APPROACH
Discovery, build, run, grow
The same four stages whichever line you start in, and the same people accountable across all of them.
WHY STAGES
Four stages because work changes shape
Cinderpath runs every engagement through four stages: discovery, build, run and grow. Each stage ends with something written that you keep, so the next stage starts from a record rather than a memory.
Most failed projects we have looked at did not fail inside a stage. They failed at the edges, when a build team handed a system to an operations team who had never seen it, or when marketing started sending traffic to pages nobody was measuring. The stages exist to make those edges visible and to keep the same people on both sides of them.
You do not have to buy all four. Plenty of work stops after discovery with a written assessment and nothing else. The point of naming the stages is that you always know which one you are in and what has to be true before the next begins.
THE FOUR STAGES
One rail from first read to growth
Each band uses the ground of one map depth
Stage 1, Discovery, 2 to 3 weeks: We read the system, the accounts and the numbers you already have, interview the people who run it, and write a technical assessment with a scoped plan for what to change first. From you: Read access to the relevant accounts, two hours a week from the person who owns the problem, and one named decision maker. Stage 2, Build, 6 to 8 weeks: We ship the scoped work in small increments inside your accounts, each one reviewed, demonstrated and documented before the next starts. From you: A weekly demo slot, decisions within two working days on anything that blocks the plan, and a test environment we can break. Stage 3, Run, 3 to 6 months: The people who built the system keep it running: monitoring, patching, backups and a written change process, with runbooks you can hand to anyone else. From you: An escalation contact for incidents and agreement on which changes need your sign off before they go live. Stage 4, Grow, 3 to 6 months: With the system stable and measured, we put demand against it: search visibility, paid performance and conversion work tied to events you can verify. From you: Access to your ad and analytics accounts, a stated commercial target, and someone who can approve copy quickly. You are reading at depth 1, the Build band.
01 · 2 to 3 weeks
Discovery
We read the system, the accounts and the numbers you already have, interview the people who run it, and write a technical assessment with a scoped plan for what to change first.
From you: Read access to the relevant accounts, two hours a week from the person who owns the problem, and one named decision maker.
02 · 6 to 8 weeks · you are here
Build
We ship the scoped work in small increments inside your accounts, each one reviewed, demonstrated and documented before the next starts.
From you: A weekly demo slot, decisions within two working days on anything that blocks the plan, and a test environment we can break.
03 · 3 to 6 months
Run
The people who built the system keep it running: monitoring, patching, backups and a written change process, with runbooks you can hand to anyone else.
From you: An escalation contact for incidents and agreement on which changes need your sign off before they go live.
04 · 3 to 6 months
Grow
With the system stable and measured, we put demand against it: search visibility, paid performance and conversion work tied to events you can verify.
From you: Access to your ad and analytics accounts, a stated commercial target, and someone who can approve copy quickly.
DAY TO DAY
How the work runs week to week
What we do
Written decisions
Every decision that changes scope, cost or risk is written down with the reason and the person who made it, in a log you can read at any time.
One shared channel
All conversation happens in one channel that your team can see. No side threads in personal inboxes, so nothing depends on who was in which meeting.
A demo rhythm
Once a week you see working software or live numbers, never a status slide. If there is nothing to show, we say why in the same slot.
Review on every change
No change reaches production without a second person reading it. That applies to code, infrastructure, tracking and landing pages alike.
Documentation as we go
Runbooks, architecture notes and account maps are written during the work and kept in your repository, so the handover is already finished when the engagement ends.
What we expect from you
One named decision maker who can say yes or no within two working days.
Access granted through your own identity provider, with accounts you control.
Honest numbers, including the ones that make the current setup look bad.
Attendance at the weekly demo by someone who will use what we build.
LIMITS
Where we say no
Some requests sound reasonable and still set an engagement up to fail. We decline these before any work starts, and we say so in writing.
Fixed price on undefined scope
A fixed price only means something once discovery has defined the work. Before that, a fixed figure is a guess with a contract around it, and someone pays for the guess later.
Sole access to client accounts
We never hold the only key to your cloud, your code, your domain or your ad accounts. If we disappeared tomorrow, your team should be able to carry on by the afternoon.
Ranking or return guarantees
Nobody controls a search engine, an answer engine or an ad auction. We commit to the work, the measurement and the reporting, and we decline contracts that promise positions or returns.
Work without a named decision maker
When nobody on your side can approve a change, work queues up and the cost rises with it. We need one person with authority before the first week is booked.
THE FIRST MONTH
The first month, week by week
Week 1
Access and interviews
Accounts are granted through your identity provider. We interview the people who own the system and the numbers, and agree the questions the assessment has to answer.
Week 2
Reading the system
We trace the critical paths through code, infrastructure and tracking, and record every finding with evidence in the shared log.
Week 3
Written assessment
You receive the technical assessment and a scope plan for the first increment, with a written definition of done you can accept or change.
Week 4
First increment
If you go ahead, work on one narrow increment starts inside your accounts. If you stop here, the assessment is yours to give to anyone.
COMMERCIAL TERMS
How pricing works
Discovery sprint is a fixed price quoted after the first call.
Build engagements run on a weekly cadence with a cap agreed in writing.
Run and grow is a monthly retainer with a three month minimum and a thirty day notice.
Nothing starts without a written scope.
Start with the system as it is
Bring the setup you have today and the date that worries you. We will tell you which stage the work starts in and what the first two weeks would cover.