Advisory

I focus on production AI architecture on AWS — voice and agentic systems on Bedrock, multi-tenant patterns for AI-native SaaS, inference cost and model selection, and the rest of the architecture decisions that compound for twelve months and start showing up on the bill or in incident reports when they go wrong. Most engagements are with pre-seed to Series A founders who want senior judgment on these decisions before the cost of being wrong gets large. Engagements range from a 1-hour expert consult through embedded advisory retainers, depending on what you need.

The work I do for clients is the same work I’m doing every day at Allset. Production AI on AWS Bedrock, multi-tenant SaaS, voice and agentic systems on top. The patterns I recommend are patterns I’m using in production right now.

How I work

Most engagements begin with a written technical review. I look at the architecture, the AWS bill, the AI integration patterns, the hiring plan, and the technical decisions in front of the team. The output is a written assessment and a 90-day roadmap. Some engagements end there; many continue as an ongoing advisory relationship.

Ongoing engagements range from advisor-on-call cadence (weekly strategy calls, async access, monthly architecture review) to embedded advisory work (15+ hours per week, owning the AI roadmap, running hiring loops, board-level technical communication). The shape depends on what the founder actually needs.

I also take on bounded build engagements with fixed scope and a fixed timeline, where I write code alongside the team to ship a specific system. These are rare but useful when the right problem shows up.

For investors, I take on pre-investment technical due diligence projects. Code review, architecture assessment, team interviews, written memo. Two-week turnaround.

How this is different

I work with founders the way investors actually want their portfolio worked with — bounded scope, written deliverables, cash-only, no long-term retainers without proven value. The work that actually ships, not the kind board members get told to avoid.

Every engagement is a specific thing with a specific outcome. An architecture audit with a written report. A 90-day roadmap. A build sprint that ends with code in production. A due diligence memo delivered before the round closes. Open-ended retainers are available, but typically only after you’ve seen the work and decided you want more of it.

What I look for in an engagement

I take on engagements where I can add unusual value, usually AI-native products, AWS-heavy infrastructure, or teams making decisions that will compound over the next twelve months. I work best with founders who want to be challenged on technical decisions, not validated.

I don’t take equity-only engagements, and I don’t take equity at all. I’m Co-founder and CTO at Allset, and keeping client work cash-only avoids any conflict-of-interest exposure. I don’t work with companies whose business I don’t understand. I don’t take more than three concurrent engagements. Past that, quality drops.

Engagement terms

Every engagement starts with us agreeing on the goal and what success looks like. I’ll tell you how long I think the work will take.

The standard contract is an MSA and a per-engagement SOW. Retainers are month-to-month, 30 days written notice to cancel. Cash-only, no equity. International engagements welcome. Remote-only, Mountain Time, which overlaps Eastern mornings and Pacific full-day.

Pricing

Engagements are priced at $249 an hour. Scope is defined on the discovery call.

Monthly retainer

  • $999 a month4 hours
  • $1,999 a month8 hours
  • $3,999 a month16 hours

Project work

Audits, due diligence, build sprints, architecture reviews — defined on the call as a minimum hour count, billed at the same rate. Typical engagements run from 10 hours (audit) to 100+ hours (build sprint). Common shapes:

  • Production readiness before launch — security, scale, payments, observability
  • AWS architecture review and cost optimization
  • AI integration patterns — Bedrock, RAG, agentic systems, model selection
  • Multi-tenant SaaS patterns — auth, permissions, tenancy, cost attribution
  • Migration from Lovable, Bolt, Base44, Replit, or Cursor to production infrastructure
  • Pre-investment technical due diligence — for founders or for investors
  • Bounded build sprints — ship a specific system to production

Bigger engagements

Custom monthly retainers above 16 hours a month, or multi-month commitments, defined on the call.

If the work runs over

My hour estimates are commitments. If I quote you 50 hours on the discovery call and the work runs longer, I keep working at no extra charge until the deliverable is complete. The burden of estimating correctly is on me, not you. Scope changes are the only exception — those get re-scoped and priced separately.

To start a conversation

Email advisory@knbrlo.com, or book a 30-minute call. The call is free. No pitch. You’ll leave with a clear answer on whether we’re a fit.

If you’re earlier in your journey and just want a one-time consult or playbook, that page is at knbrlo.com/founders.