Writing
Notes from actually shipping this stuff.
No thought leadership. Cost breakdowns with the arithmetic shown, failure modes we've hit, and the occasional argument against hiring us.
4 min read
What a software maintenance retainer actually costs
Most agencies won't put a number on a retainer. Here are ours, the industry ranges we checked them against, and the arithmetic for deciding when hiring someone is cheaper.
4 min read
In-house AI team vs agency: the arithmetic, including when we lose
Real salary numbers, real agency numbers, and the crossover point where hiring wins. Written by an agency, which should tell you how the last section goes.
4 min read
Adding RAG to a SaaS product that already has customers
Every RAG tutorial starts with an empty folder. Here's the version for a product that already has tenants, permissions and a database you can't casually restructure.
4 min read
Why your AI proof of concept never shipped
The demo worked. Four months later it's still a demo. Here are the six things that actually block the gap, in the order they usually bite.
5 min read
Five patterns for putting an LLM into software that already exists
A decision framework rather than a tutorial: which of five integration shapes fits your problem, what each costs, and the failure modes that show up in month three.
4 min read
Can you combine RAG and fine-tuning? Yes, and usually you shouldn't yet
The comparison is usually framed as a choice. It isn't — they solve different problems. Here's which problem you actually have, and what combining them costs.
4 min read
The evals we build before shipping an LLM feature
Not a survey of eval tooling. The actual suite we build on client projects, why it's small, and which scoring methods we don't trust.
4 min read
What an AI feature costs, with the arithmetic shown
Two numbers matter and most quotes only cover one. Here's the build cost, the running cost, and the arithmetic for working out yours.
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Rather talk than read?
Everything here is what we'd tell you on a call anyway. If your situation isn't covered, ask.