Approved Suppliers

The assessment
template

This is the exact framework every supplier is measured against before they earn a place on the list — whether we heard about them on the podcast or they applied directly. Same four areas, every time.

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How We Score

What we actually check

Good tech doesn’t matter if it doesn’t solve a real problem, and it doesn’t matter how good the tech is if the business behind it won’t be around to support it. We check all four areas below before anything makes the list.

The problem it solves

A clever demo means nothing if it doesn’t fix something you actually have.

The specific business problem it solves, in plain terms — not the feature list, the outcome.
What you’d do instead if you didn’t buy it, including doing nothing.
Whether the claims hold up once we dig past the pitch.

Will they be there tomorrow?

You’re backing a business to still be around when you need support next year, not just buying a product today.

How long they’ve been trading, and whether the business is actually solvent.
What they depend on to keep running — cloud providers, data partners, integration platforms, even one key person — and what happens if any of it goes away.
Whether they’re reliant on one or two big clients who could sink them if lost.
What happens to your access and your data if they shut down, get acquired, or change direction.

Product & service

The demo always works. We check what it’s like after you’ve signed.

Real uptime and reliability history, not the number on the sales page.
Security posture — certifications, data handling, and any breach history.
What support actually looks like day to day: response times, real humans, what’s covered.
How it integrates with what you already run, not just what it promises to.
The real cost once everything’s included, not just the headline price.

Real-world results

What a supplier says about themselves and what their customers say are two different things — we check both.

Verified outcomes from real deployments — time saved, cost down, errors down, revenue moved.
How long it actually took real customers to see value, not the sales timeline.
Whether existing customers would buy again, where we can find that out.
A direct reference conversation with someone who was actually there — not a hand-picked case study.

Fall short in any one of these four areas and it doesn’t matter how the conversation started — on the podcast, through an application, or a referral. No exceptions, and it’s never for sale.