Forward deployed engineering
An engineer inside your business. Not another tool on top of it.
We embed with your team, learn how the work really gets done, and ship systems that run inside your operations. Then we hand them over.
What it is
Most AI projects fail before the first line of code.
The tool is fine. Nobody wrote down how the work actually happens. That is the specification bottleneck.
A forward deployed engineer fixes that by sitting close to the work. We talk to the people who do the buying, the receiving, the AP, the reporting. We learn the exceptions they carry in their heads. Then we build.
What you get is not a slide deck or a software license. It is working systems, connected to the data you already have, owned by you.
People, then process, then tech. We change the order most vendors use. That is why the systems stick.
Who it is for
Built for owner-led operations.
- Owner-led businesses from the low eight figures to $50M in revenue.
- Manufacturing and distribution companies are our strongest fit. Professional and specialty services also work well.
- Companies running on an ERP or accounting system that does not talk to anything else: Sage 100, QuickBooks, SAP, Salesforce, HubSpot, and industry systems.
- Owners who are still the answer to too many questions.
- Teams that tried to "do AI" internally and stalled.
Not a fit if: you want a tool picked for you and installed in a week, or you want a fixed-length contract before anyone has looked at your operations.
What we build
Working systems, connected to the data you already have.
Data connectors.
Secure connections into the systems your business runs on. ERP databases, accounting platforms, practice management systems, industry APIs. Your data becomes something you can ask questions of and build on.
AI skills for real work.
Encoded procedures for the work your experts do every day. Buying and reorder decisions. Landed cost. AP processing. Financial close and reporting. Built on the AI model that fits the job and tuned to how your team actually decides.
Live dashboards.
Reporting that updates itself and answers follow-up questions. Many clients use these to replace reports that only one person knew how to maintain.
ERP write-backs.
When it is safe and approved, systems that write results back into your ERP. Not just reports about the work, but the work itself, with a human approving where it matters.
Team training.
Hands-on AI training for your staff, built around their own workflows. The goal is a team that can run and extend what we built without us.
Pointed at revenue
The same method, aimed at your revenue engine.
Marketing engineering is forward deployed engineering pointed at how you win customers. We write down what your best people know about your buyers and your voice, then build the growth system around it, with a human approving before anything goes out.
- Lead capture, routing, and follow-up built around how your best closer works a lead.
- CRM, funnels, and AI setters connected as one system instead of a stack of vendors.
- Ads, creative testing, and reporting automated so the numbers are on screen without a spreadsheet.
- Visibility in AI search, so the assistants your buyers ask can find and describe you.
How an engagement runs
Start with a 30-day Sprint. Continue only if it is working.
The Sprint has a defined scope, a defined price, and a defined outcome. You decide whether to continue after it.
Step 1: 30-Day Revenue Sprint.
One working system live in your business in 30 days. We map how the work gets done and where the money leaks, pick the highest-value system, and build it with your team using it in real work. $10,000, credited to your first month if you continue fractional.
Step 2: Fractional.
Once the first system runs, we keep building. Skills, dashboards, write-backs, and training, in the order the Sprint set. $12,000 per month: a 90-day first engagement, then month to month with 30 days’ notice.
Handover.
Documentation, training, and admin access. Your team runs it. We stay available if you want us, but you are never locked in.
Fractional
An engineer on retainer.
For owners who want a forward deployed engineer working inside the business every month, building the next system while the last one runs.
$12,000 per month. A 90-day first engagement, then month to month with 30 days' notice.
Smaller team? Ask about Fractional Lite: $7,500 per month, lighter scope.
I take 4 fractional clients at a time.
What you own
Everything we build is yours.
- The code, the connectors, the skills, and the dashboards.
- The accounts they run in, set up in your name.
- The documentation and the encoded procedures.
- No license fee. No per-seat charge from us. No black box.
Proof
What forward deployed looks like in an owner-led business.
Wholesale distributor.
Owner time recovered: 10 hours per week. Knowledge that lived in the owner’s head now runs as a system the team uses.
Growth investment firm.
Research brief in 5 minutes instead of a day. The analysts’ process was encoded once and now runs on demand.
Real estate investment firm.
Voice agent live in 2 weeks, after 3 months of internal attempts. The difference was diagnosis first, then build.
Client names shared on request. The full builds, with baselines and results, are in the case studies.
Questions
Is our data secure?
Systems are built in accounts you own and control. Connectors use the least access needed, read-only by default. Write-backs are added only when you approve them, with human sign-off where it matters. We follow your security and IT policies and are happy to work with your IT provider.
Who owns what you build?
You do. Code, connectors, skills, dashboards, and documentation. No license, no lock-in.
How do you price?
Most engagements start with the 30-Day Revenue Sprint: one working system live in your business in 30 days, for $10,000, credited to your first month if you continue fractional. Fractional forward deployed engineering is $12,000 per month: a 90-day first engagement, then month to month with 30 days' notice. Smaller team? Ask about Fractional Lite: $7,500 per month, lighter scope. I take 4 fractional clients at a time.
Do we need to be ready for AI?
No. Most clients are not, and that is fine. The 30-Day Revenue Sprint starts by finding what is ready, what is not, and what to fix first.
Which AI models and systems do you work with?
We build on the model that fits the job, including Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, and Grok, and connect it to the systems you already run: Sage 100, QuickBooks, SAP, Salesforce, HubSpot, GoHighLevel, Notion, and industry systems with an API or a database we can reach.
Will our team actually use it?
That is the point of the embed. We build with the people who do the work, and we train them on it. People, then process, then tech.
Start with a fit call.
One conversation tells us both whether there is a build worth doing.