HighFlyer

You're about to hire someone to build software for your business. They're going to disappear into their laptops for three months and come back with something you'll live with for the next five years. Here are five things worth asking them on the first call.

1. Have you ever told a client not to build something?

If the answer is no, every project they take is one they can sell. Not one that should exist. The right answer comes with a story.

2. Who actually writes the code, and where do they live?

Many shops sell the senior consultant and deliver with juniors you'll never meet. Not always bad. But you need to know who's behind the keyboard.

3. If you're hit by a bus next year, what happens to my business?

Tests for documentation, code ownership, account access. The boring stuff that quietly decides what year two looks like.

4. Can I see something you built two years ago that's still in use?

A working demo from last week is easy. A system that's been running for years means it didn't quietly collapse the moment your invoice cleared.

5. What does this look like if we never call you again?

If the answer is "nothing works", you're not buying software. You're buying a leash.

We've answered all five of these for clients on first calls. Sometimes it loses us the work. We're OK with that.

What's the question you wish you'd asked the last team you worked with?

Most NZ beauty and wellness clinics pay $20 to $25 per staff member per month for booking widgets like Calendly or Acuity. Five practitioners is over $1,000 a year just to let customers pick a time.

Every one of those clinics already pays for Google Workspace. And Google Calendar has an API.

We built TrueGlow's booking system directly against Google Calendar. Customers see real-time availability. When they confirm, the booking lands as a calendar event the practitioner sees instantly in their normal Google Calendar app. The customer gets an email with an iCal attachment so it goes into their calendar too. In English and Mandarin, because the Auckland clientele needs both.

Adding staff doesn't add cost. Google Calendar's API exposes per-staff availability natively, so the same setup handles one practitioner or fifteen. Microsoft 365 with Outlook works the same way.

Beyond cost, the win is ownership. The practitioner's calendar is the source of truth. Block out a holiday in your normal calendar app and the booking page reflects it instantly.

If you're paying per-seat for a booking platform, ask your dev team: what would it take to do this against the calendar tool we already pay for?

What's a SaaS you're paying for that's quietly replacing something you could already do yourself?