How to buy AI without getting burned
Most AI money is lost to the wrong vendor rather than the wrong idea. The pricing traps, the diligence questions, and the failure patterns worth recognising before you sign anything.
Everything we've written on this
Vendor Roulette: why switching AI vendors keeps you at square one
Third vendor, same starting line. Why each switch resets you to zero, what the previous engagement was supposed to leave behind, and how to make this one the last.
ReadSolution looking for a problem: how to spot a doomed AI project
Five tells that show up in the first meeting, long before any code. Each one is a question you can ask out loud — and the answers tell you whether to fund it, reshape it, or kill it.
ReadIn-house, freelancer, or agency: who should build your AI agent
You've decided to build custom. The remaining question is who staffs it — and the honest answer depends on two things: whether AI is core to your product, and who's operating it in year two.
ReadBait-and-Bill: the AI pricing trap to watch for
The headline number isn't the price — it's the entry fee for an open-ended meter. How the trap is built, the five contract clauses that give it away, and what to ask for instead.
ReadNine questions to ask any AI agency before you sign
The questions that separate a firm that ships from one that demos — what each is really testing, and what a bad answer sounds like. Ask ours the same ones.
ReadSoftware factory, not software agency: how the mid-market ships in the AI era
A software factory industrializes software production — a quality-gated line of senior engineers and AI agents, not bespoke projects. Here's what that means, how it differs from an AI factory and a dev agency, and why the mid-market should hire one.
ReadBuild vs. buy AI agents: a decision guide for operators
Should you build an AI agent in-house or buy a finished one? The honest framework — with the data on why most internal builds stall, and where each path actually wins.
ReadThe forward-deployed model, explained for buyers
What it actually means to embed engineers in your operation — and why it beats a deck-and-walk-away consultancy for the 20–500 person company.
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Put a forward-deployed team on it.
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