---
title: "Strategy evaluation: two weeks, $7,500 fixed — BoldOrion"
description: "Two weeks on your plan, product, or AI idea, for a fixed $7,500. We find the problem behind it and tell you straight what we’d do, before you commit the money."
url: https://www.boldorion.com/services/strategy-evaluation/
---

[Services](https://www.boldorion.com/services) Strategy evaluation

# Not sure where to start? Start with two weeks.

Two weeks on the plan, the product, or the AI idea. We find the problem behind it, and tell you straight what we’d do, before the money is committed.

[Talk it through](https://www.boldorion.com/contact)

- **Length**: Two weeks
- **Price**: $7,500, fixed, and credited in full if we carry on within 60 days
- **You leave with**: A recommendation in writing, the trade-offs behind it, and what not to build.

When to bring us in

## Something’s not right, and it’s hard to say what.

The evaluation is for the moment before a big commitment, when the question is clear enough to worry about, but not clear enough to brief.

- We’re about to spend real money,
  and want a second opinion first.
- We know what we asked for.
  We’re not sure it’s what we need.
- The board wants an AI plan,
  and we don’t have one.
- We’ve had three quotes,
  and they don’t agree on what we’re building.

How it runs

## Two weeks, one recommendation.

Short on purpose. Two weeks is long enough to find the real question, and too short to drift.

1. Week 1

   01

   ### Listen

   Conversations with the people who run it, do the work, and use it, and a read of everything already written: the plan, the product, and the numbers.

   The real question
2. Week 2

   02

   ### Recommend

   What we’d do, what we wouldn’t, and what each choice costs. It ends in a working session to test it with you and anyone you want in the room, and the recommendation in writing.

   The recommendation
3. Then

   03

   ### Decide

   Architecture, delivery, a fractional CTO, or none of them. The recommendation is written so anyone could act on it, not only us.

   Your call

You leave with

## A straight answer, in writing.

Yours to keep, whether or not we carry on, and written plainly enough to hand to your board, your team, or another firm.

1. ### The real question

   The problem behind the brief, which is often not the one written in it.

2. ### A recommendation

   What we’d do, and in what order.

3. ### The trade-offs

   What each option costs in money, time, and complexity, so you decide with the bill in view.

4. ### What not to build

   The features, accounts, and tools you don’t need yet, and what they would have cost.

5. ### The next step

   Which engagement you need, if any. Sometimes it’s none.

**What it isn’t:** a pitch for the next engagement, or a list of findings with no answer. If you don’t need us, the recommendation will say so.

Where we’ve done this

## The right question, before the money.

In one, a question asked early changed what we built. In the other, it meant building nothing yet.

OneHope · Leadership training for Africa · 2023

### They asked for a website to share PDFs. Their readers paid for every megabyte.

[Read the case study : OneHope](https://www.boldorion.com/case-studies/calledtothrive)

How it starts

## It starts with a conversation.

Tell us what you’re weighing. If an evaluation won’t help, we’ll say so on the call.

1. First

   ### A conversation

   Bring the question you can’t quite phrase yet. If we’re not the right fit, we’ll say so, and point you to who is.

   Not a pitch

2. Then

   ### Strategy evaluation

   The two weeks on this page, at a fixed price agreed before we start.

   Two weeks · **$7,500** fixed This page

3. If you need one

   ### The next engagement

   Systems architecture, delivery, or a fractional CTO, quoted from what the evaluation found.

   Quoted from the evaluation

Questions

## Fair questions.

**What do you need from us?**

About four to six hours across the two weeks, with the people who run it, do the work, and use it, and whatever is already written down. We’ll ask for the rest.

**What if we already know what we need?**

You may be right. Then the two weeks confirm it, and you start the work with the reasons in writing and the trade-offs already weighed.

**Why charge for it?**

Because a free assessment is a sales call, and you’d be right to discount it. A fee means the recommendation works for you, even when it says you don’t need us. The price is fixed, so we’re never paid to take longer, and it’s small next to what it decides.

**Can it cover an AI idea?**

Yes. Often that’s the question, whether AI pays off here, where, and what has to be true before it can.

**What if you recommend something you don’t offer?**

Then we’ll say so, and point you to who does. The recommendation is written so anyone can act on it.

Services

## Three ways to carry on.

Each one is quoted from what the evaluation found.

01 Systems architecture

### How should it all fit together?

Six weeks · fixed price [How it works](https://www.boldorion.com/services/systems-architecture)

02 Delivery

### Who’s going to build it?

Fixed scope, in phases [How it works](https://www.boldorion.com/services/delivery)

03 Fractional CTO

### Who’s making the technical calls?

Two quarters, then review [How it works](https://www.boldorion.com/services/fractional-cto)

Talk it through

## Bring the question you can’t quite phrase yet.

That’s usually the right place to start.
A conversation, not a pitch. If we’re not the right fit, we’ll say so, and point you to who is.

[Talk it through](https://www.boldorion.com/contact) [hello@boldorion.com](mailto:hello@boldorion.com)