Engagements
Productized entry points sized to the question. Pick the tier that matches your moment — every engagement is re-scoped against the Digital Twin we model in your Blueprint.
01 · The Gatekeeper
Every engagement begins here. The Blueprint is a fixed-fee architectural audit; the deliverable is yours regardless of whether you continue with us.
Bronze
Duration
1 week
Investment
From $7.5K
50% on signing · 50% on delivery
Focused diagnostic on a single operational domain — usually the one bleeding the most hours. We map the entropy points and deliver a scoped architecture brief.
Includes
Silver
Duration
2 weeks
Investment
From $15K
50% on signing · 50% on delivery
The standard engagement entry point. Whole-firm topology, full Digital Twin, and a phased implementation roadmap.
Includes
Gold
Duration
3 weeks
Investment
From $28K
40% on signing · 60% on delivery
For complex multi-entity firms. Adds executable architecture spec, vendor-comparison analysis, and a signed implementation plan ready to put in front of the board.
Includes
02 · The Heart
Implementation of the metasystem layer — the connective tissue that synchronizes a firm. Engagement scope follows directly from the Blueprint.
Bronze
Duration
4–6 weeks
Investment
From $48K
50% on signing · 50% on delivery
One critical integration done properly — typically the highest-volume manual handoff. Event-driven, instrumented, with documentation.
Includes
Silver
Duration
10–14 weeks
Investment
From $115K
30% on signing · Remainder paid monthly across engagement
The standard metasystem build. Three-to-five core integrations, full canonical entity model, and the workflow contracts that make the firm coherent.
Includes
Gold
Duration
16–20 weeks
Investment
Quoted on architecture
20% on signing · Remainder paid monthly across engagement + 12-month embedded governance
Whole-firm metasystem. Every load-bearing handoff, the agent-ready substrate, and the governance layer required to keep it compounding.
Includes
03 · The Wealth Layer
Securities-grade signal infrastructure. Engagement floors are higher because the cost of getting this wrong — bad fills, missed signal, stale data on an open — is higher.
Bronze
Duration
5–7 weeks
Investment
From $55K
50% on signing · 50% on delivery
Single high-value signal pipeline — sentiment on a defined corpus, signal extraction from one alternative data source, or a focused backtest harness.
Includes
Silver
Duration
12–16 weeks
Investment
From $135K
30% on signing · Remainder paid monthly across engagement
Multi-source signal ingestion, normalized data substrate, and the dashboards that turn raw signal into a daily working view for the desk.
Includes
Gold
Duration
18–24 weeks
Investment
Quoted on architecture
20% on signing · Remainder paid monthly across engagement + 12-month embedded governance
Full automated market intelligence infrastructure with predictive-model feed, risk monitoring, and the governance required to operate it under institutional review.
Includes
04 · The Retainer
The Architect kept on retainer. Engagement is monthly or quarterly — pick the cadence that matches the rate at which your business is evolving.
Bronze
Duration
Per quarter
Investment
From $9K / qtr
Billed quarterly in advance
Quarterly architectural review and tuning. Async support between reviews. Right-sized for stable systems on a slow-evolving operation.
Includes
Silver
Duration
Per month
Investment
From $7.5K / mo
Billed monthly in advance
Monthly cadence. On-call advisory for net-new builds, drift monitoring, and continuous integrity review of the data substrate.
Includes
Gold
Duration
Per month
Investment
From $22K / mo
Billed monthly in advance
Principal-level engagement. The Architect operates inside your firm with full ownership of metasystem integrity and compounding improvement.
Includes
At a Glance
| Practice | Tier | Duration | Investment |
|---|---|---|---|
Discovery & Architecture Blueprint | Single-Domain Audit Bronze | 1 week | From $7.5K |
Discovery & Architecture Blueprint | Full Blueprint Silver | 2 weeks | From $15K |
Discovery & Architecture Blueprint | Strategic Blueprint Gold | 3 weeks | From $28K |
Autonomous Operational Metasystems | Single-Channel Integration Bronze | 4–6 weeks | From $48K |
Autonomous Operational Metasystems | Cross-System Backbone Silver | 10–14 weeks | From $115K |
Autonomous Operational Metasystems | Full Metasystem Gold | 16–20 weeks | Quoted on architecture |
Quantitative Investment Infrastructure | Signal Probe Bronze | 5–7 weeks | From $55K |
Quantitative Investment Infrastructure | Intelligence Stack Silver | 12–16 weeks | From $135K |
Quantitative Investment Infrastructure | Institutional Substrate Gold | 18–24 weeks | Quoted on architecture |
Managed Systems Governance | Quarterly Review Bronze | Per quarter | From $9K / qtr |
Managed Systems Governance | Active Governance Silver | Per month | From $7.5K / mo |
Managed Systems Governance | Embedded Architect Gold | Per month | From $22K / mo |
Investment floors are directional. Real engagements are scoped post-Blueprint and tied to outcome value — typically 15–25% of first-year cost-savings or realized alpha.
FAQ
Because design errors compound. We have seen too many firms commit capital to a build phase before the architecture was sound — and pay for it for years. The Blueprint is the gatekeeper. The deliverable is yours regardless of whether you continue with us.
Each tier has a fixed-fee floor ("From $X"). Real engagements are scoped post-Blueprint and tied to outcome value — typically 15–25% of first-year cost-savings or realized alpha. We never bill hourly; an Architect doesn't sell labor.
Blueprint engagements are billed 50/50 — half on signing, half on delivery (40/60 for the Gold Strategic Blueprint). Build engagements scale to fit: smaller builds run 50/50, larger builds (Silver, Gold) take 30% on signing with the remainder paid monthly across the engagement. Gold builds include a 12-month embedded governance retainer in the contract — the Architect stays through year one. Standalone retainers are billed in advance on the chosen cadence. Invoices are issued via Stripe; ACH and card both work.
Huey Louis, Principal Systems Architect, leads every engagement personally. Specialist contractors join for component-specific builds (data engineering, devops, quantitative validation) when scope warrants. The Architect of record never changes.
Most don't, exactly. Pick the closest fit and tell us where you diverge during the Blueprint. The tiers are productized starting points, not boxes — every engagement is re-scoped against the Digital Twin we model in your audit.
Yes. The financial-data substrate is the gravitational center of the practice — but the same metasystem rigor applies to any operation where data integrity isn't optional (health insurance ops, capital-intensive media, agencies handling regulated workflows).
Engage
Most aren't, exactly — and that's fine. The Blueprint is the qualifying engagement. Book a 30-minute working session to scope which tier of which practice maps to your situation. The Architect reads every inquiry personally.
