Three quotes for one product with wildly different prices. Or an idea and no sense of what it should cost. I've spent twenty years building products, my own and other people's. The audit gives you that judgement before you spend.
Paid discovery has a bad name for a reason: it's usually done by the team quoting to build it, so the numbers can be biased towards them rather than representing the market average. This one is independent. This report is yours to take to any builder - including me. Where it's useful:
Three proposals for the same product, numbers far apart, and no way to judge which is honest. The audit gives you an independent scope and costed roadmap to judge them against.
Assessed a ~30-person dev partner's performance and commercials on the McDonald's Happy Meal app; found ~£2m in annual savings (R/GA)Before you approach builders or investors you want a detailed report that includes the likely cost.
I've overseen multi-million projects · raised and paid roughly half a million to teams I've hired · founded, funded and shipped my own productsA board or your own money behind it, and a decision you can't yet defend with numbers. The audit is that decision document: feasibility, architecture, cost and risk. If you want the venture built and run with you after the report, that's corporate venture building.
Commercially experienced 0 to 1: Commando Jack to #1 in 36 countries · Immersive Medical to provisional NHS pilot · new productivity platform launching soon · technical due diligence on one of the largest apps in the worldNot for you if you already trust a senior technical lead who can do this for you, or if the project is too small to justify the cost of an audit. Already built your app with AI tools and hit trouble? That's the AI code audit & rescue, not this.
A software feasibility study, an architecture and a costed plan, in one written report you keep. An agency's discovery workshop skips two questions: whether to build at all, and who should build it. For them, both are already settled. This report is independent.
A technical feasibility assessment answers one question: can this be built as imagined, with the technology, data and integrations it depends on, at a cost the business can afford. This is included in the audit.
The market's honest answer is a wide range.
MVP development cost is mostly this rate times days, plus the seller's margin.
Provider-published pricing for fixed-fee discovery sprints, with the fee typically credited in full against the build.
Platform count, complexity, integrations, risk and team seniority influence quotes.
Software cost estimation without a scoped product is highly inaccurate.
Cost estimation breakdown: UK senior day rates of £800–£2,000 against typical build-day counts for your selection. This is not a quote.
A fixed fee, agreed in writing before we start. Quoted per product. Market comparison: independent scoping sprints run around £3,000 for 2 to 3 weeks (provider-published). Build with me and the fee credits in full against the build. Take the report elsewhere and it is still yours.
I audit, and I also build. An agency's discovery workshop skips two questions: whether to build at all, and who should build it. Here, both stay open, and the costing is pegged to the market average rather than any one team. The report stands alone and goes to any builder; build with me and the fee credits in full.
I can judge costs, I have built and shipped, and I know what failure costs.
Owned the release of the global Happy Meal app across ~40 markets and 42 languages. Assessed the ~30-person external development partner behind it and identified ~£2m in potential annual savings across performance, processes and commercials.
R/GA answered with the offer of a permanent role heading the function · later cut dev costs 40% on a JP Morgan engagementFounded the studio, raised £450k+, led a ~15-person team and shipped with EA Games / Chillingo. 2M+ downloads, 10M+ plays, featured by Apple.
Microsoft award winner · top 10 of 150+ studiosA VR telemedicine platform that reached a provisionally agreed NHS physiotherapy pilot. The single NHS sponsor moved on, funding ended, and I wound it down. That is why this audit treats don't build as a verdict, not a failure to sell you something.
One sponsor was the single point of failure; the audit looks for yoursCurrent work keeps the estimates honest: I'm shipping a subscription product AI-assisted right now, and delivering AI and data features for Coca-Cola, Mars, Unilever and L'Oréal at ImpactXP.ai. Products, demo videos and third-party validation: the work · the validation.
Two or three sentences: the idea, where you are, what is forcing the decision. I reply with whether the audit fits, and a fixed fee, in writing.
2 to 3 weeks. I read whatever exists, talk to you and anyone technical you have engaged, test the assumptions and design the architecture.
You get the written report and a session to walk through it, question by question.
Build with me and the fee credits in full. Take the report to any builder. If what you need after the build is ongoing leadership, that is a fractional CTO engagement, or a technical co-founder if you want that leadership on the cap table.
Here, discovery is the audit: a feasibility study, an architecture blueprint with a stack recommendation, and a prioritised backlog separating the true MVP from later phases. Plus wireframes or a prototype, a costed roadmap, a risk register and a hiring plan, in one written report you keep.
Market sprints run 2 to 3 weeks.
A proof of concept shows the technically risky part can work. A prototype shows people what it will feel like. An MVP is the smallest version a paying user gets value from, built well enough to grow.
UK senior day rates run £800 to £2,000, so the arithmetic puts even a modest MVP in the tens of thousands of pounds. Quotes for the same product commonly differ widely.
Because this is the cheapest point to find a mistake. Changing an architecture on paper costs little; changing it mid-build costs a rebuild.
Validation says people want it. The audit answers a different question: what to build first, what it costs, and whether the technology holds up.
It covers what agencies sell as a product discovery workshop and goes further: a feasibility study, a costed roadmap, the team to hire and a risk register, delivered as a market-averaged independent report with no build contract attached.
Three questions: can current technology support your idea, what does it depend on that you do not control, and can a first version be built at a cost that your business can afford.
Scope the MVP, settle the architecture and team, then get an independent cost estimate, in that order. Developers quote against whatever you hand them; hand them a scoped product and the quotes become comparable.
Tell me the idea and what has you deciding now; two or three sentences is plenty. Prefer to talk first? A 20-minute call to check fit, no charge.