Decision Tools
The three questions to ask before you buy any AI tool
Almost every small business owner I've audited has paid for an AI tool that didn't fit. These three questions catch it before the credit card.
The pattern I keep seeing
A vendor demos a slick AI tool. The owner is impressed. They sign up. Six weeks later the tool is unused, paid for, and quietly draining $300 a month.
This isn't because the tool is bad. It's because the question "is this AI tool good?" is the wrong question. The right question is "does this tool fit my actual workflow?" Most of the time, the answer is no.
Three questions catch it before you swipe the card.
1. What workflow exactly does this replace, and how much time does that workflow currently take?
If the answer is fuzzy — "it'll help with marketing" — walk away. Real fit means the owner can name the workflow, name who currently does it, and name how many hours a week it takes.
If you can't fill in those three blanks, the tool is solving a problem you haven't actually defined. The vendor will be happy to define it for you. They will define it as the problem their tool solves.
2. What's the total monthly cost — and what does the next 12 months look like?
Sticker price is rarely the real number. Add API usage, per-seat add-ons, and the inevitable upgrade tier when you hit a limit. Then multiply by 12.
A $99/mo tool that you'll outgrow in month four is a $1,200/year decision masquerading as a $99 one. Most owners do not run this math. The vendor's pricing page is built so that you don't.
3. What happens if you stop using it in 90 days?
If the answer is "we lose access to all the data we put in," that's a vendor lock problem. If the answer is "we keep the workflow, just without the AI on top," that's a healthy buy.
The healthy buys keep working when the vendor goes away. The unhealthy ones make you a hostage.
The shortcut
If you don't have time to ask all three: ask the first one and demand a specific answer. If they can't tell you exactly which workflow you do today gets replaced, you do not need this tool yet. You need an audit, or a conversation with someone who's actually used it.
That's most of what an AI Stack Audit does, and it's why we made it $299 instead of $5,000. Most owners don't need a strategy deck. They need a 60-minute conversation and a written list of which tools to skip.