The right service is the one that answers the question your venture can't answer yet. Below is what each service is for, what you walk away with, and the sign that you need it. If none of them fits, call, text or email and describe where you're stuck; a short conversation usually settles it.
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Customer discovery sprint
Twenty structured conversations with the people you think will pay, turned into a written problem statement and a ranked list of buyers.
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MVP scoping
A first version cut down to the one job buyers will pay for, with a build list, a cut list and a ship date you can hold.
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Go-to-market for the first 100 customers
One channel, one offer and one weekly sales rhythm, chosen from evidence and run until it either works or clearly doesn't.
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Early operations setup
Pricing, onboarding, a one-page metrics sheet and a weekly operating review, so the venture runs on numbers instead of memory.
Customer discovery sprint
Choose discovery when you believe there's a problem worth solving but your evidence is mostly your own experience. It's the cheapest stage and the one founders most often skip.
Over two to four weeks we plan, run or coach about twenty conversations with people who fit your buyer description. The output is a one-page problem statement: who has the pain, how often, what they do about it today, what that costs them, and who signs off on spending money to fix it. You also get a ranked list of buyer types, because the group you started with is often not the group that cares most.
You need this if: you've told friends about the idea and they all liked it, but no stranger has offered to pay. Details are on the customer discovery page.
MVP scoping
Choose scoping when the problem is clear and you're about to spend money building. The aim is a first version you can ship in weeks, not quarters.
We take the discovery findings and turn them into three documents: a build list (what version one must do), a cut list (what it deliberately won't do, and why), and a test plan that says what a buyer has to do with the first version for us to call it a success. If you have a builder already, we work with them. If you don't, we help you write the brief and compare quotes.
You need this if: a developer, manufacturer or designer has quoted you a number that made you wince, or you've been "nearly ready to launch" for more than three months. See MVP scoping.
Go-to-market for the first 100 customers
Choose go-to-market when you have something to sell and fewer customers than you expected. This stage is about finding one way to reach buyers that you can repeat every week.
We pick one channel to start, based on where discovery found the buyers: direct outreach, a referral partner, a marketplace listing, a small search campaign or a local association. We write the offer, the first message and a weekly target, then review the numbers with you every week for eight to twelve weeks. The first hundred customers almost never come from five channels at once.
You need this if: you've posted on every social platform and run a few ads, and can't say which one produced your sales. More on the go-to-market page.
Early operations setup
Choose operations when customers are arriving and the business is starting to depend on your memory. This stage keeps early growth from turning into early chaos.
We set up the plain machinery a young company needs: a pricing sheet with the logic written down, an onboarding sequence for new customers, a one-page metrics sheet you update every Monday, and a thirty-minute weekly review. We also flag where you need outside professionals, for example a CPA for sales-tax registration or a lawyer for your customer terms.
You need this if: you've lost track of who has paid, a customer has fallen through the cracks, or you can't say what it costs to win one. See early operations.
How the stages connect
Each stage produces the input for the next one. That's why we write everything down.
- Discovery produces the problem statement and the buyer ranking.
- Scoping uses the problem statement to decide what to build and what to cut.
- Go-to-market uses the buyer ranking to choose the first channel and offer.
- Operations uses go-to-market numbers to set prices and targets.
If you jump ahead, we'll ask for the missing input before we start. Sometimes the founder already has it in a notebook; sometimes we run a short version of the earlier stage first.
What every engagement includes
Whatever the stage, the working terms are the same.
- A written scope and a fixed end date before any paid work starts.
- A short written result at the end, which you keep and can use without us.
- Consult in person or by video call, work by phone, text and email, and keep documents in tools you own.
- A plain statement of what we don't do: no investment, legal or tax advice, and no promise of funding.
Prices are on the pricing page. For the reasoning behind this approach, read our guides, starting with the one on running customer interviews.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to buy all four services?
No. Each one stands alone and ends with a written result. Many founders hire us for one stage, then run the next on their own using what we wrote down.
How do I know which stage I'm in?
Ask what you can prove today. If you can't name ten people who described the problem to you unprompted, you're in discovery. If you have that but nothing to sell, you're in MVP scoping. If you have a product but few sales, it's go-to-market.
Can you run two stages at once?
Sometimes. Go-to-market and early operations often overlap once the first customers arrive. Discovery and MVP scoping should not overlap, because the scope depends on what discovery finds.
How long does each stage take?
As a rough guide, discovery takes two to four weeks, scoping two to three, and go-to-market and operations set-up run over eight to twelve weeks. Your proposal sets the actual dates.