What happens during discovery

Discovery is the first phase of every Solagon engagement. It usually takes one to three weeks depending on the scope of the build, and it's where we figure out exactly what we're shipping and how.

What we do

• Talk to you and your team. Not a single 30-minute call — a series of working sessions where we map the actual problem, look at how your team works today, and understand what success looks like six months in.
• Audit what already exists. Whatever software, tools, or process you're currently running gets a thorough read. We don't want to rebuild things that already work.
• Pin down scope. What's in the build, what's out, what's in version two. We're aggressive about cutting scope here — small launches that work always beat big launches that don't.
• Sketch the architecture. We pick the stack, draw out the data model, identify the integrations we'll need, and confirm everything is buildable in the timeline we've agreed on.

What we'll ask of you

Discovery only works if your team is available for the sessions. We'll send a short list of materials to gather (existing docs, access to current tools, sample data) before kickoff. If a key person isn't going to be reachable for a stretch, tell us upfront and we'll plan around it.

What you get out of it

By the end of discovery you'll have:

1. A signed Master Services Agreement and Statement of Work
2. A defined scope — what we're building, what we're not, what's deferred to a future phase
3. An architecture sketch — a one-pager showing how the system fits together
4. A build schedule — the sprint cadence and the rough timeline to launch
5. A monthly retainer fee — the single number on your SOW that covers the build and everything that follows

Solagon engagements run as monthly retainers, not fixed-price builds. The build cost is rolled into the monthly fee, with billing starting at launch (or five business days after the site is production-ready and awaiting your approval). See billing & retainers for the full details.

If at the end of discovery we don't think the project is the right fit for us, or for you, we'll say so. That's rare but it happens — and it's better than committing to a 12-month engagement that's wrong from the start.