Daily build

The Software Regret Check

Ten questions about the software deal you are about to sign. It tells you where the regret risk is, and what to negotiate before you commit.

The reading

No reading yet.

Answer any of the ten questions below and the reading starts here.

The ten questions

1. How long does the contract run?
2. How is it priced?
3. Is the renewal price capped in writing?
4. Can you export your data yourself, in a usable format?
5. Who sets it up?
6. Did you try it on your own work?
7. How much of what you are paying for will you actually use?
8. Who wanted this tool?
9. What does cancelling look like?
10. Does it replace anything?

Your answers never leave your browser. There is no server behind this tool, your answers are never sent anywhere, and nobody sees what you pick, including me. Your answers are saved on this device so you can come back mid-negotiation, and Start over removes them.

What it cannot tell you

It scores the deal, not the product

This reads the terms you are about to sign: how long you are locked in, what renewal and cancellation look like, whether your data can leave, who actually wanted the tool. Roughly six in ten small businesses regret a software purchase within eighteen months, and the terms are where most of that regret was signed up for. But the terms are all this checks. It cannot tell you whether the software is any good, whether it fits your workflow, or whether the vendor will still exist in three years.

A clean score is permission to sign a deal you already believe in. It is not a reason to believe in one.

The series

One small tool a day

Every build gets a write-up in the Library: what it does, why it exists, what I decided not to put in it, and what it took to make. Free to use, nothing to sign up for.