Free review or Discovery Sprint? A plain guide for the person signing off

You have a data problem that is slowing the business down. A vendor says they can fix it, and the contract is three months. You have never worked with them, and you cannot judge their engineering yourself.

That is a hard position to sign from. So we offer two smaller steps before any long commitment: a free architecture review and a paid Discovery Sprint. They sound similar, and they do different jobs. This guide explains both in plain terms so you can pick the right one, or skip both.

The two options side by side

	Free architecture review	Discovery Sprint
Price	Free	€7,500, fixed
Duration	A written reply, with the turnaround confirmed before you send anything	2–3 weeks
What you give us	A diagram, an overview, or a rough description of the problem	Access to your code, your data pipelines and your incident history
What we do	Study what you sent, from the outside	Work through your real systems, from the inside
What you get	A written review: the risks we see, what we would change, and why	A findings report and an action plan, both yours to keep
Best when	You want a second opinion, or you are not sure we are the right fit	You are close to committing and want proof first

The free review: a second opinion in writing

You send us whatever you have. A sketch on a whiteboard photo is enough. Our engineers read it and write back with the specific risks they see and the changes they would make, with the reasoning behind each.

It costs nothing and you owe us nothing. If we have nothing useful to add, we say that instead of inventing a problem.

The limit is built in. We only see what you send, so the review shows what is visible from the outside. A pipeline that looks sound on a diagram can still fail every third night, and a diagram will not show it.

The Discovery Sprint: two to three weeks inside your systems

A Sprint is paid work, and the price is fixed at €7,500. Before we start, a data processing agreement is signed. Then our engineers work with your real material: your pipelines (the automated jobs that move and clean your data), your technology stack, and your recent incidents.

At the end you receive two documents. The findings report says what is wrong, what it is costing you, and what matters most. The plan says what to do about it, in order. They are yours whether or not you hire us for the build. You can hand them to your own team or to another vendor.

The Sprint is also the lowest-risk way to test us. Instead of judging a sales pitch, you watch our engineers work on your problem and read what they produce.

Which one fits you

You are still deciding whether you have a problem worth paying to solve. Start with the free review. It costs you an afternoon of gathering material.

Pipelines keep breaking and your team has no time to dig into why. Start with the free review, then a Sprint. The review confirms we understand the shape of the problem. The Sprint finds the causes, inside your systems.

You already know what you need built and you are weighing vendors. Go straight to a Sprint. You get a plan you can use, and you see how we work before a three-month contract.

You are only exploring. Book a 30-minute call. No material is needed. We will tell you honestly whether a review would be useful yet.

What happens after

Both steps can be the end of it. If the findings say your team can handle the work, you keep the document and we part on good terms.

If you continue, the next step is a dedicated pod: a tech lead and two to four senior engineers, working in your repositories alongside your team. Pod prices are published on our rate card. The Sprint does not discount them, and neither does anything else, apart from a standing 5% for a 12-month prepay. A replacement guarantee of 21 days is written into the contract for the whole engagement.

Questions we hear from CEOs and finance leads

Why is one free and the other paid? The review takes a few hours of an engineer’s reading time. The Sprint takes weeks of engineers’ work inside your systems. We charge for the part that costs us real capacity.

Do I have to buy a Sprint to work with you? No. Some clients go from the review straight to a build. The Sprint exists for buyers who want more evidence first.

What if the review finds nothing wrong? We tell you. A review that ends with “your setup is sound” is a good outcome, and it costs you nothing.

Who will I be working with? The engineers who wrote your review are the ones who run the Sprint and, if you continue, form your pod. You speak to them directly, with no account manager in between.

Where to start

Send us the diagram, or the closest thing you have. We will reply in writing with what we would change. If you would rather talk first, book 30 minutes.