Can we start small and see how it goes?

Yes. And I will often argue for it even when you arrive ready to spend more, which is a strange sales position but the right one.

Why small first is better for you

You do not yet know whether I am any good. Not really. References help, case studies help, but nothing tells you what a supplier is like to work with except working with them.

A small first phase is the cheapest way to find that out. If I am slow, or I disappear, or I do not listen, you learn it for a modest sum rather than discovering it four months into a large build.

Why it is better for the work

Everything anyone believes about how their process works is a hypothesis until software tests it. Small phases test the hypothesis early and cheaply. Big builds test it at the end, which is the worst possible time.

What "small" should mean

• One process, not a platform.
• Something in real hands within weeks.
• Useful on its own, even if nothing else ever gets built. This is the important one.

That last point matters. A first phase that is only valuable if you buy phases two and three is not a small start, it is a deposit.

The one caution

Small should not mean unplanned. I still want to know roughly where this is going, because a first phase built with no idea of what comes next tends to need throwing away. Plan the direction, build the first step.