Answers

How do I tell whether an AI partner will actually build something or just hand us a plan?

Zachary King, Cofounder and CEO at Works · LinkedIn

Short answer

Ask three questions. Who does the building? What's the unit of delivery? What's running when they're no longer in the room? Builders answer instantly: a named person, a number of workflows, a list of what your team can run unaided. Plan sellers go vague and talk phases, alignment and roadmaps. That vagueness is the answer.

Do this week

Take the three questions, written down, to your next vendor meeting. Whoever answers concretely makes the shortlist. Whoever pivots to vision gets a polite thank you.

Transcript

How do I tell whether an AI partner will actually build something or just hand us a plan?

Three questions. Who is doing the building? What's the unit of delivery? And what's running when you're no longer in the room? Builders will answer those instantly: a named person, a number of workflows, a list of what your team can run unaided. Plan sellers, they'll be a little bit vague. They'll talk phases, alignment, roadmaps. That vagueness is the answer.

And there's a simpler tell. Ask to see something they've shipped, and then ask to talk to the team that runs it. Now, we put our numbers in public because of this. Six to 10 workflows shipped per install, a named operator, and the test is what runs without us in the room. That forces the conversation onto delivery, which is where it belongs.

Take the three questions to your next vendor meeting, written down. Whoever answers concretely, they make your shortlist. Whoever pivots to a vision, you thank them politely for their time.

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