# A small paid pilot for burned owners

Raze Drops builds a small paid pilot first for owners who have paid an agency once already and got nothing that worked, so the first thing you buy is one real piece of the system running on your own data. You decide on the full build after watching it work.

If you have paid for software before and received a slide deck, a demo and an invoice, the sensible reaction to another proposal is suspicion. This page is about how to start with us anyway, without putting a large number at risk before anything has been proven.

## What usually goes wrong the first time?

The project is sold whole, paid for in stages against milestones that describe activity rather than working software, and the first thing you see running is at the end.

By then the money is spent and the only options are to accept it or start again. Most owners accept it, stop trusting the category and keep doing the work by hand, which costs more than the failed project did.

## What does a paid pilot actually give you?

One real piece of the system, running on your real data, doing something you can check yourself: leads answered, orders captured, a report produced correctly.

It is deliberately the smallest thing we sell, and it is paid because free pilots get the attention free work gets. You see the proposal and the solution before any deal is signed, and the pilot either works in front of you or it does not.

## What does a pilot cost and what happens after it?

A pilot sits at the bottom of the range on [the pricing page](/pricing), and the full build, if you want one, is quoted per project with a monthly maintenance retainer once it is live.

If the pilot does not convince you, that is where it ends and you keep what was built. If it does, the rest is built on the same foundation: [AI software](/ai-software) and [custom AI agents](/custom-ai-agents) in whatever shape your business needs. Owners often read [free AI build tutorials for beginners](/for/beginners-starting-an-ai-business) and [lead outreach systems for real estate agencies](/for/real-estate-agencies) to see what a finished build looks like.

| The first month | A large agency engagement | A small paid pilot |
|---|---|---|
| What you pay first | A deposit on the whole project | The smallest piece of the system |
| What you see first | Documents and a demo | Something running on your data |
| Milestones | Activity described in a plan | One working outcome you can check |
| If it disappoints | The money is already committed | It stops there, and you keep the piece |
| Deciding on the full build | Agreed before anything ran | Decided after watching it work |

Tell us the one thing you would want proved first and we will quote the pilot. Start on [the contact page](/contact).