good answer: You do. Both, in writing, and you can take them to another developer without asking permission.
Walk away if you hear: A license to use "the platform", or code you can see but not move.
2.What exactly am I paying for every month?
A good answer: Something you can name: improvements, support with response times, a monthly report of what changed.
Walk away if you hear: A fee you pay just to keep access to something you already paid to build.
3.What happens if we stop working together?
A good answer: You keep the code, the data, the rules and the history, with documentation and a handover plan.
Walk away if you hear: "That won't happen", or an export that leaves your history behind.
Proof
Will it work in your business?
4.How soon will I see it working on my own work?
A good answer: Days, not months. A first working version on your real workflow, before the big commitment.
Walk away if you hear: A long discovery phase that ends in a document instead of something you can use.
5.Have you run a business process like this yourselves?
A good answer: Yes, with an example you can see working, and a person who can explain what went wrong along the way.
Walk away if you hear: Only logos and screenshots, and nobody who has ever had your problem.
6.How much of my time and my team's time will it take?
A good answer: A specific number of hours, with what they'll need from you and when.
Walk away if you hear: "Not much" — and then weekly meetings for six months.
Control
Who decides what the system does?
7.Where do my rules live, and can I change them myself?
A good answer: In settings you can see and edit: your margins, approval limits and thresholds, in your words.
Walk away if you hear: Rules buried in code, so every change becomes a ticket and an invoice.
8.Can I see why the system made a decision?
A good answer: Every decision shows the data it used, the rule it applied and who approved it.
Walk away if you hear: "The AI decided" — with no way to check why.
9.What reaches me, and what runs on its own?
A good answer: You set the line. Routine decisions run, your team reviews the middle, the important ones come to you.
Walk away if you hear: Everything runs on its own, or everything still waits for you.
Money
Does the math work?
10.What does this replace, and what does that cost me today?
A good answer: A number built from your own bills and hours, with the assumptions labeled so you can check them.
Walk away if you hear: Industry averages and "companies like yours save 40%".
11.Will you tell me if it's not worth building?
A good answer: Yes — and they can tell you about a time they said so.
Walk away if you hear: Every problem you describe turns out to need exactly what they sell.
12.Who can see my data, and which outside services touch it?
A good answer: A written list: where it's stored, who has access, which third-party services process it.
Walk away if you hear: "It's secure", with nothing in writing.
Why we publish this: we're business owners who build systems for other owner-run companies. We'd rather you ask hard questions of everyone, us included, than find out a year later that the thing you paid for isn't really yours.
Want our answers, for your project?
Tell us in one sentence what you're thinking of building or fixing. A person replies within 24 hours with how we'd answer these 12 for that project — including “don't build it” when that's the honest answer.
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