Discovery Call Questionnaire¶

Purpose¶

A structured questionnaire for running consistent, high-signal discovery calls.

🎙️ Aim to leave the call with: (1) a clear problem statement, (2) success metrics, (3) constraints, and (4) a decision + next step.

Question	Notes
What does your company do (in one sentence)?
What industry are you in?
Company size (team size / revenue band if comfortable)?
Who are your customers and what's your business model?
What are your current top priorities this quarter?
What prompted you to explore this now?

Question	Notes
What problem are you trying to solve?
What happens today if this problem isn't solved?
Who is impacted and how often?
What have you tried already? What worked / didn't work?
What would a "great outcome" look like?
What would make this project a failure?

Question	Notes
Walk me through the current workflow end-to-end.
Where do delays, errors, or rework happen?
Which steps are manual vs automated?
What are the inputs and outputs at each step?
Who uses the output and how is it consumed?
What volumes are we talking about (daily/weekly/monthly)?

🔍 If they say "we don't have data," probe for logs, documents, spreadsheets, tickets, emails, CRM records, support chats, PDFs, images, etc.

Question	Notes
What data do you have that relates to this workflow/problem?
Where does the data live (databases, files, SaaS tools)?
What systems are involved (CRM, ERP, support, internal tools)?
Data quality: is it clean, labeled, complete?
Data access: who can grant access? security constraints?
Any compliance constraints (PII, HIPAA, financial, SOC2, etc.)?
Do you already use BI/reporting tools?
Do you have APIs available for integration?

Question	Notes
What does success look like in measurable terms?
What metric should improve (time, cost, accuracy, revenue, CSAT)?
What is the baseline today?
What target would be meaningful?
What is the acceptable error rate / quality threshold?
What does "good enough to launch" mean?

Question	Notes
What's your target timeline for results?
Are there fixed deadlines (launch, audit, board, seasonality)?
Do you have a budget range in mind?
How do you prefer to structure investment (fixed / phased / retainer)?
What internal resources can you allocate (SME time, engineering)?

Question	Notes
Who is the sponsor / budget owner?
Who will be day-to-day contact?
Who needs to approve this (legal, procurement, IT security)?
What is the approval process and typical cycle time?
What criteria will you use to choose a partner?
Are you evaluating other vendors or an internal build?