Engagement models
Three ways in. All of them priced before we start.
Fixed price per phase, agreed in writing, with a defined end. We do not bill hourly, because hourly billing pays a firm to take longer and you should not have to police that.
Diagnostic
From $9,000
2–6 weeks, fixed
A bounded piece of analysis that ends in a written recommendation. The usual entry point, and a complete deliverable on its own.
- Stakeholder interviews and systems review
- Written diagnostic with ranked constraints
- Costed options and a recommendation
- Working session with leadership
- No obligation to continue
Best forCompanies who need to know what the problem actually is before committing budget.
EnquireDelivery phase
Most commonFrom $40,000
6–10 weeks, fixed scope
Strategy and engineering against one defined outcome. The direction gets set and the system that carries it gets built by the same team.
- Everything in the diagnostic
- Technical specification and architecture
- Weekly deployed increments
- Production launch and monitoring
- Full handover package and source transfer
Best forCompanies with a decision made and a system that has to exist for it to matter.
EnquireRetained advisory
From $6,500/month
Monthly, 3-month minimum
Ongoing strategic and technical leadership: the fractional CTO seat, standing advisory, or continued delivery capacity.
- Standing weekly commitment
- Presence in leadership and architecture forums
- Hiring and vendor evaluation support
- Quarterly strategy review
- Written succession plan from day one
Best forCompanies who need senior judgment available continuously, not project by project.
Enquire
Figures are starting points, not quotes. The diagnostic exists so that the number you are given is based on the actual shape of the work rather than an average. If the engagement we would scope is not worth the spend, we will say so before you are invoiced for anything.
Commercial terms
The questions that come next.
How is this different from hiring an agency?
An agency sells capacity: you bring the plan, they staff it. We will not take a build brief we do not believe in, and every engagement starts with a diagnostic that can conclude you should not do the project at all. The people who scope the work are the people who deliver it.
Do I have to start with a diagnostic?
In almost every case, yes. It is short, fixed-price, and ends in a document you own whether or not we work together again. Quoting a build before understanding the constraint is how engagements go wrong, and we would rather lose the deal than start there.
What size company do you work with?
Typically companies between roughly $2M and $100M in revenue, plus funded startups past their first product decisions. Below that, the honest answer is usually that a full engagement is not yet the right spend, and we will say so.
Who owns the code and the strategy work?
You do, in full, on payment. Source code, infrastructure, accounts, credentials, and documentation transfer to you at handover. We keep no license requiring you to stay with us.
How does pricing work?
Fixed price per phase, agreed in writing before work starts, invoiced on a schedule set in the statement of work. Retainers are monthly. We do not bill hourly, because hourly billing rewards the wrong thing.
Can you work with our existing engineering team?
Frequently, and it is usually the better outcome. We work alongside in-house teams, reviewing architecture, taking the pieces they lack capacity for, and raising the standard of delivery practice rather than routing around it.
What happens after an engagement ends?
Your team runs the system. We hand over documentation and run a walkthrough, and we stay reachable. Many clients return for a later phase; none of them are required to.
How quickly can you start?
Diagnostics can usually begin within two to three weeks. Delivery phases are scheduled against current commitments. We run a small number of engagements concurrently and will tell you the real date rather than an optimistic one.
Next step
Tell us what is actually in the way.
Send a short note about the business and the constraint you are hitting. You will get a considered reply within two business days: a real assessment, not a sales sequence.