Question 1

How does an engagement start?

Accepted Answer

Every engagement begins with a complimentary 30-minute consultation with a senior partner. From there, we propose an engagement model and scope; once signed, work typically begins within two weeks.

Question 2

How long is a typical engagement?

Accepted Answer

Workshops: 2–4 weeks. Sprints: 90 days. Retainers and fractional: 6+ months. Enterprise MSAs: 12–36 months.

Question 3

Do you work remotely or on-site?

Accepted Answer

Both. Most engagements run hybrid — remote weekly cadence with monthly on-site sessions. Pure on-site or pure remote available.

Question 4

Do you sign NDAs?

Accepted Answer

Yes — by default. We can also sign your NDA before our first conversation.

Question 5

Who actually does the work?

Accepted Answer

A senior partner leads scope to delivery. Sprint and enterprise engagements include vetted senior associates and engineers reporting to the partner.

Question 6

Do you do project management?

Accepted Answer

Yes — every engagement includes program management. We coordinate with your internal teams and run a weekly executive review cadence.

Question 7

Is pricing fixed or hourly?

Accepted Answer

Outcome-based for sprints and workshops. Monthly retainer for advisory and fractional. We do not bill by the hour.

Question 8

What's the typical starting price?

Accepted Answer

Workshops from $30K. Sprints from $80K. Advisory retainers from $8K/month. See the full bands on the pricing page.

Question 9

Are payments split?

Accepted Answer

Typical sprint terms: 50% at scope sign-off, 50% at milestone. Retainers monthly in advance. Enterprise MSAs follow your standard payment terms.

Question 10

Do you accept equity or revenue share?

Accepted Answer

Occasionally — for early-stage operators where strategic fit is strong. Reach out to discuss.

Question 11

Are there discounts?

Accepted Answer

No discounting practice — our pricing is structured to be sustainable so that we remain senior throughout the engagement. We do offer milestone-linked outcome bonuses.

Question 12

Are you a strategy firm or an AI implementation firm?

Accepted Answer

Both. Most AI engagements move from strategy directly into shipped systems — retrieval, agents, copilots, automations — built on your stack.

Question 13

Which AI models do you use?

Accepted Answer

Model-agnostic. We select from Claude (Anthropic), GPT (OpenAI), open-weight models, and your private fine-tunes based on the use case.

Question 14

Do you work with sensitive data?

Accepted Answer

Yes — including PHI, financial, and government data. All engagements run under appropriate controls (PIPEDA, PHIPA, OSC, etc.).

Question 15

Will my data train someone's model?

Accepted Answer

No. We use enterprise-grade endpoints with zero-retention policies and run private deployments where required.

Question 16

How do you measure AI engagement success?

Accepted Answer

Outcome contract at scope. Typical metrics: time saved, cost reduced, conversion lift, NPS uplift, reliability. Production AI ships with monitoring and evals from day one.

Question 17

Are you compliant with Canadian privacy law?

Accepted Answer

Yes — PIPEDA-compliant by default. PHIPA-aware for healthcare. We operate under appropriate frameworks for regulated industries.

Question 18

Do you have insurance?

Accepted Answer

Yes — full commercial general liability, professional liability (E&O), and cyber insurance. Certificates available on request.

Question 19

Can you sign our security questionnaire / DPA?

Accepted Answer

Yes — we maintain answers to standard CAIQ, SIG, and SOC-equivalent questionnaires. DPAs reviewed and signed quickly.

Question 20

Where is data stored?

Accepted Answer

Canadian residency available. Default cloud providers: AWS Canada Central, Google Cloud Northamerica-Northeast1. On-prem and private cloud also supported.

Question 21

Background checks?

Accepted Answer

Every team member with client-data access passes a background check and signs an NDA.

Question 22

Where do you operate?

Accepted Answer

HQ in Vancouver, BC. Active engagements across all 12 provinces and territories of Canada, plus cross-border programs into the US.

Question 23

Do you work in French?

Accepted Answer

Yes — for Quebec and bilingual federal engagements. Native French-speaking team members available.

Question 24

Do you work outside Canada?

Accepted Answer

Yes — primarily for Canadian-owned operators with US, UK, or APAC operations.

Question 25

Do you have local presence in [city]?

Accepted Answer

Vancouver is the HQ. Toronto, Calgary, and Montreal are our largest active markets outside BC. Senior partners travel everywhere.

Question 26

Can you share references?

Accepted Answer

Yes — under NDA during the calibration call. We do not publish client logos by default.

Question 27

Why don't you publish case studies?

Accepted Answer

Most of our engagements are sensitive enough that anonymized case studies become unrecognizable. We share specific, identifiable references during the calibration call.

Question 28

Do you have testimonials?

Accepted Answer

Available on request. We do not publicly publish testimonials by default.

Question 29

How are you different from a Big Four firm?

Accepted Answer

Senior all the way down. No bait-and-switch to juniors. Strategy paired with engineering — we ship, not just advise.

Question 30

Who is your typical client?

Accepted Answer

CEOs, owners, COOs, and senior executives of $5M–$1B revenue companies across technology, real estate, construction, healthcare, finance, manufacturing, and government.

Question 31

Do you work with startups?

Accepted Answer

Yes — typically pre-seed through Series C, where the strategic fit warrants senior partner involvement.

Question 32

Do you work with non-profits?

Accepted Answer

Occasionally — for non-profits running material AI or transformation programs.

Question 33

Do you work with government?

Accepted Answer

Yes — federal and provincial. We maintain appropriate clearances and procurement vehicles.

Every question buyers ask, answered.

Engagement & process

Pricing & payment

AI consulting & implementation

Security & compliance

Geography & languages

References & credibility

Who you work with

Ask a senior partner directly.