Tier · Helm₹3–8L / month · 3-month minimum
Helm
Fractional AI CTO. Capped at 5 retainers.
Helm is our flagship retainer — fractional AI CTO on your team, capped at five clients at any time. You get decisions, not decks: architecture calls, vendor negotiations, hiring scorecards, roadmap defense, board-prep.
Who it's for
Founders and executives who need a senior AI technical voice in the room for 3 to 6 months while they find a full-time AI leader, or who are explicitly hiring-averse at their scale.
What you leave with
- Weekly 90-minute strategy call + async Slack/email access
- Architecture reviews on all AI-related specs before shipping
- Vendor selection runs with TALPRO-IQ 8-axis scoring
- Hiring scorecards + interviewing for AI engineering roles
- Monthly written progress memo to CEO / board
How it runs
- Month 1Current-state audit, quick-wins list, vendor contracts review.
- OngoingWeekly rhythm. Monthly memo. Quarterly roadmap refresh.
- Exit clauseEvery retainer has a named-successor clause by month 6.
Explicitly out of scope
- Hands-on coding (Helm is decisions, not delivery — use Forge for build work)
- Board representation / fiduciary duty
- Replacing your full-time hiring pipeline — we augment it, not run it
Next tier
Prism — Leadership alignment workshop.