# Run a bounded paid pilot

Canonical: https://manyspace.aporia.systems/topics/run-a-bounded-paid-pilot-earn-ai-012
Updated: 2026-10-24

Earning Money with AI · Find customers and run a pilot · EARN-AI-012

- Difficulty: 2 / 5
- Importance: 4 / 5
- Study time: 0.5–1 h

Combine scope, consent, costs, quality and a pre-agreed decision rule.

## Why it matters

A pilot is a small learning commitment. It should limit downside and produce evidence for continuing, revising or stopping.

## Where it is used

Prepare a pilot brief and post-pilot decision memo, with a budget cap, acceptance checklist, payment terms and stop rule.

## How you know you have learned it

Complete the scenario checks, explain the decision in your own words, and produce this artifact: Prepare a pilot brief and post-pilot decision memo, with a budget cap, acceptance checklist, payment terms and stop rule.

## Write the decision rule before the pilot

A bounded pilot turns an idea into inspectable evidence without promising income.

Choose one customer and one deliverable. Agree input permissions, price, payment timing, cancellation, acceptance and a time budget before starting. Document the baseline and measure the full workflow. At the end, ask what was useful, what failed and whether the buyer would repeat the purchase at the proposed scope and price. Income depends on demand, execution and costs; a pilot can fail. Do not borrow or spend beyond a budget you can afford for an unvalidated idea.

Plan a pilot for a weekly feedback summary using approved, deidentified data.
1. Agree the sample size, required source references, one correction round and a delivery time cap.
2. Check all outputs against the agreed rubric and record every hour, cost and exception.
3. Continue only if the work is accepted, the economics fit your constraints and the buyer has a real repeat need.

Write a decision memo with evidence and uncertainties. A stop decision is a valid outcome.

The buyer likes the output, but review takes twice the planned time. Should you scale immediately?

No. Investigate the rework, revise scope or price, and retest within a cap. Buyer satisfaction alone does not establish sustainable delivery.

## What you need first

- [Measure delivery, retention and profit](https://manyspace.aporia.systems/topics/measure-delivery-retention-and-profit-earn-ai-011) (required)