M1 · THE ECONOMIC CASE · P02

The Procurement Playbook

Eight vendors. One customer. Five clauses.

10 SLIDES · ~10 MIN · PLAYBOOK OVERVIEW
Key Takeaways
  • Buy the platform. Build the integration. Demand the clauses.
  • 8 — overlapping AI contracts at a typical midmarket company.
  • ~30% — overlap on agent capabilities across those eight.
  • 6+ — months to unwind a bad contract once signed.
  • Demand a complete agent and AI-vendor inventory across business units within 14 days.
MODULE 1 · PLAYBOOK 02 · ECONOMIC FRAME

The Procurement Playbook

Eight vendors. One customer. Five clauses.

BuildClub Academy
01 · WHY THIS MATTERS

Your procurement team is signing eight overlapping AI contracts.

8
overlapping AI contracts at a typical midmarket company.
Everest Group 2026 · industry coverage corroborated
~30%
overlap on agent capabilities across those eight.
Everest Group 2026
6+
months to unwind a bad contract once signed.
operator network interviews
02 · THE THESIS

Buy the platform.
Build the integration.
Demand the clauses.

The Thesis
03 · THE FIVE CLAUSES

Demand these in every AI vendor contract.

Data Residency
Where stored, processed, accessed — country, region, sub-processor.
your law, not theirs
Model Swap Rights
Visibility and approval before the vendor changes the underlying model.
no silent upgrades
Output IP
Who owns generated artifacts, derivatives, and training rights on your data.
your data, your output
Exit & Portability
Leave with your data, workflows, agent histories, and embeddings — in usable form.
data follows the customer
Audit Access
Logs, compliance proof, incident records — on demand and on schedule.
logs are evidence
04 · WHY THE EIGHT HAPPEN

Four root causes of contract sprawl.

Department-level buying
Each function bought their own AI — and signed before legal saw the data clauses.
Free-tier sprawl
Free agents become production agents. No PO, no MSA, no audit trail. Real customer data inside.
Bundled SaaS spawns agents
Your CRM, ATS, ERP just grew an agent module. You didn't buy it — you renewed into it.
PE-mandated tools
Your sponsor pre-decided your stack via portfolio playbook. Read the side letter.
05 · THE CONSOLIDATION PLAYBOOK

Five steps to consolidate.

1
Inventory active AI contracts
14 days. Every BU. Free tiers count. Embedded SaaS modules count.
2
Map overlap by capability
Same capability across multiple vendors is the kill list.
3
Pick the platform you'd consolidate on
One platform decision precedes nine vendor decisions.
4
Demand outcome pricing on top 3
If they refuse, that decides which one you cut.
5
Cut the rest at next renewal
Renewal cycle is your leverage window. Use it once per vendor.
06 · PRICING MODELS

Outcome pricing sets the trap vendors won't walk into.

Seat-based (legacy)
$20–$60 per user per month. Scales with headcount, not value. Vendors love it because it predicts revenue.
Outcome-based (correct)
$0.99 per resolution (Intercom Fin). $0.50 per conversation (HubSpot Breeze). Scales with value delivered.
Hybrid (transition)
Floor seat fee + per-outcome surcharge. Vendor hedges. You build the bridge to outcome-only.
Vendor tells (red flag)
If the vendor refuses to quote outcome pricing or model the breakeven, they don't believe their own product.

Vendors who refuse outcome contracts don't believe their own product.

07 · VENDOR LEVERAGE

Concentration risk is your fiduciary problem.

Concentration risk Anthropic 73% % of first-time enterprise AI spend OpenAI 61% % citing as primary GenAI provider Source: Bloomberg (Anthropic enterprise share); Gartner 2026.
Takeaways
  • 1 Your largest vendor's outage is your customer's outage — directly attributable.
  • 2 PE joint ventures pre-decide your stack — read the side letter before you sign the term sheet.
  • 3 Musk-Grok bank precedent: when your largest customer mandates a vendor, you comply or you lose them.
08 · VELOCITY DIGITAL CAUTIONARY

If you can't count them, you don't own them.

1
400-person agency
Independent shop. Modern AI stack. CEO believed inventory was tight.
2
31 unauthorized agents discovered
Spun up on free tiers and personal credit cards. Touching client data.
3
Running for 6 weeks unnoticed
Two were in production customer-facing workflows. Cost: untracked. Liability: real.

Cost: untracked. Lesson: agent inventory is a board-level fiduciary item.

CLOSING

Five things to do Monday.

Monday Morning
  1. 1
    Demand a complete agent and AI-vendor inventory across business units within 14 days.
  2. 2
    Add the 5 clauses to your contract review checklist — no exceptions.
  3. 3
    Refuse the next agent contract without an outcome metric.
  4. 4
    Re-audit MSAs from your top 3 vendors and top 3 customers for embedded AI clauses.
  5. 5
    Name a single AI procurement owner with budget authority.
P02 · Questions CEOs Ask

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the core idea of The Procurement Playbook?
Buy the platform. Build the integration. Demand the clauses.
What does the data say a CEO should pay attention to?
8 overlapping AI contracts at a typical midmarket company. ~30% overlap on agent capabilities across those eight.
What should a CEO do Monday morning after reading The Procurement Playbook?
Start here: Demand a complete agent and AI-vendor inventory across business units within 14 days; Add the 5 clauses to your contract review checklist — no exceptions; Refuse the next agent contract without an outcome metric.
Where do the claims in The Procurement Playbook come from?
The playbook cites Everest Group 2026; The Register (Apr 28, 2026) — industry coverage; CEO interviews — operator network; Intercom Fin pricing.
P02 · Sources

All Sources in This Playbook

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