--- title: "Getting Started | Craft Digital" description: "How working with Craft Digital goes: a free first call, a paid discovery phase that maps every system the build will touch, a confirmation gate, then build and run." lang: en json-ld: | [ { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "Organization", "name": "Craft Digital", "url": "https://craft-digital-systems.lovable.app/", "logo": "https://craft-digital-systems.lovable.app/og-image.png", "description": "Custom software, AI, automation, and operational infrastructure for mid-market operators and their investors." }, { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "WebSite", "name": "Craft Digital", "url": "https://craft-digital-systems.lovable.app/" } ] --- [![Craft Digital](/__l5e/assets-v1/bc7a6fac-7a94-4caa-a751-a7e463885a50/craft-logo-full-color.svg) ](/) [Solutions](/solutions)[Custom Development](/custom-development)[Case Studies](/work)[About](/about) Book a Call Menu Getting Started # Every build starts with _discovery._ We've done this long enough to know a build is only as good as our understanding of your systems — so understanding them is where every engagement begins. Here's exactly how working with us goes. Book the first call 01 // The first call (free) ## Thirty minutes. _No pitch deck._ You tell us what you're trying to solve. We ask where it hurts — sales, marketing, operations, support, or finance — and what systems are involved. By the end of the call you'll know three things: whether this fits a system we've already built, whether it needs something custom, and what the next step is. If the honest answer is that you don't need us, we'll say that too. 02 // The process ## Discovery, a checkpoint, _then the build._ Three phases and one gate between them. Nothing moves forward on an assumption nobody verified. I. ### Phase 1 — Discovery Your engagement's first phase and first payment. We meet with your team, map every system the build will touch — the technology, the process, the APIs, the access, the third parties involved — and verify that what we're about to build stands on solid ground. For larger engagements, discovery means our founders on-site with every department. II. ### Milestone One — the confirmation Discovery ends one of two ways. Everything checks out — the build continues without a pause, at the price you already agreed to. Or something isn't as expected — a system that can't connect, access a vendor won't grant — and we bring it to you as a change order before it becomes a mid-build surprise. You'll always know where you stand at the gate, not after it. III. ### Phase 2 — Build. Phase 3 — Run. Delivered in phases against what discovery confirmed — working software at every step, never status decks. Then the team that built it runs it: monitored, maintained, improved, and yours to take in-house whenever it makes sense. Discovery Sales Marketing Operations Support Finance Leadership - system inventory — collected - APIs & access — verified - dependency register — assembling PauseReset01 / 03 Checkpoints aren't friction. They're why the plan you approve is the plan that happens. 03 // What discovery examines ## What we look at _before anyone writes code._ 01 ### Your systems Phone, CRM, operations, finance, web: what's running, what version, who owns it. 02 ### Access & APIs Can we plug into what's there, or does something need replacing? 03 ### Your data Where it lives, whether it exports, who controls it. 04 ### The process as it actually runs Walked through with the people who do the work, not the org chart. 05 ### Third parties Every vendor the build depends on, what they must provide, and what happens if they don't. 06 ### The spreadsheets The business-critical ones nobody documented, and who maintains them. What we're really verifying: that everything you've told us is real and reachable — so the price you get is a real number instead of a guess. 04 // For larger engagements ## When the project is the whole operation, _we come to you._ Modernizing the layer a business runs on can't be scoped from a questionnaire. For enterprise engagements, discovery means two to three days on-site — our founders sitting with every department, leadership to the floor, asking one question a hundred ways: where is time getting wasted? You get everything we heard and everything we'd build, as a written plan delivered on a private interactive site — organized by department, prioritized, and sequenced. And the honesty clause: if the right answer is a system we've already built — or nothing at all — the plan will say so. 05 // From real discovery work ## Three examples. _Yours will be specific to your business._ Each example is anchored to work we have shipped before. Your findings will be written specifically to your business. Finding 01 Critical ### Inbound calls miss after hours and during overflow. Observed A meaningful share of inbound, often 30 percent or more, goes unanswered or routes to voicemail outside business hours and during peak periods. Impact Lost bookings, leaked ad spend, customer service teams buried in tier-one volume that doesn't need a human. Recommendation AI intake and booking system with calendar-aware booking and CRM writes. 2 to 3 week build. Pattern shipped at [Multi-location automotive](/case-study/multi-location-automotive), [National field services franchisor](/case-study/field-services-franchise), and [Regional waste services](/case-study/regional-waste-services). Outcomes include 30 percent of overflow leads booked by the system, customer service headcount held flat while franchise count doubled, and ad spend cut in half at the same conversion volume. Finding 02 High ### Six or more systems hold partial truth. None of them write to each other. Observed The team works around the gaps with spreadsheets, copy-paste, daily tabs, separate logins per location. Customer truth is reconstructed by hand every time someone asks. Impact Lost appointments, duplicated work, no single source of truth for the operating partner. Reporting becomes a debate about whose number is right. Recommendation Consolidate to one system of record per domain, integrate the rest with custom workflow orchestration, sunset what no longer earns its keep. 3 to 4 week build. Pattern shipped at [Multi-location automotive](/case-study/multi-location-automotive), and [Custom manufacturing e-commerce](/case-study/custom-manufacturing-ecommerce). Outcomes include six location-specific spreadsheets replaced with one unified scheduling platform, and a one-screen customer view aggregating data from multiple disconnected CRM objects. Finding 03 High ### Reports and quotes are rebuilt by hand. Hours per occurrence. Observed Pricing, shipping, and reporting motions that should run on a tool are still being assembled in spreadsheets or built from memory. Impact Inaccuracies, slow customer response, hours per week of skilled labor on robot work. Revenue leaks where the manual process is too slow to close. Recommendation Custom internal tool that pulls from source systems and produces the output instantly. 3 to 4 week build. Pattern shipped at [Custom manufacturing e-commerce](/case-study/custom-manufacturing-ecommerce), and [Regional waste services](/case-study/regional-waste-services). Outcomes include 20 to 30 minute manual shipping quotes replaced by instant quotes, and city-by-city dumpster pricing instantly computed from geographic and tax data. 06 // Common questions ## Common _questions._ What does discovery cost? + It's scoped to the engagement — a contained build is a small discovery; an enterprise on-site is a larger one. You'll know the number by the end of the first call, before you commit to anything. Does it count toward the build? + For most engagements, yes — the discovery deposit is the first payment of your build. Larger on-site engagements are scoped as their own phase; we'll be specific on the call. What if discovery finds something different than I described? + Then you find out at the gate, not mid-build: we issue a change order before any further obligation, and you decide — proceed, adjust scope, or stop. What if I don't need custom work at all? + Then we'll tell you — including when a system we've already built solves it for a fraction of a custom price. Discovery saying “you need less than you think” is discovery doing its job. How long does it take? + Days for contained builds; longer when the engagement spans departments. It's the shortest phase of the project and the one that protects all the others. ## Have something you want to _fix or build?_ Bring the problem, not a specification. No SDR. No generic deck. You'll speak directly with one of Craft Digital's founders. Book the first call [![Craft Digital](/__l5e/assets-v1/b959f9c9-7914-488d-b4ec-368b171a61e0/craft-logo-white.svg) ](/) We build AI software that replaces spreadsheets, disconnected systems, and manual work. 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