How we work
Think first. Then build.
We learn how your business runs before we touch it, keep a person in charge of what goes out, and teach your team to run what we build.
Start with discovery- 01
Discovery
Fixed fee · 2 to 3 weeks
We learn how the business actually runs: who does what, in which tools, and where the time and money leak. Nothing gets built and nothing in your systems changes.
What you get
- Notes from conversations with the people who do the work
- A map of your tools and how information moves between them
- A baseline of where the time goes today
- A ranked list of opportunities, including the ones not worth doing
- A written recommendation you keep, whether or not we build
- 02
Build
Scoped in hours, quoted in writing
One workflow or system at a time, starting with the one that costs you most. Each build is scoped and quoted in writing before any work begins, and built in your accounts.
What you get
- The working system, in your accounts and under your domain
- Code in your accounts from day one
- Checks that reconcile totals against the source
- Training for the people who use it, and written guides
- A handover pack another developer could pick up
- 03
Run and improve
As needed
Once it’s live, we keep it healthy and keep it honest: monitoring, model and cost management, and new builds when your work changes.
What you get
- Monitoring, with alerts to a named person when something fails
- Reviews of AI model choice and running costs
- Results measured against the discovery baseline
- Changes and new builds, each scoped and quoted the same way
Principles
The rules we don’t bend
They come from how we actually scope and run work, and they hold on every project.
- 01
We learn how you run before we build
Discovery comes first: conversations with your team, a walk through your tools, a baseline of where the time goes and a ranked list of opportunities. You keep the outputs whether or not we build.
- 02
You own everything
Code, data, accounts and documentation live in your accounts from day one. Another developer could pick it up from the handover pack.
- 03
Read-only by default
We connect to your systems to read. Anything that writes, sends or changes data is a separate, narrow permission you approve.
- 04
A person approves what goes out
AI drafts. Someone on your team approves before a client, a supplier or the books see it, and every approval is recorded.
- 05
Built to be checked
Totals reconcile against the source. Every AI draft records what it read. History is dated, so you can see what changed and when.
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Measured against a baseline
We measure the before, so the after means something.
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We teach it
Training for the people who use it, written guides, and a named owner on your side. ThinkFirst runs a live AI-education platform, so teaching is our home ground.
What AI never does alone
A person decides these. Every time.
However good the drafts get, these stay with someone on your team, and every approval is recorded.
- Move money, or promise it
- Send the first message to anyone in your name
- Set a price or a quote
- Make a legal commitment
- Answer a complaint
- Delete records or make bulk changes
- Make an exception to your own rules
What you own
Yours from day one
If we stopped tomorrow, you would still have all of it, in your name.
- Your domain
- The code repository
- Hosting
- The database
- Accounts for every tool
- AI provider keys
- Phone numbers
- Analytics
- Documentation
Questions
What people ask first
No. We connect to the tools you already run and build only the pieces that are missing. If one of your tools is the actual problem, we’ll say so and explain why, and the decision is yours.
You do. Code, data, accounts and documentation live in your accounts from day one. That includes the domain, hosting, database, AI provider keys and phone numbers. Another developer could pick it up from the handover pack.
Discovery is a fixed fee agreed before we start. Builds are scoped in hours and quoted in writing before any work begins.
We connect read-only by default, and anything that writes or sends is a separate permission you approve. Everything runs in your accounts, with access by role. We choose the AI provider per task, usually Anthropic (Claude) or OpenAI, under an account in your name and on business terms that don’t use your data to train their models by default. We’ll show you those terms before we start. Your own privacy obligations stay with your business, and we build to your policy.
Discovery takes 2 to 3 weeks. Each build after that is scoped in writing, one workflow or system at a time, so you know what you’re getting before any work begins.
You keep everything. The discovery outputs are yours whether or not we build. Anything we build is already in your accounts and your repository, with a handover pack written so your own team or another developer can carry on without us.
Yes. Construction has the deepest page here, but the method is the same anywhere work comes in, gets done and gets billed: property, professional services, clinics, retail, agencies, education, logistics and the trades.
Yes, and we’d like to. They grant our access, see the repository, approve each permission and get the same handover pack you do. If you have a security or privacy process, we work inside it.
Start with discovery.
A fixed fee, 2 to 3 weeks, and the outputs are yours whether or not we build.
Start a project