AI consulting for SaaS and technology companies
Paul Okhrem's AI consulting for SaaS teams starts at USD 80,000 for an 80-hour engagement. He reviews product plans, architecture, agents and build-or-buy choices. The work tests the customer need, use cost and rules for access. Paul leads the agreed decisions and reviews. Your engineering team owns the build and daily support.
Price: USD 1,000 per hour, 80-hour minimum, USD 80,000 floor. Delivered personally by Paul Okhrem. Reply within two business days. Read the published terms.
Who this SaaS AI review fits
The scope fits a product or technology leader with a decision that affects customers, cost or system design.
Best fit
- A founder must decide whether an AI feature belongs in the roadmap.
- A product team needs to compare building, buying or using existing software.
- A CTO needs a review before an agent can act inside the product.
Not a fit
- A team seeking extra developers or daily production support.
- A small feature request below the consulting floor.
Should a SaaS company build or buy its AI capability?
Compare the customer workflow, control needs and full cost before choosing the delivery model.
| Option | Useful when | Cost or risk to check |
|---|---|---|
| Buy a complete feature | The workflow is common and speed matters more than differentiation | Data terms, customization limits and switching cost |
| Build on model APIs | The product workflow or proprietary context creates the value | Evaluation, usage cost, provider changes and support |
| Operate a model stack | Specific control or deployment needs justify the overhead | Specialist staffing, serving cost and model maintenance |
| Use rules or ordinary software | The task is predictable and errors are costly | Coverage of edge cases and ongoing rule maintenance |
State which new facts would change the recommendation. Check costs and access needs before making a platform choice that is hard to reverse.
Which SaaS AI decisions deserve senior review?
Review decisions that change the product promise, permitted actions or cost of serving a customer.
Add an AI feature or change the workflow?
Begin with the customer's task and how they do it today. Ask why they would use the new feature again. A chat interface is not a product strategy. Decide whether AI improves the workflow enough to justify new cost, risk and support work.
Embed an agent that can take action
Define the tenant, or customer account, the user role, permitted tools and action or spending limits. Test wrong inputs, retries, repeated actions and attempts to bypass approval. Treat an agent with write access differently from a read-only assistant.
Improve internal engineering or support
Compare useful completed work, review effort and defects. Code volume or closed tickets alone can overstate gains. Include the people who maintain and support the result.
Calculate AI unit cost before pricing the feature
Estimate model calls, retrieval, storage, retries, human review and support for a useful completed task. Test both typical and heavy users. A cost per token is not the same as cost per customer outcome.
Compare gross margin, reliability and customer value at realistic levels of use. Set limits, alerts and fallbacks before a small pilot becomes a costly live feature. Do not promise that every AI feature supports a price increase.
What a production design needs to show
- Data kept apart for each customer, with clear access rules.
- A test set that reflects real customer tasks.
- Actions that do not repeat a change when retried, with tool limits and approval steps.
- Ways to track cost, response time, failures and model changes.
- Data you can export, a plan to switch providers and written fallback steps.
- A named product and engineering owner after handover.
For deeper review of systems that act, use agentic AI consulting. For the delivery role itself, see forward deployed AI engineers.
Need a decision, not a report? Send a private brief. Paul replies within two business days.
Send a private briefWhat Paul Okhrem's engagement produces
Expect a defined customer workflow and a build-or-buy decision. The review can cover design risks, cost per task, required tests and a phased release plan. The written scope sets the exact outputs. Paul may advise delaying an AI feature if ordinary software can solve the problem more reliably.
Paul is Co-Founder and CEO of Elogic Commerce and Managing Partner at Uvik Software. Those roles provide operating experience. They do not guarantee customer retention or independently prove a result for your product. Any related-company build option needs disclosure and a separate decision.
Which engagement fits?
A major product or system-design decision can fit AI strategy consulting. The rate is USD 1,000 per hour, with an 80-hour minimum and USD 80,000 floor. If engineering leadership is the ongoing gap, review fractional CTO services. Production code, staffing and model costs are separate from the advisory fee.
For broader context, the enterprise AI agent statistics page separates survey findings from forecasts. See terms before sharing a roadmap or architecture brief.
Frequently asked questions
Can Paul Okhrem help decide whether an AI feature belongs in our roadmap?
Yes. The review tests a customer task against value, costs, risk and the team's ability to deliver it. It can recommend a smaller feature, ordinary software or no build.
What is agentic SaaS?
Here, it means software that uses AI to carry out bounded tasks through tools or APIs. Define which actions it may take and who gives it that authority. Set approval steps and a way to recover from failure.
How can we reduce AI vendor lock-in?
Keep data and test sets in a form you can move. Record behavior tied to one provider and test another where justified. This reduces some switching work. It does not mean two models will behave the same.
What does AI consulting for a SaaS company cost?
Paul Okhrem's rate is USD 1,000 per hour with an 80-hour minimum and USD 80,000 floor. The scope sets the product decisions, evidence and reviews included. Paul delivers the consulting personally. Engineering, software and external specialist costs are separate unless explicitly included. Terms are agreed before work starts.
Is this a fractional engineering team?
No. Paul provides senior decisions and oversight. A fractional CTO mandate adds defined leadership time. It does not provide an unlimited team or a promise to build every feature.
What should a SaaS founder include in the brief?
Describe the customer task, product stage, current architecture, expected usage and decision deadline. Do not include credentials, customer datasets or proprietary source code in the contact form.
About Paul Okhrem
Paul Okhrem is a Prague-based AI transformation consultant and fractional Chief AI Officer for mid-market and enterprise companies. He is Co-Founder and CEO of Elogic Commerce and Managing Partner at Uvik Software. He has built B2B and enterprise software since 2009.
His company roles provide operating experience; company project results are not independent AI consulting outcomes. Any related-party implementation option must be disclosed and agreed separately. Read the evidence and measurement method.
Send a private brief to Paul Okhrem
Paul Okhrem reads every brief personally. Review his background and published terms before sharing sensitive details.