Hi! I’m Connor, the person you’ll most likely see and talk to during your first meeting with Paper Leaf. If you’ve already shared your project details, perfect! You’ll hear back from me in 1-2 business days.
If you’ve never worked with a digital agency before, you might not know what to expect from a first call, and that can feel a bit overwhelming. You might be wondering:
- Am I supposed to know the technical stuff?
- Do I need to come prepared with a finished project plan?
- What if they ask something I can’t answer?
These are fair questions! But here’s the good news: that’s not how I approach these conversations.
During our first meeting, I’m not expecting you to know how your website or application will be built. I don’t need you to speak in technical terms. And I’m definitely not anticipating that you’re ready with all your needs nicely written out in a PDF (although, if you do have a perfectly organized PDF, I won’t say no either!).
What I’m hoping to uncover are the details you do know. You are the subject matter expert when it comes to what makes your business unique, the bottlenecks that you’re currently facing, and what you are hoping for with this digital solution. The first call is, very simply, a conversation. You don’t need to speak tech, you just need to be willing to dive deep into your business.
Questions we’ll go through on the first call
A first call for me is all about fit — are we the right partner for you, and vice versa. To get there, we’ll ask you some questions to get to know your current situation and need. Here are some example questions to give you an idea of what we’ll discuss.
What problem(s) are you trying to solve?
That sounds obvious, but it’s easy to overlook some major pain points that are lost in the mix of your proposed project.
At a high level, your problem may be as simple as, “Our website isn’t doing what we need it to do.” Maybe the problem is an opportunity: “I have this idea and want to validate it” or “We’ve outgrown the tech system we have.”
In each of these examples, your problem can feel massive. However, we can very quickly start to break that problem down into manageable chunks, and I can help identify a feasible starting point for our work together.
What does your current workflow look like?
Some clients come to us looking to rebuild an existing product, while others reach out to support in the development of a brand new website, mobile app, or web app. At this stage, you might not know what specific technology you need. But you do know how you currently engage with the end users, where those workflows can be improved, and what’s making everyone’s life harder than it needs to be.
Usually, there’s a moment in the conversation where someone says, “Well… right now we export a spreadsheet, email it to three people, print it out, and then manually enter it into another system” or “Our website is cluttered, and users can’t find the information they really need.” Those are the details we need to hear — specific needs we can act on.
Who is involved from your side?
Are you exploring options to share with a larger decision-making team? Who needs to be involved in the project going forward? Are we talking to five people? Fifteen? Do you need to involve members of your procurement, leadership, or IT teams to guide next steps for your software project?
These questions matter because the shape of a project isn’t just about the product itself. It’s also about how decisions get made, how many people need to weigh in, and what your timeline looks like. The more we know about how you’re structuring project delivery from your end, the better aligned our proposed approach will be.
What kind of partner are you looking for?
Some of our clients need a partner to lead the process end-to-end. Others want a team that can plug into an existing internal setup. Often, folks reach out just trying to figure out what kind of help they even need. Again, you might not know the answer to this question, but even your idea or impression is a very helpful start.
Most importantly, what do you want to get out of the call?
This one surprises people sometimes. But what do you want as a next step? Are you looking for a high-level gut check on a potential solution for your project? Do you need a better understanding of the process an agency like ours follows to build custom software? To help you make an informed decision, do you need a proposal, a quick quote, or a few simple options? A reality check? A second opinion?
Again, you don’t need to have the answer perfectly nailed down, but if you know what your ideal outcome for our call is, that gives me a much better starting point.
Why we talk about discovery so early
If you’ve never worked on a custom digital project before, application discovery or technology consultation can sound a little mysterious, and you might be surprised when I bring it up in our conversation.
Nobody breaks ground on a new building until they have a blueprint. The same is true for any software project.
That means getting clear on the product, the people involved, the constraints, the risks, the priorities, and the shape of the work ahead. A lot of people come into that first conversation wanting an à la carte list of services or a neat menu of options. I get it! But with custom work, the better path is usually to first understand the whole picture, then define the right phases and priorities from there. Read more about how we set up projects following a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) build process
Reach out earlier than you think you need to
If I can leave you with one thing, it’s this: if you want to start your project in the next six months, reach out now. Even if the details are still a bit fuzzy. Even if you don’t have every answer. Even if you’re just trying to understand what the process could look like.
Because once internal approvals, procurement steps, scheduling, scope discussions, and competing priorities get involved, time disappears fast.
Early conversations make room for better decisions.
In conclusion, not every first call looks the same
One of the interesting things about this work is that people tend to show up in a few pretty different ways depending on their role and their organization.
From early-stage ideas needing validation to well-defined projects that require a skilled agency like Paper Leaf to deliver, we’ve truly seen it all.
Overall, our focus is less about the technology and more about the business outcomes, pain points, and helping you find the right partner for your situation.
Hopefully, this helped you understand what to expect and answered a few questions. But, honestly, I just enjoy talking through these kinds of challenges and helping people make sense of them. Whenever you are ready, let’s chat!
FAQ's
Some questions I hear pretty regularly
“AI can probably build the website, right?”
AI tools can absolutely be useful in testing and validating your new software. Savvy users can utilize AI tools to build a low-fidelity prototype and give you an idea of the look and feel for your solution. But there’s a big difference between experimenting with a simple concept and building a reliable digital product — one that drives value for real users, works within complex workflows, and ties across multiple systems.AI is great at surfacing information, but it takes a human to evaluate that information against what the business actually needs. That means weighing project goals, user experience, and technical constraints, and seeing how they interact and connect.
So yes, AI is part of any conversation you’ll have about your product. But no, it can’t replace the crucial human element that aligns technical delivery with product strategy and user-centric design thinking.
“How soon can a software project start?”
I’m going to give the answer no one likes: it depends. If your problem is fairly straightforward we can usually get going quite quickly (depending on our current workload!). But if you are consolidating fifteen websites into one shared digital ecosystem or building a portal that thousands of users will use, it takes time to properly understand the situation and produce a reliable estimate. The more complex your existing workflows and processes, the greater the need to clarify the problem, shape scope, connect the right people, review proposals, and gain approvals. Once we’re fully aligned on project scope, we can schedule your project kickoff and get started!
“How much will this digital product cost?”
Even after this first call, I’m usually able to share a range of costs based on Paper Leaf’s experience delivering similar products to yours. I’ll take into consideration your budget constraints and the high-level project expectations you are working with. But the exact costs to develop your software are entirely dependent on understanding the problem well enough first, which we don’t always get into on the first call. Sometimes it means getting other Paper Leaf experts involved and doing a deeper dive of your current situation before we can give you an exact number.
That’s one of the reasons discovery matters so much. It helps define what needs to be built, which of your priorities matter most, who needs to be involved, and what tradeoffs exist before anyone pretends the scope is clearer than it is.