What a paid discovery phase includes — and why we don’t quote before it
Updated · KBLabs
Discovery is a short, paid phase — about two weeks on a typical project — that turns an idea into a scoped plan for the first release, screens and flows for the key journeys, and a timeline and price for the build. It’s yours to keep, whether or not you build with us.
Why not just give a quote?
Because a price for something nobody has scoped is a guess, and someone always pays for a guess. If the guess is low, the difference comes back as change requests or as quiet shortcuts. If it is high, you pay for risk that may never happen. Two weeks of structured questions are cheaper than either.
Before discovery we can still tell you a lot: a timeline range for your kind of project (our project estimator does that in a minute) and the price range for your market. What we won’t do is fix a number for a scope that doesn’t exist yet.
What happens in the two weeks
- Workshops with the people who will use the product — not only the people buying it. A sales rep, a clinic receptionist and a warehouse manager will each tell you something the owner can’t.
- Mapping the journeys that matter: how an order, a booking or a payment actually moves today, including the WhatsApp messages and spreadsheets nobody mentions in the first meeting.
- Listing the systems we have to connect to — ERP, payment gateway, e-invoicing, government platforms — and what each one really exposes.
- Writing down the decisions still open, and who makes them.
- Agreeing what “done” means for the first release, and what moves to phase two.
What you get at the end
- A scoped plan for the first release — what’s in, what’s out, and why.
- Screens and flows for the key journeys, so everyone is agreeing to the same thing.
- A timeline and a price for the build.
- All of it yours to keep, whether or not you build with us.
What discovery is not
It isn’t a free sales exercise dressed up as consulting, and it isn’t a hundred-page specification that is out of date by the time the build starts. It is the smallest amount of work needed to put a fixed price on a defined scope honestly.
When it can be shorter
If you already have detailed requirements and finished designs, discovery shrinks to reviewing them, checking the integrations and confirming the plan. If you are rebuilding an existing system, it usually runs longer, because understanding what is already there — and what depends on it — takes time.
Common questions
- Can we take the discovery plan to another company?
- Yes. You pay for it and you own it — the plan, the screens and flows, and the estimate — whether or not you build with us.
- How long does discovery take?
- About two weeks on a typical project; less if you already have designs, longer if we are rebuilding or integrating with an existing system.