Engagement Models

Two ways to engage. Both built around your business.

Every engagement is custom-scoped to your business: the workflows, the team, the stack. Pricing follows scope, on the other side of a thirty-minute discovery call.

Talk to an AI architect Compare side by side
Model 01 · Flagship engagement

Your complete AI team.

Hiring AI talent is expensive, slow, and fragile to a market that resets every quarter. Outsource the function. Focus on your business. We'll be your AI team.

Your AI department, on senior partners, indefinitely.

Senior-led. Fixed-price. Zero-defect warranty.

What you get

  • Continuous discovery: what to build next, scoped quarterly.
  • New workflows shipped on a rolling cadence.
  • Existing workflows operated, monitored, and kept current as models change.
  • Senior partners on every standup. No junior consultants on client work.
  • Token-level cost tracking and observability across every workflow.
  • Vendor resilience built in. Model upgrades and platform shifts absorbed by us.
  • Quarterly business review with leadership.

Who it's for

  • You don't have AI engineers and don't want a hiring cycle.
  • Your AI roadmap is open-ended. You know it matters, but the next workflow isn't obvious yet.
  • You'd rather treat this as opex than a capital project.
  • You want a partner who absorbs landscape change, not another vendor to manage.

Engagement shape

  • Monthly retainer.
  • Annual term, renewable.
  • No defined endpoint.
  • Senior-led, fixed-price. No hourly billing.
  • Zero-defect warranty in writing.
Model 02 · Build-operate-transfer

Build, operate, transfer.

You want one specific AI workflow, you want to own it, and you don't want to write a check upfront. We take the build risk. You amortize. At month 24, the asset is yours.

  1. Phase 01

    Build

    Months 1–6

    Senior team designs and ships the workflow. No upfront capital from you.

  2. Phase 02

    Operate

    Months 7–24

    We run it. Monitoring, model drift, vendor changes, observability: all on us.

  3. Phase 03

    Transfer

    Month 24

    Ownership transfers in writing. Elevate exits, or stays on a separate support agreement.

What you own at month 24

  • Full source code.
  • Model weights and prompts.
  • Runbook documentation.
  • Observability dashboards.
  • Infrastructure configuration.
  • Embeddings and indexes.
  • The operating playbook your team needs to run it.

Who it's for

  • You have one or two specific workflows in mind, not an open-ended portfolio.
  • You have a capable engineering org that can take operations over by month 24, or a clear plan to build one.
  • You'd rather end with a balance-sheet asset than a perpetual line item.
  • You're capital-sensitive on day one.
Comparison

Side by side.

Same firm. Same senior team. Two ways to engage. The choice usually comes down to one of these axes.

Model 01 · Your complete AI team

You outsource the function.

  • Best when You want peace of mind on a domain that resets every quarter.
  • Scope Open-ended. Continuous portfolio of workflows.
  • Endgame Ongoing partnership. No project endpoint.
  • Capital posture Monthly opex. Annual term, renewable.
  • Who runs it We do. Indefinitely.
  • What you own at the end The outcomes. Elevate keeps the systems.
  • Internal team you need None required.

Model 02 · Build, operate, transfer

You end up owning the asset.

  • Best when You have one specific workflow in mind and want to own it.
  • Scope Narrow. One workflow, defined at week zero.
  • Endgame Asset transfer at month 24. Elevate exits or moves to support.
  • Capital posture We finance the build. You amortize over 24 months.
  • Who runs it We do, through month 24. After that, your team.
  • What you own at the end Code, models, runbooks, infra, dashboards. All of it.
  • Internal team you need Capable engineering org by month 24, or a plan to build one.
Pricing model

Why we don't bill by the hour.

Hourly billing rewards the wrong thing. Fixed-price aligns the firm with the outcome. Below is the contrast in plain language, axis by axis.

Hourly billing

You pay for time, not results.

  • Incentive Encourages over-engineering and slow delivery.
  • Scope Negotiated weekly. Costs spiral as the work expands.
  • Staffing Juniors billed at premium rates. Architect time rationed.
  • Risk Carried by the buyer. Delays mean larger invoices.
  • Success Measured in hours worked.

Fixed-price with Elevate

You pay for results, guaranteed.

  • Incentive Drives efficiency and quality. We win when you win.
  • Scope Locked at week 0. Predictable from day one.
  • Staffing Senior architects on every standup. No premium juniors.
  • Risk Carried by us. Zero-defect warranty in writing.
  • Success Measured in long-term business growth.

Not sure which fits?

A senior partner replies within one business day. Discovery call is thirty minutes.
Senior-led · fixed-price · zero-defect warranty

Talk to an AI architect How an engagement runs