Consulting
Three ways to work together, with the prices attached.
Most AI consulting quotes arrive after two discovery calls and a scoping document. Mine are on this page. You can work out whether this is worth a conversation before you have one.
Currently taking on new work. A Reality Check can usually start within two weeks.
Twelve years across
- T-Systems
- Deloitte
- ExxonMobil
- Novo Nordisk
- AltaML
- Cence
Where you probably are
One of these is usually true when someone calls me.
“We have twelve AI ideas and budget for two.”
Every one has a sponsor. None of them are comparable, because each was sized by the person who proposed it. You need a way to rank them that survives the meeting.
“The board wants an AI strategy by the quarter.”
What exists is a list of features with AI written next to them. You need something defensible, and you need to know which items on that list won't survive scrutiny.
“We built it and nobody uses it.”
The model works. Adoption didn't happen, because reaching it meant leaving the tools people already work in. It was run as a technology project when it needed to change how the work happens. That's a product problem, not a model problem.
“We can't tell whether the pilot worked.”
It shipped, people used it for a while, and nobody agreed what success looked like before it started. With no baseline there's nothing to compare against, so it neither succeeds nor dies — it just sits there consuming attention.
“Nobody here will say this isn't AI.”
Someone suspects a project is a rules engine with a new label. Saying so costs them something internally. An outsider can say it for free.
The offers
Start with the diagnostic. The rest follows from what it finds.
Most of this budget is already being spent badly. MIT's Project NANDA found roughly 95% of enterprise AI pilots produce no measurable effect on profit and loss — usually not because the technology failed, but because nobody decided up front what success looked like or who owned it.
Start here
AI Reality Check
You end the week knowing which AI idea is worth a quarter, which one to kill, and how you'll know either way.
€1,500Startup · up to ten use cases
€3,500Enterprise & mid-market · up to twenty
For teams with more AI ideas than budget, and no defensible way to rank them.
- Every idea scored against the same six questions
- A sequenced build order you can defend to a board
- A kill list, with the reasoning beside each call
- A baseline per surviving use case — the number today, and what success would have to beat
- Where each use case sits under the EU AI Act
40 use cases assessed this way inside a regulated European enterprise — roughly 1 in 10 wasn't AI →
Then, if it's real
AI Build
The thing gets built, and survives security and governance review instead of stalling in it.
€850–1,100per day, or €6,000–12,000 fixed scope
For teams who know what they're building and need it shipped by someone who has done it inside a regulated environment.
- I make the product calls, not just the delivery ones
- Built inside your tooling and access controls
- Documented so your team owns it after I leave
A fintech platform built this way reached 24,000 users in under six months →
Or, ongoing
Fractional AI Product Lead
AI stops being everyone's side project and becomes one person's responsibility.
€6,000–8,000per month · about a day a week
For organisations running AI across several teams with nobody senior owning the whole thing.
- I own the roadmap and the trade-offs on it
- In your standups, your reviews, your governance forums
- Monthly rolling — no minimum term
The same judgement turned a stalled AI classifier into $1M+ of follow-on work →
In their words
What people say once they've worked with me.
I've worked with a lot of product people in AI and R&D. Fanni is the one who asks whether the thing should be built at all. She'd rather kill a bad idea in week one than let it eat a quarter.
She delivered more than we asked for, and understood the problem better than the brief did.
Working with Fanni was straightforward in a way large-organisation projects usually aren't. She asked the awkward questions early, which meant we didn't discover them late.
Several projects, several years, consistently good judgment. I send people to Fanni when they need someone who'll tell them the truth about what they're building.
Which one
Almost everyone starts in the same place.
Start with the Reality Check if
You have more AI ideas than you can fund, a board asking what the strategy is, or a suspicion that one of the things on the roadmap isn't really AI. One week and a fixed price tells you which, before you commit a quarter of engineering time.
It's also the cheapest way to find out whether we work well together.
Skip straight to Build or Fractional if
You already know what you're building and why, and the gap is capacity or senior product ownership rather than direction. If you can already tell me who uses the thing and what breaks if it doesn't exist, you don't need the diagnostic.
I'll tell you on the intro call if I think you're buying the wrong one.
Terms
What this is, and what it isn't.
- No vendor pitch
- I sell no platform and take no referral fees. If the answer is a tool you already own, that's the answer.
- Not legal advice
- I feed the product and technical assessment into your governance and legal process. I say so in the room.
- No juniors
- You work with me directly. There's no team to be handed to after the kickoff call.
- Contracting
- NDA before the first call. Invoicing from an EU entity, reverse-charge VAT where applicable.
Getting started
Four steps, and you can stop at any of them.
A 20-minute call
You describe the problem. I tell you which of the three fits, or that none of them do. Happy to sign an NDA before this call rather than after. No charge, and no follow-up sequence if you decide against it.
A written scope with the price on it
Short, specific, and fixed rather than an estimate that drifts. It says what you get, when, and what it costs. If the scope is wrong, we change it before anyone signs anything.
Intake, then the working session
A questionnaire you fill in at your own pace, then one call of about ninety minutes with the people who know the use cases. That's the whole demand on your team's time for a Reality Check.
Delivery, and a live readout
You get the written work, and I present it to the people who have to act on it and answer for every call in it. What happens next is your decision — plenty of teams take the report and build it themselves.
Questions
The ones that come up before signing.
How much does AI consulting cost?
A one-week AI Reality Check is €1,500 for startups and €3,500 for enterprise and mid-market. Build work is €850–1,100 per day, or €6,000–12,000 fixed scope once the shape is known. A fractional AI product lead is €6,000–8,000 per month for about a day a week. Every price on this page is the price — there is no quote stage.
Which one should I start with?
Almost everyone starts with the Reality Check. One week, fixed price, and it tells you what's worth building before you commit a quarter of engineering time. It's also the cheapest way to find out whether we work well together. Skip it only if you already know what you're building and why — then the gap is capacity or ownership, and Build or Fractional is the right door.
What actually happens during the Reality Check week?
You fill in an intake questionnaire listing the use cases. We have one working call of about ninety minutes. At the enterprise tier I also interview stakeholders. Then I score everything, write the reasoning beside each score, and deliver a written report plus a live readout. You are not managing me during that week.
What if the assessment says build nothing?
That's a legitimate outcome and often the most valuable one. In a forty-use-case assessment inside a regulated European enterprise, roughly one in ten proposals turned out not to be AI at all. Finding that out in week one costs a week rather than a quarter. I'd rather tell you that than take the build fee.
What happens after the Reality Check — am I committed to anything?
No. It's a fixed-scope engagement that ends with a deliverable. Plenty of teams take the report and build it themselves, which is a fine outcome. If you want me to build it, we scope that separately once we both know what's real.
Can you work alongside our existing agency or vendors?
Yes, and it's common. I sell no platform and take no referral fees, so I have no reason to recommend replacing a tool that works. If the answer to a use case is something you already own, that's the answer.
Do you sign NDAs and work with procurement?
Yes. NDA before the first call as standard. Invoicing from an EU entity with reverse-charge VAT where applicable. I've worked inside enterprise security review and works council processes, so the questions are familiar.
What if you get hit by a bus?
Every engagement produces written artifacts — the scoring, the reasoning and the build order. If I disappear, your team carries on from the documents. For longer engagements I name a backup before we start.
Where are you, and what timezones do you work in?
Budapest, working remotely across the EU, UK and worldwide. Central European Time, with real overlap for UK and US East Coast. On site where it matters.
Your turn
Bring me the list nobody's willing to question.
Twenty minutes, no pitch. If I'm not the right person, I'll say so and point you somewhere better.