What happens to everyone’s work before there is a signed project?
Illustrative examples only. These are possible commercial arrangements, not current offers, agreed pay, promised work, forecasts, or evidence of customer results. All amounts are USD, before tax.
Qualification, discovery, domain expertise, feasibility, security review, procurement and proposal work can happen across several conversations. Choose a pursuit owner, a bounded budget and explicit stop conditions. A buyer without authority, funds or a workable need may never become a project.
Illustrative expected pursuit cost per win: $800 per attempt divided by the assumed win probability. These are sensitivity inputs, not industry conversion rates. Funded presales receipts may offset costs; they must not be counted twice.
At a 20% assumed win rate, an $800 attempt implies $4,000 of expected pursuit cost per won project across many attempts. A particular batch can perform worse, and the money must be available before the outcomes are known.
Paid discovery can correctly end with no build
A customer buys enough investigation to make a deployment decision. The evidence says not to proceed, so no implementation sale follows.
Buyer / budget holder
A budget owner deciding whether a workflow merits investment
Who pays this invoice
The customer funds an authorized discovery scope
Ledger boundary
Intent as the discovery supplier
Period covered
One two-week decision package; downside is a separate lost pursuit
Customer value: A documented no-build decision can prevent a larger unsuitable commitment. No avoided-cost dollar claim is invented.
$6,000 in illustrative fees minus $5,200 in listed costs leaves $800 before central overhead and tax. This is not company profit or personal income.
Fees less listed costs
$800
After a proposed $0 cash designation
$800
Reserve is not an expense or an extra payment to a participant. A negative remainder means this model cannot fund that reserve from its contribution. Fees do not establish accounting recognition or cash collection.
Show the full fee and cost ledger
Illustrative fees / billings within this business boundary
Scope
Quantity × rate
Amount
Decision and evidence package
1 scope × $6,000
$6,000
Who could earn what, for which work, and when payment is due
Work / recipient
Quantity × rate
Business invoice / cost
Earned when
Payment trigger
Workflow investigation Domain specialist business
12 hours × $125
$1,500
Findings delivered
Discovery invoice
Feasibility and architecture Architecture business
16 hours × $150
$2,400
Evidence and options delivered
Discovery invoice
Independent challenge Reviewer business
8 hours × $100
$800
Decision review completed
Review invoice
Bounded proof resources Vendors
1 allowance × $200
$200
Resources consumed
Vendor cycle
Project administration Administration function
4 hours × $75
$300
Authorized administration
As incurred
Lost pursuit: no discovery contract was signed
No customer fee is earned. Only the deliberately capped pursuit cost remains; stopping prevents the larger discovery budget from being spent without authorization.
$0 in illustrative fees minus $800 in listed costs leaves -$800 before central overhead and tax. This is a loss under these assumptions.
Fees less listed costs
-$800
After a proposed $0 cash designation
-$800
Reserve is not an expense or an extra payment to a participant. A negative remainder means this model cannot fund that reserve from its contribution. Fees do not establish accounting recognition or cash collection.
Show the full fee and cost ledger
Illustrative fees / billings within this business boundary
Scope
Quantity × rate
Amount
Decision and evidence package
0 scope × $6,000
$0
Who could earn what, for which work, and when payment is due
Work / recipient
Quantity × rate
Business invoice / cost
Earned when
Payment trigger
Workflow investigation Domain specialist business
0 hours × $125
$0
Findings delivered
Discovery invoice
Feasibility and architecture Architecture business
0 hours × $150
$0
Evidence and options delivered
Discovery invoice
Independent challenge Reviewer business
0 hours × $100
$0
Decision review completed
Review invoice
Bounded proof resources Vendors
0 allowance × $200
$0
Resources consumed
Vendor cycle
Project administration Administration function
0 hours × $75
$0
Authorized administration
As incurred
Company-funded pursuit cap Pursuit function
8 hours × $100
$800
Authorized internal pursuit effort
Company funds the effort regardless of award
How each participant benefits—and what they owe
Participant
Potential benefit
Condition / responsibility
Customer
Keeps an independently useful decision package.
Pays for investigation, not a predetermined recommendation to build.
Investigators and Intent
Earn for authorized evidence work even when there is no later sale.
Discovery deliverables and their acceptance conditions, not a speculative future project.
Contract route, payment terms and assumptions
Customer → paid discovery → evidence and decision → stop or separately authorize a build.
Discovery has its own acceptance and payment terms. A build requires another authorization.
If a provider funds proof instead, establish the actual payer, approval and claim process before costs begin. A cloud credit cannot pay a specialist invoice.
No-build after paid investigation and no-sale before authorization are separate outcomes.
Provider approval, purchase order, claim acceptance and cash receipt must not be collapsed into one event.
Evidence behind this mechanism
Every amount above is a constructed teaching input. Sources explain mechanisms and constraints; they do not supply these prices, prove demand or establish Intent’s eligibility.
Separates funding approval, cash claims, invoices and credits. Eligibility and program terms apply; the customer-paid discovery example is not an AWS award.
A pure introduction has a small, separate ledger
An independent introducer connects two businesses and has no delivery obligation. The example models only that introducer’s business, not the customer project.
Buyer / budget holder
A delivery firm seeking a qualified, consented introduction
Who pays this invoice
The delivery firm pays the introducer under a separate agreement
Ledger boundary
Independent introducer business; Intent may be either contracting party in a real case
Period covered
One authorized introduction and its qualifying event
Customer value: The customer reaches a relevant supplier without surrendering choice. A referral fee does not establish the supplier’s capability or guarantee a successful project.
$750 in illustrative fees minus $375 in listed costs leaves $375 before central overhead and tax. This is not company profit or personal income.
Fees less listed costs
$375
After a proposed $0 cash designation
$375
Reserve is not an expense or an extra payment to a participant. A negative remainder means this model cannot fund that reserve from its contribution. Fees do not establish accounting recognition or cash collection.
Show the full fee and cost ledger
Illustrative fees / billings within this business boundary
Scope
Quantity × rate
Amount
Agreed introduction success fee (conditional)
1 qualified event × $750
$750
Who could earn what, for which work, and when payment is due
Work / recipient
Quantity × rate
Business invoice / cost
Earned when
Payment trigger
Introduction qualification and consent Introducer business function
3 hours × $100
$300
Authorized effort performed
Funded by introducer regardless of success
Agreement and payment administration Administration function
1 hours × $75
$75
Administration performed
As incurred
The qualifying sale never occurs
The introducer earns no conditional fee and bears its own authorized pursuit cost.
$0 in illustrative fees minus $375 in listed costs leaves -$375 before central overhead and tax. This is a loss under these assumptions.
Fees less listed costs
-$375
After a proposed $0 cash designation
-$375
Reserve is not an expense or an extra payment to a participant. A negative remainder means this model cannot fund that reserve from its contribution. Fees do not establish accounting recognition or cash collection.
Show the full fee and cost ledger
Illustrative fees / billings within this business boundary
Scope
Quantity × rate
Amount
Agreed introduction success fee (conditional)
0 qualified event × $750
$0
Who could earn what, for which work, and when payment is due
Work / recipient
Quantity × rate
Business invoice / cost
Earned when
Payment trigger
Introduction qualification and consent Introducer business function
3 hours × $100
$300
Authorized effort performed
Funded by introducer regardless of success
Agreement and payment administration Administration function
1 hours × $75
$75
Administration performed
As incurred
How each participant benefits—and what they owe
Participant
Potential benefit
Condition / responsibility
Introducer business
Can earn the agreed fee for its precisely defined event.
No delivery, ongoing selling, account stewardship or perpetual renewal rights are silently included.
Delivery firm
Pays for an agreed introduction outcome within its own economics.
The end-customer project budget and delivery costs must be evaluated separately.
Contract route, payment terms and assumptions
Consented introduction → acceptance of the named opportunity → defined qualifying event → one agreed fee.
The illustrative fee is due only on the explicitly agreed successful event.
Ongoing presales, selling or account service needs additional scope. New departments and renewals are not automatically inside the original introduction.
The fixed fee is a fictional teaching input, not a universal referral rate or an Intent policy.
Attribution disputes and overlapping pre-existing relationships must be resolved before promising a fee.
Evidence behind this mechanism
Every amount above is a constructed teaching input. Sources explain mechanisms and constraints; they do not supply these prices, prove demand or establish Intent’s eligibility.
Supports a customer-consent gate before sharing contact details in co-sell. Does not grant another firm ownership of an account, a universal commission or guaranteed seller help.
What the research changes about this model
These selected studies and historical cases explain mechanisms to test. They are not a systematic review, industry earnings survey or validation of this network. The teaching applications are our proposed responses, not conclusions that the sources tested for Intent. Scenario prices and volumes remain explicit assumptions.
Technical reputation does not remove demand risk
Thoughtworks reported a 13.1% revenue decline and a $68.661 million net loss in 2023. Management described cautious client budgets, shorter contracts and lower headcount among the factors affecting revenue.
Application to this design: Include lost pursuits, delays, unfilled capacity and cancellation. Require evidence of funded demand before committing shared capacity; a technically capable network can still lack paying work.
Limits: A large firm’s historical downturn is neither an industry failure rate nor an Intent forecast. Management’s explanation does not isolate causation, and net loss is not cash burn.
This is a proposed operating model illustrated with constructed numbers. The sources below establish program mechanisms and constraints; none establishes the scenario rates, Intent revenue, individual compensation or a guaranteed source of projects.
Anthropic: Services Track and Partner Hub — Distinguishes practice standing from referral credit and deal protection. Does not establish any scenario fee, Intent tier, inbound work or cash entitlement. Checked 2026-10-12.
OpenAI Partner Network — Shows an official build, co-sell and delivery program. No claim of Intent enrollment, procurement approval, referral rate or awarded work. Checked 2026-10-12.
AWS Partner Central: Creating a fund request — Separates funding approval, cash claims, invoices and credits. Eligibility and program terms apply; the customer-paid discovery example is not an AWS award. Checked 2026-10-12.
AWS Marketplace: Managing disbursements — Explains why accepted work and available cash can occur at different times. A marketplace example only; other procurement and payment routes have their own terms. Checked 2026-10-12.
Microsoft: Manage co-sell opportunities — Supports a customer-consent gate before sharing contact details in co-sell. Does not grant another firm ownership of an account, a universal commission or guaranteed seller help. Checked 2026-10-12.
Langfuse: Self-hosted pricing — A public example separating open-source software from paid enterprise capabilities and support. This is an offer structure, not evidence of Intent demand, profitability or transferable pricing. Checked 2026-10-12.
GitHub Sponsors: Sponsorships, fees and taxes — Shows a distinct sponsorship route for eligible open-source contributors. Sponsorship is not a guaranteed sale, support contract or license transfer; no sponsorship is assumed in the ledgers. Checked 2026-10-12.
AWS Marketplace: Channel Partner private offers — Distinguishes approved resale from ordinary vendor consumption. This does not authorize resale of an arbitrary model, API, dataset or contributor’s software. Checked 2026-10-12.
Diagram method: Cathryn Lavery’s open-source Diagram Design, using its Sankey, waterfall, bar, line, architecture and layer-stack references in Intent’s established visual style. The selected chart grammar explains the relationship; the worked examples supply the data.
Apply it to a real workflow.
Start with a customer problem, the people who can help, and a clearly bounded first piece of work.