Price the uncovered work
List the work each provider includes and leaves to you. Assign a realistic owner and cost to uncovered discovery, technical support, closing, administration and management. Include additional tools and data as explicit line items. Keep actual quotes separate from internal planning assumptions.
Next compare the form of capacity. A shared specialist may be enough for periodic infrastructure work but insufficient for a high-touch evaluation. Ask for response coverage and decision authority, not a promise of unlimited access. Finally, consider what survives the engagement: a client-owned workflow and trained operator have a different residual value from a proprietary agency list.
| Decision | Evidence to use | What changes next |
|---|---|---|
| Base fee | Work, people, duration and allocated capacity | Compare the same required capability |
| Additional cost | Tools, data, client effort and uncovered work | Calculate the full budget without double-counting |
| Residual capability | Systems, records, training and internal ownership | Estimate what you need to fund after the engagement |
Work through the decision
Illustrative example: Proposal A is a meeting package and Proposal B includes discovery and closing. A's fee may be lower, but your founder must still sell and an administrator must connect the records. Do not price those responsibilities at zero merely because the founder is already paid.
Make two views: incremental cash cost and operating capacity required. Keep them separate so opportunity cost is not presented as a bill. Choose the option that addresses the actual bottleneck within your cash constraint rather than the one that wins an incomplete spreadsheet.
Avoided effort is counted as guaranteed savings
Claims that a partner 'saves' a fixed number of founder hours should be labeled estimates unless measured. Similarly, signed customer value is not a rebate on an agency invoice. Keep fee protection, actual fees and expected business value separate in the comparison.
A concrete next step
Add an uncovered-work column to every agency proposal. For each gap, name who will do it and whether the budget and calendar can support that person.
Sources and research notes
- Bessemer: 10 laws of cloudInvestor operating guidance
- Attio: Back up workspace dataProduct documentation
Primary sources reviewed October 6, 2026. The operating recommendations and worked scenarios are Daavid’s analysis. Illustrative numbers are assumptions, not measured client results. Company marks identify sources and prior experience; they do not imply a customer relationship or endorsement.
Schematic