You have talked to a few people who sell AI. One wanted to write you a strategy, another offered to connect your apps with Zapier, and a third was ready to build an agent before asking how your business runs. All of them sounded sure, and each was selling something different.
Since you will not be reading their code, judge them on what you can see: how they behave before you pay them.
What should an AI developer do before giving you a price?
Look at the work. A good developer asks to see the job as it runs today before saying what to build or what it costs: the inbox the orders land in, and the screen someone retypes them into. A price given before anyone has looked at your process is a guess.
On a good first call, the developer does most of the asking:
- They have you walk through one process step by step, including the parts your staff do without thinking.
- They ask which software the job touches and who checks the result today.
- They tell you what they would build first and what they would leave alone.
- If AI is the wrong answer for the job, they say so.
What are the ten questions to ask an AI developer?
Ask them on the first call. You can judge every answer without knowing how the technology works.
| Ask this | A good answer sounds like | Walk away if you hear |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Can I see something you built that is running today? | A system a company uses every day, and a number with how it was counted. | Slides, or a demo that runs on made-up data. |
| 2. What do you need to see before you quote? | The process as it runs now and a few examples of what comes in. | A price before they have looked at anything. |
| 3. Who does the building, and will I talk to them? | The person on the call builds it, or you meet the person who will. | You are handed to a team you never speak to. |
| 4. Will it work inside the software we already use? | They name your tools and say how the system connects to each one. | “First you will need to move to our platform.” |
| 5. What is the smallest thing you would build first? | One job, said in one sentence, with what “done” means. | A plan with many phases before anything runs. |
| 6. How will I check it before I depend on it? | It runs on your own past orders or emails, and you compare the results yourself. | “We will go live and adjust as we go.” |
| 7. What does it do when it is not sure? | It asks. If it is still stuck, it sends a named person the exact question. Anything that spends money waits for a yes. | “It does not make mistakes,” or “it runs fully on its own.” |
| 8. How long did the last part of your last build take? | The first version came fast, and the details took most of the time. | “It will be finished in a week.” |
| 9. Whose name are the code and the accounts in? | Yours. They hand over every file and every login. | It runs on their account and stops if you stop paying them. |
| 10. What will I pay each month after it is built, and to whom? | The bills by name (AI usage, hosting, support), and which ones you pay directly. | One monthly fee they cannot break down. |
Three answers end the call on their own: you cannot check it on your own data first (6), nobody can say what happens when it is unsure (7), or the system would not be yours (9).
Copy the table into your notes and fill it in for each person you talk to.
What should you bring to the first call?
Bring one process and about ten minutes of notes. Write down:
- The job that takes the most hours, in one sentence.
- How often it happens and how long each one takes.
- The software it touches.
- Three examples of what comes in, exactly as they arrived (an emailed order, a PDF).
- Who checks the work today, and what a mistake costs you.
With those five things in front of them, a developer can tell you on the call whether the job is worth building.
Why does an AI build look finished before it is?
Because the first version comes fast and does most of the job, and the rest takes far longer than it looks. Our founder, Mendy Friedman, said it in the video at the top of this page:
It only does about eighty percent of what you wanted it to. To do the next twenty percent, you will need to go over every single part to make sure that the AI remembers and understands what it’s supposed to do. And that usually takes five times longer than the first part.
That is why question 8 is in the table. Someone who has only made demos will tell you it is quick. Someone who has finished a build has a story about the slow part, like the customer who writes orders their own way, or the day a result was wrong and what caused it.
Should you hire an agency, a freelancer, or someone in-house?
For one system, hire a small agency or an experienced freelancer. Hire in-house when there is enough AI work to fill someone’s whole week, every week.
| Who | Fits when | Ask them |
|---|---|---|
| A freelancer | You have one clear job. | What happens when you are busy, or stop freelancing? |
| An agency | The job touches several systems, or you want a second pair of hands behind it. | Who does the building? (question 3) |
| An in-house hire | AI work will fill their week all year. | Have you finished a system like this before, alone? |
When should you not hire anyone?
Do not hire anyone when a build would cost more than it saves, or when nobody could check its work.
- The job comes up a few times a month. The hours it saves would never cover the build.
- The way you do the job changes every few weeks. Settle the process first, then build.
- A ready-made tool already does it. Buy the tool.
- Nobody on your team can say what a right result looks like, so nobody could check the system either.
How does Airu Labs answer these questions?
We build these systems, so here are our own answers to the ones that matter most.
| Question | Our answer |
|---|---|
| What do you need to see before you quote? | You walk us through one process on a 30-minute call. If AI is the wrong answer for it, we say so on that call. |
| Will it work inside our software? | Yes. One purchasing system we built writes purchase orders back into the client’s ERP. |
| How will I check it? | You see it working on your own data before you depend on it. |
| What does it do when it is not sure? | The ordering assistant asks the customer. If it is still stuck, it emails a person the exact question. Nothing is ordered until someone confirms. |
| Whose name is it in? | Yours. You own the code and the accounts it runs on. |
| What does it cost? | One system, one fixed number in writing before work starts. |
| How long does it take? | A few weeks to several months, depending on the system. |
See the case studies, or book a 30-minute call and bring the process that costs you the most time.