/ AI Systems Discovery
Know exactly what to automate first
Most owners buy the tool before they understand the job. New CRM, new app, a hire to sort the admin. Six months later the mess is still there, just faster and more expensive. Discovery is the step in between: one week, one fixed price, and a clear-eyed look at how your business actually runs.
It starts with a working session, in person if you are around Queenstown Lakes, on a call if not. It ends with a systems map, your top three automation opportunities scored by payback, and one costed proposal you can act on or shelve. No surprises, and no obligation to build anything.
/ What's included
Kick-off working session
Two hours with the owner, in person around Queenstown Lakes or on a call. We walk the business end to end: where the hours go, what breaks, and what only you can do.
A systems map of your business
The processes, tools, and handoffs that make your week happen, drawn on one page. Most owners have never seen their business laid out like this.
Top three automation opportunities, scored by payback
Ranked by hours saved against effort to build. The scoring is honest: if the best answer is a checklist rather than software, the report says so.
One costed build proposal
A fixed quote for the highest-payback opportunity, with scope and timeline. Take it to us, to another builder, or to your own team.
A 30-minute readout
We walk through everything together, questions welcome. You keep every artefact regardless of what you decide next.
/ Engagements & pricing
AI Systems Discovery
$3,000 NZD fixed
One week from kick-off to readout. Credited in full against a build that goes ahead within 60 days. Capacity is capped at two Discoveries per week to protect delivery.
Personal AI OS setup, as an add-on
$1,500 NZD
Pairs naturally with Discovery: your own AI daily driver installed while we map the business. See the AI OS page for what is included.
/ Proof
10+ admin hours saved per practitioner every week.
Giving revenue up 171% year on year; online donations up 73%.
The studio's own week runs on a leashed agent fleet: triage done before 7am, promises tracked automatically, zero autonomous external actions.
Two production MCP servers giving Claude read-only access to a five-decade photo archive and to quarterly board reporting.
Frequently asked questions
- What does the $3,000 actually buy?
- A week of focused attention on your operations: the kick-off session, the systems map, three scored automation opportunities, one costed proposal, and the readout. Fixed price agreed before we start, and it does not move.
- What if we decide not to build anything afterwards?
- That is a fine outcome, and it happens. You keep the map, the scores, and the proposal, and you will know exactly what to do when the timing is right. If a build does go ahead within 60 days, the full $3,000 is credited against it.
- Do you only work around Queenstown?
- Queenstown Lakes and Otago businesses get the in-person kick-off, which is the best version of it. Further afield works over a call, and the process and price are the same.
- How is this different from a free consultation?
- A free chat produces opinions. Discovery produces artefacts: a systems map, scored opportunities, and a costed proposal you can hold other quotes against. It is the difference between advice and evidence.
- Who is Discovery for?
- Owner-led businesses, roughly 5 to 50 staff, where the owner's week is eaten by operations. Trades, tourism operators, property management, hospitality, professional services: anywhere the admin has outgrown the systems.
- Why fixed price?
- Because open-ended consulting is where trust goes to die. You know the cost before you start, you know what you get at the end, and the incentive is on us to be sharp inside the week.
Not sure which shape fits? A 30-minute call sorts it.
Not ready for a call? Start with the free Systems Snapshot, ten minutes.