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AI Consulting

A senior technical read on the AI decision in front of you.

Half a day to a few weeks, scoped to one specific question. A vendor second opinion, an architecture review, a board-prep working session. We come in, do the reading, work the problem with your team, and leave a written recommendation you can act on.

Schedule a free first callRequest a quote
Half-day to several weeks
Overview

Targeted consulting, sized for one question at a time.

AI Consulting is the smallest shape in the Advise family. It exists because some decisions do not need a multi-week strategy or a structured assessment, they need a senior set of eyes on a specific document, a specific build plan, or a specific question, this week. The clearer the question, the better this engagement performs.

Three shapes recur often enough to name them. A vendor second opinion, where we read a proposal alongside your team. An architecture review, where a senior engineer reads a system or a planned build. A board-prep working session, where we help you frame the technology story for a board meeting or strategic offsite. Other shapes turn up too; we scope them on the first call.

What you get

Three concrete outputs from every engagement.

The shape of the working session changes with the question. The three deliverables below do not.

01

A working session

Pre-read done, questions prepared, the right people in the room. We work the problem live rather than presenting at you. Notes captured on the spot and shared the same day.

02

Written recommendation

A short document, typically four to eight pages, naming the decision, our recommendation, the reasoning behind it, and the second-best option we considered and rejected.

03

A document you can forward

Written assuming a board member or investor might read it cold. Enough context to stand on its own, no internal shorthand, no slides that need a presenter to make sense.

When this fits

Four signs Consulting is the right shape.

You have a vendor proposal on the table

A vendor has sent a quote, a statement of work, or a pitch deck, and your team is not sure whether the numbers are reasonable or whether the technical claims hold up. A second opinion from someone with no stake in the deal is the cheapest insurance available on a six- or seven-figure decision.

A planned build needs a senior review

Your team has sketched an architecture or a build plan and you want a senior engineer to read it before the budget is committed. We look for the failure modes that show up in production, not the ones that show up in a design document, and write the review so junior engineers can act on it too.

A board meeting is coming up

You have a board meeting or strategic offsite in the next month and the AI section of the agenda is unclear. A board-prep working session helps you frame what to present, what to recommend, and what questions to expect, all written down so the prep does not live only in your head.

The question is clear, the answer is not

You can state the question in one sentence. You cannot yet state the answer in one sentence. That gap is what AI Consulting closes. If the question itself is fuzzy, an Assessment is usually a better starting point and we will say so on the first call.

Why us

What you get from Applied North on this offer.

A

No vendor incentives

No referral fees, no kickbacks, no reseller margins on any software we might name. The recommendation reflects what we think, not what pays. If the answer is “none of the vendors,” we say so.

B

Senior in the room

The engagement is led by a founder with technical depth and operating experience. You are not paying for a junior analyst to take notes while the partner dials in for the last fifteen minutes.

C

Comfortable saying no

A meaningful share of our consulting engagements end with “do not do this, or not yet.” That is the recommendation in writing. The honest answer is the only output we are trying to optimise for.

How it runs

Four steps from first call to written recommendation.

Whether the engagement is a single half-day or stretches across a few weeks, the shape is the same.

Free first call

A no-cost conversation to pin down the question. We learn who is in the room, what has already been written down, and what the time pressure looks like. By the end of the call we tell you the price and the delivery date.

Materials in advance

You send the vendor proposal, the architecture diagrams, the board pack, whatever is relevant. We read it before we arrive. The hours you pay for land on the actual decision, not on context-setting.

Working session

One or several working sessions, in person or remote, with the people who need to be in the room. We ask the questions that have not been asked yet and work the problem live. No deck theatre, no second sales pitch.

Written recommendation

Five to ten business days after the last session, a written recommendation lands in your inbox. Specific, dated, structured so you can forward it to your board, your team, or your investors without further translation.

Common questions

Frequently asked questions about AI Consulting.

What does a half-day consulting engagement actually cost?

Half-day sessions start in the low four figures and scale up from there based on materials volume and number of stakeholders. Multi-week engagements are quoted as a single fixed price after the first call. We name the number before any work begins and we do not change it mid-stream.

Can you read a vendor proposal we cannot share publicly?

Yes. We sign whatever NDA your legal team puts in front of us before any materials change hands. The written recommendation at the end is also covered by the NDA, we do not use client material as case studies without explicit, written permission.

We want you to negotiate the vendor contract for us. Can you?

No. We will give you a written read on whether the proposal is reasonable and what to push back on, but the negotiation itself stays with your team. Sitting on both sides of a vendor conversation creates conflicts we are not interested in carrying.

Will you recommend a specific vendor?

When we have a clear view, yes, by name, in writing. When we do not, we say that too. We take no referral fees and no reseller margins from any vendor we might name, so the recommendation reflects what we actually think rather than what pays.

Can the working session be remote?

Yes. Most are. We are based in the Windsor and Detroit area and travel for in-person sessions when the work warrants it, but a well-run remote session with the right people in the room is usually indistinguishable in outcome.

Have a specific question you want a senior read on?

Tell us what it is on the free first call. If AI Consulting is the right shape, we will scope it. If a different family or offer fits better, we will say so.

Schedule a free first call

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