The AI Fit Check
One day. $1,500 flat. Fully remote — no system or sandbox access required.
The new first rung of the ladder, sitting in front of the Discovery Sprint, not replacing it. Where the Discovery Sprint needs read-only sandbox access provisioned before day one (most mid-market IT groups can't clear that in under a week) and consumes a full week of dedicated principal time, the Fit Check needs neither — it's interviews and document review only, and it exists specifically to answer one question cheaply before either side commits a week: is there a real, scoped candidate use case here, and is this organization actually ready for a Discovery Sprint right now?
What you get, in one day
A go / no-go on proceeding to a Discovery Sprint
With the specific reason, not a generic “yes, let's talk more.”
A first-pass candidate use case
Named and scoped from what came up in the interviews and whatever documentation (process docs, system inventories, prior audit findings) you can hand over without needing new system access — not yet validated the way the Sprint would validate it, but concrete enough to name.
A readiness read on the three things that actually block a Discovery Sprint from running well
Is there a real executive sponsor who can approve sandbox access in time for it to be provisioned before the Sprint's day one; does at least one system in scope have a real sandbox/test instance to provision (not just production); and is there a realistic decision-maker who can be reached for the short check-ins the Sprint itself requires during its five days. Those check-ins are a Sprint prerequisite, not part of the Fit Check.
If the answer is go: a scoped recommendation for what the Discovery Sprint should actually target
So the Sprint's own five days start pointed at the right system and use case instead of spending day one re-deriving what the Fit Check already found.
If the answer is no-go: an honest, written reason
The same “a Sprint that ends in 'you don't need what you think you need' is a success, not a failed sale” principle the Discovery Sprint itself runs on, just one rung earlier and at less than a third of the cost.
How the one day runs
A single remote session (or a small number of shorter calls across one day, whichever fits your calendar) with the sponsor and one or two people who actually do the work in the candidate area. No system access, no sandbox provisioning, no data export — if you can't produce a sponsor and a working-level contact for even one day without IT involvement, that itself is a real finding about whether you're ready for a five-day Sprint that needs far more from you.
Why this is real, not a pitch deck
Demonstration
This is an interview-and-document-review engagement, not software — there's no live tool call to run or output to inspect the way there is on a /demos page. What's inspectable instead: the exact three readiness criteria the go/no-go call is scored against (stated above), and the go/no-go reasoning format the readout below follows.
Delivery artifact
The Fit Check doesn't have its own public sample readout yet. The closest real artifact is the Discovery Sprint's scope document — see the format and rigor bar the Fit Check's shorter, 1-2 page readout follows, not a claim that the two documents are identical.
See the Discovery Sprint scope sample →Evaluation
Tioga AI is a pre-launch, principal-led practice — there's no completed Fit Check yet to report a track record from. Stated limitation: the go/no-go call is one practitioner's judgment against the three named criteria, not a benchmarked or peer-reviewed instrument.
Step 1
AI Fit Check · $1,500
One day, fully remote, no system access. Written readout within 2 business days.
If the finding is go
Discovery Sprint · $5,000
The $1,500 credits in full, so you pay $3,500 for the Sprint. Credit valid 60 days from the readout, and applies when you sign the Sprint SOW within that window.
If no-go, or not yet
You keep the readout and the named use case. No obligation to proceed.
What happens at the end
A short written readout (1-2 pages, not the Sprint's full report) within 2 business days:
- Go — proceed to a Discovery Sprint. The $1,500 credits in full against the Sprint's $5,000 fee, so the full ladder costs exactly what the Sprint alone costs today if you proceed — the Fit Check is a qualification step, not an extra fee. Credit valid for 60 days from the Fit Check readout.
- No-go, or not yet. You keep the readout and the named use case either way. No obligation to proceed, and Tioga doesn't ask for one — same principle as the Sprint's own no-go outcome.
Questions a buyer usually asks
- Does the Fit Check need access to any of our systems?
- No. It is interviews and document review only: no system access, no sandbox provisioning and no data export.
- Who needs to take part?
- The executive sponsor and one or two people who do the work in the candidate area, for a single remote session or a few shorter calls across one day.
- What do we receive, and when?
- A written readout of 1 to 2 pages within 2 business days: a go or no-go with the specific reason, and a first-pass candidate use case.
- What does it cost, and does it count toward the Discovery Sprint?
- $1,500 flat. If the finding is go and you proceed, the $1,500 credits in full against the Sprint's $5,000 fee, valid for 60 days from the Fit Check readout. The credit applies when you sign the Sprint SOW within that window.
- What if the answer is no-go?
- You keep the readout and the named use case, with no obligation to proceed.
- Does Tioga AI have completed engagements we can ask about?
- No. Tioga AI is a pre-launch, principal-led practice and has no completed Fit Check to cite. The go or no-go is one practitioner's judgment against the three named criteria.