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Buyer Guides

How to Choose an AI Development Company: A 12-Point Checklist

A practical checklist for choosing an AI or software development partner — the questions to ask, the proof to request and the red flags that predict a failed project.

Start your project

Short answer: choose the partner that can show AI systems it has shipped to production, puts senior engineers on your project, gives you 100% of the code and IP, prices against milestones you approve, and explains clearly how it protects your data. Everything else is secondary.

Use the checklist below with every vendor you shortlist — including us.

Proof

  1. Production case studies, not demos. Ask what is running in production today, for whom, and what changed for the client. A notebook prototype is not proof.
  2. Relevant reviews. Look for independent reviews on platforms such as Upwork, Fiverr or Clutch, not only testimonials on the vendor's own site.
  3. A technical conversation with the actual engineers. The people in the sales call should be the people who build.

Ownership & risk

  1. Code and IP ownership. You should own the repository, prompts, model weights and infrastructure scripts — in writing.
  2. Milestone-based payment. Pay for working deliverables you have reviewed, not for hours.
  3. A clear exit. Documentation and a handover plan mean you can switch teams later without starting over.

Engineering quality

  1. How they stop hallucinations. Expect answers about retrieval grounding, evaluation suites and guardrails — not "the model is very smart".
  2. Human-in-the-loop design. Production agents need approval steps, escalation and logs.
  3. Integration experience. Ask which CRMs, ERPs and messaging tools they have connected AI to.

Security & communication

  1. Data handling. NDAs before scoping, encrypted storage, least-privilege access and no training third-party models on your data.
  2. Time-zone overlap and cadence. Weekly demos and a named point of contact beat monthly status reports.
  3. Honest scoping. A good partner will tell you when AI is the wrong tool — and suggest something simpler.

Red flags

  • A fixed "AI package" price before anyone has looked at your workflow.
  • No production references, only screenshots.
  • Vague answers about who owns the code.
  • Juniors on the project, seniors only in the pitch.

How Nexariza AI answers this checklist

Nexariza AI is a PSEB-registered AI and software development company in Lahore, Top Rated on Upwork and rated 5.0 on Fiverr. Every project is led by founder Ahmad Yasin, billed against milestones you approve, and ends with 100% of the code and IP in your name. See our delivered work and client reviews, then book a free scoping call.