Three AI consulting engagement models: a two-week sprint, a six-to-twelve-week build, an ongoing advisor. Fixed scopes, dated deliverables, clean exits.
Three Engagement Models, One Rule
Blankpage offers three AI consulting engagement models: a Diagnostic Sprint of two weeks, a Design & Build of six to twelve weeks, and an ongoing Strategic Advisor arrangement. Every engagement has a fixed scope, a written price before work begins, and full IP transfer at exit.
The rule: no engagement exists to create the next engagement. Each one ends with you owning more and needing us less.
Diagnostic Sprint — Two Weeks
The entry point for almost every client. Ten working days inside your code, data, and team, ending in evidence: a systems map, a findings memo, a prototype where one is warranted, and a build/no-build recommendation with a fixed price attached.
It fits three situations: you suspect AI can solve a specific problem, you inherited a system nobody trusts, or you need an independent read before committing budget. When the question is whether a model can do X on your data, the sprint runs as an AI proof of concept — same clock, working demo at the end.
If the honest recommendation is no-build, you get that in writing, with reasons. We count a documented no-build as a result, not a failure.
Design & Build — Six to Twelve Weeks
For scoped systems: a private LLM, an agent workflow, a data pipeline, a security hardening program. Fixed scope from sprint findings, acceptance criteria in writing, weekly demos of running software — never status decks.
You staff one owner plus the engineers who will inherit the system; we build with them, not around them. The engagement ends in Transfer & Exit: repositories, weights, runbooks, training. The format is identical across all eight disciplines.
Strategic Advisor — Ongoing
A fractional advisory retainer for organizations that shipped and want the thinking to stay honest: monthly working sessions, quarterly architecture and risk reviews, an operator on call for consequential decisions.
It is deliberately the smallest tier. Advisor exists to protect systems you own, not to rent you a dependency. Thirty days' notice ends it, no penalty.
No Pricing Theater
Prices are fixed and written before work begins. No contact-us-for-pricing choreography, no hourly meters, no change orders without a new signed scope. If the scope was wrong, that is our estimating error, not your invoice.
Every contract carries the same exit: full IP transfer, complete documentation, no lock-in. More objections are answered plainly in the FAQ.
Start
Write three sentences about the problem and talk to an operator. We answer within one business day and tell you which of the three models fits — or that none does.
Frequently asked questions
- What happens in a two-week Diagnostic Sprint, day by day?
- Days 1-2: access, code and data read, operator interviews. Days 3-5: systems map and the riskiest assumption named. Days 6-8: prototype or test harness against real data. Days 9-10: findings memo and a build/no-build recommendation with a fixed price. Every artifact transfers to you regardless of what you decide next.
- Can we skip the Diagnostic Sprint and go straight to Design & Build?
- Sometimes. If the problem is already scoped with evidence — a signed problem statement, known data, clear acceptance criteria — we quote a build directly. If the scoping is a guess, we will not build on it. The sprint exists to stop twelve-week mistakes from being purchased in week zero.
- What does a clean exit actually include?
- Source code, model weights, fine-tuning data, prompt libraries, infrastructure definitions, runbooks, the decision log, and a training handoff to your engineers. No license-back clauses, no residual fees, no dependency on Blankpage tooling. The contract names it full IP transfer, and it applies to every engagement model.
- Is the Strategic Advisor an open-ended retainer?
- No. It has a defined cadence — monthly working sessions, quarterly reviews — and a thirty-day exit either side can trigger. Open-ended retainers by default are exactly the pricing theater we refuse. Advisor is scoped attention with a calendar, not a standing invoice.