Free, about 10 minutes

Write a software brief any vendor can price

Ten plain questions. You get a one page brief to send to us or anyone else, so every quote is for the same thing. Your answers stay in this browser unless you choose to send them.

1. What problem should this solve?

The headache, not the feature. For example: quotes take two days and we lose jobs to faster competitors.

2. How do you handle it today?

Spreadsheets, paper, a tool that almost fits, someone's memory.

3. Who will use it?

4. What must it do on day one?

Most important first. Three is a healthy first version.

5. Nice to haves

Things you want later. Keeping them separate keeps the first price down.

6. What systems must it work with?

7. Where does the data live today?

For example: customer list in QuickBooks, job history in a spreadsheet, photos in texts.

8. What does success look like 90 days after launch?

9. Budget range

10. Timing

Your brief

SOFTWARE BRIEF

THE PROBLEM
Not specified

HOW WE HANDLE IT TODAY
Not specified

WHO WILL USE IT
- Not specified

MUST HAVES (in order of importance)
- Not specified

NICE TO HAVES (not required for the first version)
None listed

SYSTEMS IT MUST WORK WITH
- Not specified

OUR DATA TODAY
Not specified

WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE IN 90 DAYS
Not specified

BUDGET RANGE: Not sure yet
TIMING: No hard date

WHAT WE NEED FROM A VENDOR
- One fixed price for the first version, or a paid discovery step with a fixed price
- What is included, what is not, and how changes are priced
- Who owns the code, data, and accounts once paid
- What it costs per month to keep running, and what happens if we stop paying
- Who does the work, and how fast they reply

Make it easier to price

  • • Describe the problem in a sentence or two. It matters more than the feature list.
  • • Add at least one must have. What does it have to do on day one?
  • • Say what success looks like in 90 days (hours saved, fewer errors, faster quotes). It is how you will judge the vendor.

Keep these results

A clean copy of your brief to forward to any vendor, plus the questions to ask every vendor before you sign. No newsletter.

Want us to price it?

Send the brief. We'll reply with a fixed price for the first version, or the one or two questions we need answered to give you one. Sending it to other vendors too is fine.

No newsletter. We use your answers only to reply to you.

Want a ballpark first? Try the cost estimator.