# Checking a client's idea before your team scopes the build

> How product agencies use a cited report to see the competition, the build and the weak spots before a statement of work.

Last updated: 2026-10-22. Canonical page: https://seedbasis.com/blog/check-an-idea-before-you-scope-it

A client arrives with an idea and a deadline. The team scopes it, quotes it and starts the build, and somewhere in the second sprint it turns out a rival ships the same thing for free, or that the integration the plan rests on has no public API. Discovery work catches this, but it takes days the quote rarely pays for.

Some agencies run the idea through SeedBasis first. Here is how that fits into the week.

## Before the scoping call

Start a report from a plain description of the idea, as the client gave it. About an hour later there is a cited report covering who the idea is up against, what it takes to build, what customers already say about the problem, and where the idea is weak. Every claim names the sources behind it, so a number in the scoping notes can be checked by anyone in the room.

## The parts an agency reads first

- **Build:** the stack the idea needs, what could be bought rather than built, and how long it takes, each with its sources.
- **Feasibility:** whether the pieces the idea depends on exist and can be reached, such as the APIs, the data and the approvals.
- **Competition:** who already does it, at what price, with what customers say about them.
- **The ways forward:** up to three ways to go after the idea, with what each would cost to start.

## With your name on it

In the download window, add your agency's logo and name. They show under the report's title and print on the PDF's cover and at the top of every page. The report still says it was researched by SeedBasis, and it downloads as a PDF, a Word copy or slides, ready to sit beside your own scoping notes.

## What it does not do

It is research, not a recommendation to the client. It shows where the evidence stands and the options it points to, and the decision stays with the people making it. It does not replace talking to the client's customers: the tests page lists what would settle the open questions, with notes sheets and survey forms to copy.

## More than one idea

Run a report on each idea a client is weighing, then set them side by side on the comparison page. For a team buying many reports, there is a contact on the [pricing page](https://seedbasis.com/pricing) to talk about seats. [The use cases](https://seedbasis.com/use-cases#agencies) say more.