From brief to production · 5 steps
How it works.
No checkout, no retainer, no lock-in. Scope it yourself in 5 minutes with the configurator, or tell us the workflow and get a written scoping review within one business day — either way you end up with a fixed-price Statement of Work. Sign it, and a thin slice is live in production by week 7.
Fixed-price SOW · Production by week 7 · No lock-in
- 1
Tell us your workflow
5-10 min
Two ways in, your pick: scope it yourself in the 5-minute configurator and get a fixed quote on the spot, or send a short brief in plain language describing the workflow, where it breaks, and what 'better' looks like.
Deliverable: A real read on your workflow, not a quote-bot
- 2
Written scoping review
Within 1 business day
The founder reads your brief and replies in writing: the scope, the KPIs we'll move, the systems we'll touch, and a candid view of what's hard. If we're not the right fit, we say so up front.
Deliverable: Agreed scope, target KPIs, integration map, candid feasibility read
- 3
Fixed-price Statement of Work
Within 2 business days of the review
We send a fixed-price SOW — no hourly meters, no surprise change orders. Discovery $5-8k → Build $15-40k → optional Run $2-6k/mo. Every line item is scoped to the KPIs we agreed on. You sign when it's right; invoicing happens off-site (invoice or bank transfer) after signature.
Deliverable: Fixed-price SOW, KPI targets, DPA, audit-log spec, timeline
- 4
Build → production by week 7
Discovery + Build · ~7 weeks typical
Discovery → architecture → thin-slice in production early → operating cadence. We get a thin slice live in front of real cases by week 5-6, not a big-bang launch at the end. Weekly progress against the labelled test set. You see every artefact and every commit.
Deliverable: Discovery report, architecture spec, production deploy, eval harness, audit log, reviewer queue, runbook
- 5
Optional Run
Optional · month-to-month · no lock-in
If you want us to keep it healthy: weekly KPI report, prompt refresh, retrieval-index updates, reviewer-queue calibration, quarterly attestation. Month-to-month at $2-6k/mo. Cancel anytime — every artefact is yours and is handed over cleanly.
Deliverable: Weekly KPI report, quarterly attestation, monthly invoice
Week-by-week (AI Workflow Build, typical)
Once the SOW is signed, here's what you actually see and receive each week on a typical Build to production by week 7. Larger Automation System and Platform engagements extend this timeline but preserve the same cadence — thin slice early, weekly evidence, no big-bang launch. See the full fixed-price packages and ranges for each engagement size.
Week 1
Discovery kickoff, current-state workflow map, labelled test set started (200-500 cases).
Week 2
Architecture decision record (ADR), integration spec, risk register signed off.
Week 3-4
Discovery deliverables wrapped. Build begins: prompt + retrieval bundles, integration scaffolding.
Week 5-6
Thin-slice deployed in front of real cases. First metrics against the test set. Reviewer queue stood up.
Week 7
Production cutover. Audit log live. Operating dashboard live. Optional Run cadence starts.
Questions buyers actually ask us
Do you work with our existing IT and security team?+
Yes, and early. The DPA and audit-log spec are part of the SOW, before any data moves. We answer your security questionnaire before kickoff, work inside your cloud and your repos when required, and our fractional compliance counsel reviews healthcare and financial-services engagements. Your IT team signs off on the integration spec in week 2 — we don't route around them.
What do you actually need from our team during the build?+
Three things. A workflow owner who can give us 2-3 hours a week for reviews and decisions. Sample cases for the labelled test set — 200-500 real examples, anonymised if needed. And someone in IT to provision integration access in week 1-2. That's it. We don't need a project manager, a steering committee, or your engineers' sprint capacity.
What happens if you miss the week-7 production date?+
You get 50% back, written into the SOW — not a goodwill gesture we decide on later. 'Production' means a thin slice live in front of real cases with the audit log and reviewer queue running, not a staging demo. We can offer this because the timeline is built from patterns we've already shipped, not research. The SOW also states what we need from your side to keep the date honest.
Can we stop after Discovery and build it ourselves?+
Yes. Discovery is priced to stand alone at $5-8k: you get the workflow map, the labelled test set, the architecture decision record and an integration spec your own engineers can build from. Some teams do exactly that, and it's a fine outcome — Discovery exists so nobody commits $15-40k to an unscoped build. No penalty, no pressure to continue.
Popular with buyers
Ready when you are
Tell us the workflow. We'll send a fixed-price SOW.
Send a short brief and we reply within one business day with a fixed-price Statement of Work — Discovery $5-8k, Build $15-40k, optional Run $2-6k/mo — and a thin slice can be live in production by week 7. No deposit gate, no self-serve checkout.