Partnership model
Every engagement starts with a project. Some grow into partnerships.
A staged pathway that begins with a fixed-scope piece of work and, where both sides want it, can grow into a longer-term arrangement.
The gap
Most organisations need something in between.
Most organisations know AI is a priority. Most struggle with execution, and the gap is not technical. It is that both of the obvious options are wrong.
Build an internal AI team
- Expensive
- Slow to stand up
- Difficult to recruit for
Use a traditional development agency
- Transactional
- Little knowledge transfer
- Misaligned incentives
- Limited strategic input
The pathway
Three stages. Most clients stop where it suits them.
01
Consulting
Strategic advisory and embedded delivery. Assess the opportunity, then build and prove the first solution quickly. You get an opportunity assessment, an embedded delivery team, and a working product.
02
Capability transfer
Training, mentoring and documentation, so your internal team can run what exists and build what comes next. You get an internal AI operating model rather than a permanent dependency.
03
Partnership
Where both sides want it and the commercial opportunity supports it, the engagement can grow into a longer-term arrangement: revenue share, equity, or joint go-to-market. Plenty of good relationships simply stay at stage one, and that is fine.
Why it works
A repeatable engine, not a one-off project.
- A lower-risk entry point for you, and a profitable engagement for us from day one - so neither party is betting the business on stage one.
- A natural, earned path into a deeper relationship, rather than a partnership pitch before we have proved anything.
- Capability transfer that genuinely reduces your dependency on us. If you still need us for everything after two years, we did it wrong.
- Every client benefits from the lessons learned with the one before them.
FAQ
Common questions
Why would you take revenue share or equity instead of a fee?
It is usually the preference of the client rather than ours. Some would rather not spend the full build cost up front, so we take revenue share or equity for part of the fee instead. The side effect is that we carry some of the risk, which we think is healthy. It is never a requirement for us to take the work on.
How does an engagement become a partnership?
Engagements typically start as a fixed-scope consulting or build project. If the work goes well and both sides want to go further, the arrangement can change. Most engagements simply run their course as commissioned work.
Are you selective about partnerships?
Yes, because we are taking on commercial risk rather than invoicing for time, so it only makes sense where we believe in the market. This has no bearing on whether we will take on a straightforward commissioned build, which is always available.
Start at stage one. Stay there if it suits you.
Every partnership we have began as a piece of scoped, paid work that went well, and plenty of good engagements never go further than that.