AI consulting that moves revenue, margin and time

AI implementation means putting AI to work inside the systems that run your business and judging it by what it changes: revenue, margin or hours. Cosmic starts from the number, maps the system that produces it, then builds and ships the AI that moves it, in small releases measured against a baseline.

For CEOs, CROs, CFOs and COOs at startups and private US companies that want to move fast

A free 30-minute call first. You’ll know whether AI can move your number, and where we’d start.

$1.42

In model costs for 23 pull requests in one unattended 8-hour run of an agent control plane.

6 days

From spec to a deployed marketplace production stack, with AI drafting and AI-agent search built in.

45 days

To start six content sites on one publishing engine, with AI-answer visibility built in.

2×

Qualified leads in three months for a cloud infrastructure startup, from new messaging.

Where should AI go first?

Where it changes a number you already report. We start from the number, revenue, margin or hours, find the part of the system that holds it back, and put AI there. Every release is reported against a baseline set before anything is built.

Starts with: A free 30-minute call
Then: A 2- or 4-hour discovery
Priced: Per sprint, plus an outcome fee
Judged by: Revenue, margin or hours

Start from the number

Systems thinking comes before software; choosing the model is the last decision. That’s what revenue-focused AI consulting means in practice.

Pick the number
Agree on the one number the work should move, revenue, margin or hours, and measure where it stands today. Everything that follows is judged against that baseline.
Map the system
Research the people, handoffs, data and tools that produce the number, with analytics, customer research and interviews, before any code.
Implement where AI changes the constraint
Prototype the fix with the people who'll use it, then build it as custom production software, with AI agents doing the repetitive build work under the team's review.
Ship small, measure, adjust
Release in small pieces, report each one against the baseline, and keep going after launch. Launch day is when the real numbers start.

What an AI implementation consultant does week to week

Once discovery has set the number, the work is the number and the system behind it.

Keeps the number in front of everyoneEach release is reported against the baseline set in discovery, in business terms: booked demos, pipeline, cost per unit of work or hours per task. On one engagement, new messaging doubled qualified leads in three months for a cloud infrastructure startup.
Works with the people who produce itResearch covers the people, handoffs, data and tools behind the number, through analytics, customer research and interviews. Fixes are prototyped with the people who’ll use them, before any production code.
Directs and reviews the buildA US-based core team of four directs AI agents through the repetitive build work and reviews everything they build. Two systems we built for running agents: an autonomous agent control plane and an agent work coordinator.
Ships small and adjustsThe first release reaches users in weeks, then work continues in small, frequent releases. A release that doesn’t move the number gets adjusted.
Answers to the executive who owns the numberDecisions go to your executive sponsor. Your team keeps running the business, or, with paired enablement, works alongside ours until it can carry the work on its own.

Three outcomes, and what we’ve built for them

Every engagement is scoped around one of them. The examples are production systems we built, several of them our own, and each links to the full case study.

Revenue. New revenue from the market you already have: more qualified pipeline, and new products with a revenue model from day one.

Margin. A lower cost for each unit of work, so revenue grows faster than cost.

23 PRs in one 8-hour run, for $1.42 in model costs →An autonomous agent control plane that runs AI coding agents unattended for a working day, with model spend per change in cents.

Efficiency. More output per person, and hours back for the work only people can do.

For the executive who owns the number

CEOs

who want AI to show up in revenue and margin, where the board looks.

Chief revenue officers

who want more qualified pipeline from the team they already have.

CFOs

who want a baseline and a measured number before approving more AI spend.

COOs

who need hours back from work that's repetitive today.

What we implement

Custom production apps with AI insideApps and features built to a stated revenue, margin or speed goal and engineered to run in production, with tests, deploys and monitoring.
AI agents that do real workAgents running in harnesses Cosmic built itself, directed and reviewed by a US-based core team, for the repetitive work that eats your team's week.
Search and AI-answer visibilityMessaging and content written to show up in Google and in the answers ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews give, judged by booked demos and pipeline.
The full list is on services. Building a new product instead? See MVP development, or MVP development in Washington, DC if you want the team in the room.

How we measure AI ROI

Before anything is built, we write down the number, where it stands today, and what counts as a win. Every release is reported against that baseline in business terms: booked demos, pipeline and revenue per session for revenue work, cost per unit of work for margin, hours per task for efficiency.

Traffic and impressions only show up when they explain a change in the number, and releases that don’t move it get adjusted. The full method, with a worked example, is in how to measure the ROI of AI.

Two ways to work

Cosmic comes from Pivotal Labs, where engineers worked side by side inside client teams and every engagement balanced people, process and technology, so the client's team could keep building after we left. It's a close cousin of what Palantir named forward-deployed engineering. Pairing is in our DNA, but it isn't always the right call. Most clients want the outcome first, so that's where we start.

More on forward-deployed engineering, the Pivotal Labs way.

Cosmic delivers

By default, Cosmic does the work and drives the outcome, in partnership with your executive sponsor. Your team stays focused on running the business while the number moves.

Paired enablement

When you want your own team to keep the work moving after we leave, we find the right people on your side and pair with them: I do, we do, you do. First we do the work while they watch, then we do it together, then they do it while we watch.

Either way, each sprint’s price is agreed before it starts, plus an outcome-linked fee tied to the number set in discovery, so part of what we earn depends on it moving.

How to choose an AI consulting firm

Ask these before you sign. The full guide is how to choose an AI consultancy. In the DC area, AI consulting in Washington, DC covers local rates and firm types.

What number will this be judged by?
One number with a baseline, such as qualified pipeline, cost per order or hours on a process. Not a count of use cases or a maturity score.
Who will be on our calls, and do they build?
The people you meet should write or review the code. At Cosmic, the core team runs every engagement.
Can we see live systems you've built?
A prototype proves the idea; production proves the partner. Ask for systems with tests, deploys and monitoring, like the ones in our work.
How does the price share the risk?
Hourly billing pays for time, not results. Look for a price agreed per phase before it starts, and a fee tied to the number. More in how AI consulting is priced.
What happens after you leave?
If your team will own the system, ask how the handoff works. Pairing, where your people work alongside the consultants until they can run it alone, is the method we learned at Pivotal Labs.
What do we have at the end of the first build phase?
Working software, not only an assessment, and a way to stop after that phase without penalty.

Who does the work

Cosmic’s founder, Saad Ahmed, closed over $25M in new revenue at VMware Pivotal Labs, launched digital products at Capital One, and helped Viget grow from 30 to 75 people. He works with a core team of three other US-based builders, and AI agents running in harnesses Cosmic built itself do much of the repetitive build work, with the team directing and reviewing it.

Cosmic is a boutique AI consultancy headquartered in McLean, Virginia, just outside Washington, DC. We work with clients across the US, and in person for AI consulting in DC, Maryland and Virginia.

Companies our founders have worked with

See what we did for each →

AI implementation questions

What is AI implementation?

Putting AI to work inside the systems that run a business, such as sales, operations or delivery, and measuring it by the business number it changes. It covers finding where AI helps, building it into production software, and checking that it moved revenue, margin or time.

How do you measure the ROI of AI?

Set a baseline for one number before anything is built, then report every release against it. Cosmic reports in business terms, such as booked demos, pipeline, cost per unit of work or hours saved, and adjusts the work when a release doesn't move the number.

Where should a company start with AI?

With the number that matters most this year and the system that produces it. Research that system first, put AI where it relieves the constraint, and pick the model or tool last.

Do we need our own data science team?

No. Cosmic's US-based core team runs the work and reviews everything its AI agents build. You bring someone who owns the number and can make decisions, plus access to the systems and data involved.

How long does AI implementation take?

The first release reaches users in weeks, then work continues in small, frequent releases, each measured against the baseline. Research and validation come first, so the build goes to an approach that's already been tested.

How does Cosmic charge for AI implementation?

Each sprint is priced before it starts, plus an outcome-linked fee tied to the number set in discovery. Part of what Cosmic earns depends on that number moving.

How does an engagement start?

With a free 30-minute call, then a fixed-scope discovery session of two or four hours with your executive sponsor, where we agree on the number, map the system behind it and pick where AI goes first.

Will you train our team or do the work for us?

Either. By default Cosmic does the work and drives the outcome with your executive sponsor. If you want your own team to carry it forward after the engagement, we pair with the people who'll own it, using the Pivotal Labs "I do, we do, you do" model, until they can run it without us.