Engagement

Operational in 30 days.

The number is on the calendar because the sequence is short on purpose. Nothing is billed before there is a written scope, and nothing is called finished until it is running with the people who will keep running it.

The thirty days

What happens, and what it costs

Four phases. The first two are free and reversible — you can walk away from this process on day five having lost nothing but a couple of conversations, and with a written scope you are free to take elsewhere.

Day 0 No charge

The conversation

You describe the business, the constraint, and what has already been tried. Confidentiality applies from the start of this conversation, not from a signature — say what you actually need to say. Most of this call is spent on what has already failed, because that is the part that shapes everything after it.

You get
A same-day read on whether this is our work, and if it is not, who we would send you to.
We need
An hour, and someone in the room who knows what is actually happening on the ground.
Days 1–5 No charge

Scope, quote, timeline

The work gets written down: what will be delivered, who will deliver it by name, what it costs, and the date it is done. Where a site or a network is involved, this is also when the constraints get measured rather than assumed — available power, water, footprint, existing architecture. If the honest answer is that thirty days is the wrong shape for this problem, that is where you hear it, with what the right shape would be.

You get
A written scope with named owners, a fixed price, and a delivery date. Yours to keep either way.
We need
Access to the constraint — the site, the network, the numbers — and one decision-maker who can say yes.
Days 6–29 Per scope

The build

The work runs against the written scope with a checkpoint every week — short, specific, and with whatever exists so far actually shown rather than described. Changes are re-scoped in writing rather than absorbed quietly, because absorbed changes are what turn a thirty-day commitment into a six-month one.

You get
A weekly checkpoint against the scope, and a direct line to the person doing the work.
We need
Your named counterpart available for those checkpoints, and decisions inside a week.
Day 30 Included

Running, and handed over

Not a deck and not a pilot plan — the thing operating, with the people who will keep operating it trained on it. Handover includes the documentation, the credentials, and the honest list of what we would do next if it were ours. After that the line stays open: no retainer required, and no retainer that outlives its usefulness.

You get
The working system, documentation, trained operators, and a written list of what comes next.
We need
The people who will own it, in the room for the last week rather than after it.

Three shapes of engagement

Pick one at day five

The thirty days above is the delivery clock. What sits around it depends on which of these the work actually is — and that is decided at the scope stage, in writing, not assumed at the first call.

Fixed-scope project

Most common

One defined outcome, one price, one date. A posture assessment, a site feasibility study, an MVP, a station location review.

  • Priced and dated before it starts
  • Weekly checkpoints against the scope
  • Ends on delivery, not on a renewal date

Advisory

For an operation already running

A standing line to someone who has solved this shape of problem and has no product to protect. Reviewed on a set cadence rather than rolling indefinitely.

  • Technology selection and roadmap
  • Second opinion on vendor proposals
  • Cancellable at any review point

Venture build

For a shift with no company around it yet

The longest of the three and the only one that does not end at handover: MVP, market exposure, team, and where it holds, the entity itself.

  • MVP in front of a real buyer first
  • Branding and market exposure
  • Team assembled to operate it

Before you call

The questions that come up every time
Is the first conversation really free?
Yes, and so is the scope that follows it. The first thing you are asked to pay for is the build. If the scope is not worth commissioning, you keep it anyway.
What if thirty days is not realistic for our problem?
Then you hear that on day five rather than on day forty. Multi-phase infrastructure runs longer than a month — what the thirty days buys in that case is a first phase that is genuinely operating, not a plan for one.
Who owns what gets built?
It is written into the scope before work starts rather than assumed. For a fixed-scope project, what is built for you is yours. For a venture build, ownership is part of what gets negotiated at the scope stage, in writing.
We already have a vendor for this. Is there a conflict?
Not usually. A second opinion on an incumbent's proposal is one of the more common advisory engagements, and it is easier to give honestly than a replacement pitch.
Do you work outside California?
Yes. The security and commercialization work travels without difficulty. Site work — power, water, stations — depends on the location's own constraints, and that is exactly what the feasibility stage is for.
What happens after handover?
The line stays open at no cost. If you want a standing relationship it becomes an advisory engagement with a review date on it — a deliberate decision, not a default.
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