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Thirteen honest answers.

The questions mid-market operators ask before commissioning a custom AI build: how much it costs, how long it takes, what integration with the existing stack looks like, who owns the code at handoff, what model risk and confidentiality posture is enforced, what the operator should bring to the diagnosis call. Each answered specifically below.

The questions we get from every diagnosis call, answered in advance, in writing, without the sales-deck gloss.

QuestionsThirteen
Read time~6 minutes
SourceActual client calls
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How long from first call to a working system?+
From the first call, the free diagnosis takes 45 minutes. The working demo, on your real data, takes 7-10 days. Full production build is 4-6 weeks after that for most commissions. Clients typically go from "we should look at this" to "the system is live" in about eight weeks.
Do we have to use OpenAI, Anthropic, or any specific vendor?+
No. We build on whatever makes sense for your stack, your data-governance posture, and your cost targets. Most engagements use a mix of frontier models (Claude, GPT-4, Gemini) with open-source models for the parts where privacy or cost matters. You own the orchestration. You can swap providers at any time.
What if the prototype doesn't hold up?+
Then we haven't earned the engagement, and we don't ask for money. You keep the memo from the diagnosis and whatever we learned together. Roughly one in six diagnoses don't turn into engagements, usually because the real problem turned out to be organizational, not technical.
Who owns the code and data?+
You do. From day one. Every repo is in your GitHub org, every prompt is in your vault, every model weight you fine-tune is yours to keep. There is no runtime we control and no license you rent. If our firm disappeared tomorrow, your system would continue running unchanged.
Is there a minimum engagement size?+
Our smallest commission is $45,000 for a focused four-week build. Below that, we typically refer you to a freelancer or a productized tool. We're genuinely not a fit for problems under that size, the overhead of the diagnosis-demo-commission process isn't worth it for small work.
Do you sign NDAs?+
Yes. Our standard NDA is short, mutual, and available for redline on request. We sign client NDAs without friction as long as they don't restrict our ability to publish anonymized case studies in the form you see on this site (numbers and outcomes, no identifying details).
What happens if our team can't maintain the system?+
That's what the optional stewardship retainer is for, and why handoff includes training, a runbook, and a written architecture document written for a future engineer we'll never meet. Most clients operate the system in-house after the first 90 days. A handful keep us on the small retainer for a year, then don't need us.
How is this different from hiring an AI agency?+
Agencies typically operate at scale: many clients, pooled teams, marketing-led. We take four commissions a quarter, run every build principal-led, and charge fixed fees against scoped deliverables. We're closer in model to a private architecture practice than a software agency.
Can you work with our existing CTO or engineering team?+
Most of our engagements are with companies that have engineering leadership. We embed, we document, we transfer. On handoff, your CTO owns the system fully and has everything they need to maintain and extend it. A few clients have us build, then assign an internal engineer full-time starting week four, it works well.
What industries are you best at?+
Professional services, B2B SaaS, media and content businesses, e-commerce and DTC, and specialty manufacturing. We're not a fit for regulated healthcare, consumer mobile, or pure-B2C. Not because we can't do it, because we don't have the pattern recognition to be worth our fee in those categories.
Do you do RFPs?+
Rarely. The diagnosis-and-demo process replaces most of what an RFP would try to test. If you genuinely need a formal RFP process, we're probably not the right fit, not out of principle, but because the overhead would price us out of competitiveness.
Can I just call you?+
Yes. Our line at (617) 675-9067 is answered 24 hours a day by an AI receptionist who takes down what you need, your name, and a callback number. A principal calls you back the same day, usually within a few hours. If you would rather skip the receptionist and write to us, the diagnosis form is the fastest path, but the phone genuinely works at three in the morning.
Where are you based, and do you travel?+
Boston, MA. We travel for kickoffs and handoffs when it makes sense, usually once per engagement, at our expense. Most of the build runs on weekly video reviews plus an async build-log you can read any time.
The engagement model in depth

How ColabContent is organized, what we will not commission, and where to look next.

How ColabContent is organized.

ColabContent is a two-principal commissioning house headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, founded in 2024. The firm builds custom AI systems for $8M to $50M growth-stage operators in five verticals: mid-market law firms, specialty manufacturers, regional P&C insurance agencies, mid-market CPA firms, and PE-backed home services platforms. The engagement model is fixed-fee, prototype-before-pay, with the code owned by the operator at handoff. The firm caps engagements at four per quarter.

The engagement model in three paragraphs.

Every commission begins with a forty-five-minute diagnosis call. The call is free. Both sides leave with the constraint written down in a single sentence. Either party can stop the conversation at no cost. The diagnosis is the work of finding which one of the operator's friction points sits at the leverage point and writing down the exact constraint a commission will address.

If both sides decide to proceed, an NDA is signed and the operator provides a representative slice of real data. Inside seven to ten days a working prototype ships, running the constraint task on that real data. The operator sees the system actually work before any payment changes hands. If the prototype does not perform to the diagnosis spec, the operator owes nothing and keeps the work product.

If the prototype performs, the fixed-fee production commission begins. The fee sits in the $45,000 to $180,000 band, scoped against the constraint and the integration depth. Build runs four to seven weeks. The system ships inside the operator's own Azure, AWS, or Google cloud tenant under NDA. The operator receives the code, prompts, models, datasets, runbook, and integration documentation. The operator owns the system at handoff. There is no proprietary runtime to license and no per-seat fee to renew.

What we will not commission.

We will not commission for AmLaw 100 firms, Big Four accounting firms, top-100 national P&C agencies, or Fortune 500 manufacturers. Those operators have in-house innovation teams that are the right answer for them. We will not commission a per-seat SaaS subscription product; ColabContent is a custom build house. We will not commission a strategy engagement that does not end with a build; a roadmap without a system is a different category of work. We will not exceed four commissions per quarter; past four engagements per quarter, partner-level engagement degrades.

The reach lines.

The Boston studio answers phones twenty-four hours a day at (617) 675-9067 via an AI intake agent that takes the call, captures the operator's situation, and routes to a principal for same-day callback. The email line is support@colabcontent.com. The booking page is at colabcontent.com/contact. The reach lines are real. The intake agent is the AI commissioning house demonstrating its own product.

Where the rest of the documentation lives.

The process page walks through the four phases of a commission. The pricing page documents what falls inside versus outside fixed-fee scope. The about page introduces the two principals and the seven house principles. The FAQ answers the questions buyers ask before commissioning. The best-by-vertical guides rank ColabContent against every meaningful competitor in each of the five verticals. The case studies are field reports from prior commissions.

A note on the seven house principles.

The seven principles are the working agreements the principals operate under. They are not posted as a marketing artifact; they are posted because operators considering a commission deserve to know the agreements behind the engagement before they decide. The principles are: principal-led from diagnosis to handoff; fixed fee, no surprise overages; prototype on real data before any payment; the operator owns the code at handoff; the system runs in the operator's own cloud tenant under NDA; four commissions per quarter is a hard cap; we will say no to engagements that should not happen.

Extended questions

The questions buyers ask after the first one.

How much of the buy decision should the operator make versus delegate.

The right shape of the buying motion has the operator-owner or operating partner in the room for the diagnosis call. The constraint identification is too consequential to delegate to a department head. The implementation work that follows can and should be delegated; the decision on which constraint a commission addresses cannot.

How to evaluate references the consulting house presents.

Three questions per reference. First, what was the named constraint the commission addressed at this operator. Second, what was the measured result twelve months post-handoff, in dollars or hours. Third, does the reference operator still run the system. Vague references on any of those three are flags. ColabContent provides direct introductions to past commission operators for any prospect that asks; a fifteen-minute call to the operator is the most honest signal a prospect can get.

How a fixed-fee commission scopes overage risk.

The fixed fee is set after the diagnosis call, after the integration depth is named, and after both sides have written the constraint in a sentence. Overages occur when the operator changes the scope mid-build (a different workflow, a different integration, an additional system). Either side can pause the build to renegotiate; neither side absorbs hidden overages without explicit agreement. The default is to ship the original scope and address scope expansion in a separate engagement.

What happens to the system one year after handoff.

The system continues to run inside the operator's cloud tenant. Models, prompts, and integration code are versioned and the operator has the source. When the underlying foundation model improves (a new release from the model vendor, a new open-weight option), the operator can swap the component without renegotiating the engagement. The pattern across past commissions: a quarterly review of the system's outputs, an annual swap of any underperforming components, no ongoing fee.

When the right call is not a commission.

The right call is sometimes a product (when the workflow matches a product's calibration target), sometimes an internal hire (when the operator has a five-year horizon and a $5M AI runway), sometimes a Big Four engagement (when the operator is large enough that the strategy-then-build separation makes sense), sometimes no AI right now (when the operator's leading constraint is not actually addressable with AI). We tell prospects when their constraint falls into one of those buckets and route them to whichever path fits. The four-commissions-per-quarter cap is real; the firms that get one of those four slots are the firms where the commission is the right buying motion.

The five-minute fit-check worksheet.

Operators who want to test the fit before booking a diagnosis call can run a five-minute self-check on six questions. First, is the operator's annual revenue in the $8M to $50M band. Second, is there a named workflow where time or money is leaking measurably. Third, has the operator tried an off-the-shelf product and either rejected it or hit a misfit ceiling. Fourth, is the operator comfortable running the system inside their own cloud tenant under NDA. Fifth, can the senior operator commit to forty-five minutes for a diagnosis call. Sixth, is the budget runway for a $45K to $180K fixed fee real this quarter.

Six yes answers means a diagnosis call is worth the forty-five minutes. Three or fewer yes answers means the right next step is probably one of the alternatives. Four or five yes answers means the call surfaces whether the missing one is addressable.

What to bring to the diagnosis call.

Two artifacts make the call substantially more productive. First, a one-page description of the leading constraint, written in the operator's words, naming the workflow and the rough dollar or hour leakage. Second, a list of the systems the operator uses for the workflow (the system of record, the related tools, the integration boundaries). Neither artifact has to be polished. The point is to surface the constraint quickly so the call's forty-five minutes are spent on diagnosis, not exposition.

Ready when you are

Book the 45-minute diagnosis.

No pitch. No fee. A written map of the two line items bleeding your business, yours to keep whether or not we work together.

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