Pricing AI projects: outcomes vs. hours
Why we quote AI engagements on outcomes — not hours — and how that aligns incentives with clients.
When we quote AI engagements, we quote outcomes — 'launch this automation', 'ship this agent' — not hours.
It's harder for us. It pushes risk onto our side and forces us to scope tightly upfront. But it also aligns incentives with the client. We make money when the project ships, not when we bill hours.
It also forces honesty. Outcome pricing means we can't take projects we don't know how to ship — because we'd lose money. Hourly billing covers a lot of fuzziness; outcome billing doesn't.
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