Three questions that smoke out a bad AI vendor in ten minutes
If you're trying to figure out how to evaluate AI vendors and you don't have a technical background, three questions get you most of the way there. Ask them on the first call.
One: "Can you walk me through something you built and what didn't work the first time?" A real builder has scars. A reseller has a deck.
Two: "If we did the smallest possible version of this, what would it look like?" The answer tells you whether they're solving your problem or selling their package.
Three: "What would make you tell me not to do this?" Anyone who can't answer that has never said no to a client, which means they'll happily build you the wrong thing.
Want This as a Printable Checklist?
We turned these three questions into a printable AI Vendor Smoke Test — with what you're listening for, common evasions, follow-up questions, and a one-line scoring rubric. Free, no hard gate.
Open the Smoke TestGot something like this you want built?
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