Questions enterprise buyers ask before the first call.

It depends on scope, team size, and engagement type — we don't post rates publicly because the right answer depends on what you actually need. As reference points: a 2-week assessment runs in the low five figures; a 6-month embedded engineering engagement with 4 senior engineers is typically a high-six- to low-seven-figure investment.

We give a binding cost estimate at the end of Phase 01 (Assess) before any implementation work begins.

All three. Fixed-bid is most common for well-scoped work (assessments, design phases, defined implementations). T&M with a not-to-exceed cap fits open-ended explorations. Retainer suits ongoing advisory or fractional executive support.

See How We Engage for the full breakdown.

30 minutes, no charge, senior architect on the line. We listen to your situation, ask clarifying questions, and tell you within the call whether we're a fit. No slides, no salesperson.

If it's a fit, we'll propose Phase 01 (Assess) with a fixed fee. If it isn't, we'll tell you that — and often refer you to a firm we trust.

Yes — mutual NDA, before any technical detail is exchanged. We accept yours or use ours, whichever you prefer. Most NDAs we sign are reciprocal, perpetual, and cover information disclosed verbally and in writing.

You own deliverables produced specifically for your engagement — code, architecture documents, runbooks, infrastructure-as-code, ML models. Standard "work made for hire" terms.

We retain ownership of pre-existing tools, frameworks, methodologies, and templates we bring to the engagement (and of generic learnings — we don't lose the right to know what we now know). Standard MSA carve-out language.

We're deliberately small — a senior bench, not a pyramid. Most engagements involve 3–8 of our engineers embedded with your team.

The architect on your sales call is the architect on your engagement. We don't sell senior and deliver junior. If we can't field the right person for your work, we'll tell you on the first call.

US-headquartered, with senior engineers across the US, Europe, and Asia. Most engagements are remote-first with quarterly client on-site weeks. We don't run weekly Monday-Thursday on-site travel grinds.

For regulated workloads with data-residency requirements (e.g., EU GDPR, healthcare HIPAA), we staff appropriately and ensure data never crosses jurisdictions it shouldn't.

Yes — under NDA, after the second conversation. We don't list client names publicly because most of our work is in regulated industries with strict reference-permission rules. We provide three direct references (executive sponsors of past engagements) once mutual interest is established.

No. We take engagements where we deliver an outcome — not where we sell hours of arbitrary engineers. Staff aug shops have their place; we're not one. If you need a person with a specific skill on a specific timesheet line, we'd refer you to a firm that does that well.

We tell you. If we can't staff the engagement properly, we'll either delay the start until we can, propose a smaller initial scope, or refer you to a firm that can. We won't take work we can't ship well.

Yes — and many engagements do. Phase 01 (Assess) is a 1–2 week fixed-fee engagement that produces a written report on your current state and our recommendations. You can stop after that, take the report to another shop, or proceed to Phase 02 with us.

We don't structure the assessment to require continuation. The report is yours either way.

Tell us early. We'd rather hear "this isn't working" in week three than week thirteen. Standard MSA terms allow either party to terminate for material uncured breach. In practice, most issues get resolved in a frank conversation — we're easier to work with than the average consulting firm because the principals are still in the work.

We don't run "consulting partner" plays where senior people disappear after the sale.