Use Case

Before you build the PoC, make sure you're testing the right thing.

A proof of concept takes weeks. Running the wrong one takes the same time and proves nothing.

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The problem

Most PoCs answer the wrong questions.

Teams reach for a proof of concept because it feels like progress. But a PoC only validates the assumptions you chose to test. If you haven't identified what the decision actually hinges on, you end up with weeks of work that doesn't move the needle.

The variables that look important on day one, like raw performance benchmarks or API familiarity, often aren't the ones that determine which technology fits your team in practice. Teams discover this three weeks into the build, not before it.

Week 1: Set up Kafka cluster and benchmark throughput
Week 2: Build consumer group prototype
Week 3: Evaluate operational complexity...
Week 4: Realize the team doesn't have the ops expertise to run Kafka in production
This question could have been answered on day one.

How Tech Duel helps

Know what the decision hinges on before you build.

Tech Duel guides you through a short set of context-aware questions about your team, your existing stack, your scale requirements, and your operational constraints. The output isn't a generic comparison. It's a recommendation tied to your specific situation.

If a PoC is still the right move, you'll know exactly what it needs to prove. That's a much cheaper experiment than one that starts without a clear question.

1

Tell us what you're comparing

Name the two technologies and describe your context: team size, existing stack, scale, timeline.

2

Answer questions specific to your situation

12 to 20 questions that surface what actually matters for your decision, not a generic survey.

3

Get a clear recommendation with reasoning

A structured output that shows what drove the call, so you know exactly what a PoC would still need to prove, if anything.

"Used it for LangChain vs LlamaIndex for our RAG pipeline. Had a recommendation in 20 minutes. Would have taken a week of reading docs otherwise."

AC
Alex C.
ML Engineer, AI Startup

Common questions

How is this different from just researching the technologies?

Research tells you about the technologies in general. Tech Duel asks about your team, your stack, your timeline, and your constraints, then tells you which is the better fit for your specific situation. Generic research can't do that.

Does Tech Duel replace a proof of concept?

Not always. If a PoC is still the right move after you get a recommendation, Tech Duel helps you understand exactly what it needs to prove. That's a much cheaper PoC than one that starts without a clear question.

How long does a comparison take?

Most teams finish in 15 to 20 minutes. You answer a short set of questions about your context, and the recommendation is generated from your answers.

What kinds of technology choices can I compare?

Any two. Database systems, cloud services, messaging queues, AI tools, frontend frameworks, infrastructure options. If your team is evaluating it, Tech Duel can help you decide.

Spend 20 minutes. Save three weeks.

Know what the decision hinges on before you write a line of code.

Start your comparison