What we tell every founder before they sign

I run every intro call. Not a BDR, not a sales VP, me. And a real share of those calls end with me telling the founder not to buy a sprint. Here is what gets said.

"This is two sprints, not one"

Founders often arrive with something that sounds like one feature and is actually two. I would rather tell you that on a free call than discover it on day 9 of a fixed-price sprint. If it is two, we scope it as two, with two prices and two dates.

"You do not need us for this"

Sometimes the brief is something the founder’s existing team can do in a week. I will say so. Losing a 14,000 dollar sprint is cheap. Selling someone a sprint they did not need is the kind of thing that ends a reputation.

"This is not a sprint at all"

Greenfield products, three-month enterprise builds, anything needing on-site workshops, native mobile. Those are real and good projects. They are not what a 14-day sprint is. If that is your work, I will tell you, and sometimes I will tell you who to call instead.

The cheapest sprint we ever run is the one we talk you out of on day zero.

Why give away the call

Because the alternative is a late sprint, a refund, and a founder who tells ten other founders. A fixed-price guarantee only survives if the scoping is ruthless. The honest intro call is not generosity. It is the first and most important quality gate.