How we work
Diagnose first. Then prove it. Then run it.
Custom software gets a bad reputation from projects that run for a year and land wrong. We start with the business, not the software: find the profit gap worth pursuing, prove the fix where that's practical, build production against a fixed scope, then keep it healthy as the business changes. And we tell you early if the honest answer is that you don't need us.
- 01
AI Profit Scan
20–30 minutes, free
A blunt conversation about where the business is constrained: what work is stuck, where money leaks, what breaks when volume goes up. No requirements document, no presentation. At the end we say whether there is something material worth diagnosing — or whether there isn't.
- 02
AI Profit Diagnostic
A separate, paid engagement
A serious review across Acquisition, Conversion, Fulfillment, Retention, Administration, and Strategy. You get your Top 3 profit gaps ranked, an estimate of the economic impact of each (an estimate, not a guaranteed result), the root cause, whether to buy, integrate, automate, build, or leave it alone — and the recommended first move.
- 03
Proof, then production
Proof where practical · SCHEDULE SET AT SCOPE
Where it's practical, we build enough of the top opportunity to prove the direction before a major investment — on representative data, outside your production systems. Production is scoped and priced separately: one fixed number in writing, built in visible increments your team uses before it's finished.
- 04
Managed AI Operations
Ongoing, recommended
Once something is running in operations it needs monitoring, measuring, improving, governing, training, and expanding. We recommend keeping us on for that — APIs, models, rules, and people all change. If you'd rather run it internally, you get documentation, training, and source code that belongs to you.
Production work
FIXED SCOPE, FIXED PRICE
First step
Free AI Profit Scan
Who owns the code
You do
Ongoing operations
Recommended for production AI
Production projects are priced per scope, not per hour. You see one fixed number in writing before anyone commits, and the schedule is agreed at the same time — we don’t publish a universal project timeline, because the honest one depends on the process.
We’re not the right fit for everything. If your problem is genuinely solved by a $40-per-seat product, we’ll name the product and send you on your way. Sometimes we’ll tell you not to hire us.
How we remove the buyer risk
- The scan costs nothing. 20–30 minutes, no requirements document, no sales presentation. The full Profit Diagnostic is a separate paid engagement, and we only recommend it when there’s something material to find.
- Fixed price before you commit. Scope and cost are written down before any contract.
- Working software early. You use it in increments, so bad assumptions surface cheaply.
- Stop after any phase. Each stage should stand on its own. You can exit before the next one.
The next step
Start with a conversation, not a spec.
Twenty to thirty minutes on where the business is constrained. We'll tell you whether there's a profit gap worth diagnosing — and what we'd look at first.