A $15K AI pilot is a 4-week engagement where Blue Collar AI Labs builds a working AI implementation for one specific problem or opportunity in your business. It runs in the tools your team already uses, ships ready to use, and can be used forever without a service contract or expansion. The point: see AI working in your business without months of audit, huge spend, or long-term commitment.
Software, not slides. A tool, not a roadmap.
The shape follows the work. It might be a custom agent inside the platform your team already uses (Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, your CRM, your ERP). It might be a workflow that runs in your cloud against your operating data. It might be a focused system that takes inputs from one of your systems and produces a structured output your team can act on. Or almost anything else, the opportunities are plentiful when it comes to AI. What stays the same across pilots: it runs in the tools your team already has, it does one specific thing well, and at the end of 4 weeks it's working and in use.
You keep what we build, indefinitely. It's yours forever. Whether you want us to scale it across more of the business, automate around it, layer in compounding intelligence later, or never speak to us again, the tool keeps working. There's no platform-side dependency to lose.
Together, we pick one problem or opportunity with a clear definition of what done is. We agree on what success looks like before any build starts, and then we get access to the systems and data needed to act on it (usually working with IT).
We build the first working version of the AI capability and run it against your real operating context. This is the week ideas meet the messiness of real data and tools, and scope often sharpens.
We refine the system based on what week 2 surfaced. By the end of week 3, it's producing results your team can act on.
We deploy the system into the tools your team uses, walk through how it works, and recommend what comes next. You decide whether to scale, sit with it, or do something else.
A $15K AI pilot exists because most of what gets sold as "AI strategy" is either expensive audits looking for as much opportunity as possible or expensive workflows that take months to build.
A 90-day discovery phase produces a slide deck. A maturity assessment produces a scorecard. A roadmap engagement produces a roadmap, which usually outlives its own assumptions before anyone starts building. Operating partners and portco leaders accountable for AI as a value-creation lever can't show those deliverables to a sponsor and call them progress.
Blue Collar AI Labs runs the pilot to skip that whole layer. Pick a problem or opportunity, get it done in four weeks, have a real working tool by the end. The pilot answers a question that strategy work can't: does AI actually work on this specific thing in your business, with the data and tools you already have. The answer is concrete, demonstrable, and lives in your stack.
The $15K pilot fits PE-backed platform companies and operational businesses where:
It's not built for companies looking for a maturity assessment, a vendor-selection scorecard, or a 200-slide AI strategy deck. Other firms do that work well. Blue Collar AI Labs doesn't have the time for it.
Scoping happens through dialog, where we walk through three questions:
The business question first, the AI question second. The clearer the business framing, the cleaner the pilot scope.
The pilot builds on what's there. New data collection, new platforms, or new tooling/apps aren't part of the 4 weeks unless you have a clear reason/need for it (in which case we are happy to help implement with whatever new tools you'd like).
A tool inside your existing platform. It could be an automation, a structured output the team can act on, a way to enhance specific work, the list can get long fast because we can apply AI to nearly anything. The important thing is that we agree on the shape of the deliverable before week 1, so the week 4 handoff has something concrete to land against.
If the work doesn't fit a 4-week pilot, we'll tell you. Some pieces of work need a longer engagement. Some need a different vendor. Some need internal work first. Blue Collar AI Labs would rather scope honestly than sell a pilot that won't deliver.
The pilot is designed as a complete unit of work. Some pilots end at the pilot itself: the tool works, the team runs it, no further engagement needed. Some lead to scaling and enhanced automation, where the same capability expands across more of the business. Some end with a "this isn't the right next step" recommendation, which is its own answer for an operating partner deciding where AI investment should and shouldn't go.
In every case, you keep what we built without a long term commitment.
Book a 30-minute discovery call. We'll walk through your operation, the problems and opportunities AI could land on first, and whether a 4-week pilot is the right next step.
The $15K covers four weeks of work building a working AI capability for one specific problem or opportunity in your business: scope, build, tuning, deployment into your tools, and handoff. There's no platform fee, license, or recurring cost attached. The working tool stays with you indefinitely.
Four weeks from kickoff to handoff. Week 1 is scope and access. Week 2 is the first working build. Week 3 is tuning. Week 4 is deployment into your tools and handoff. Each week has a defined output, so progress is visible the whole way through.
A specific problem or opportunity worth acting on (that we can discover together if needed), access to the systems and data already in use to act on it, and a point of contact who can answer questions during the 4 weeks. No new tools, new platforms, or new vendor relationships are required to run the pilot.
We have a 14-day warranty that we will work against to get it to where it needs to be. And if that still doesn't work, we'll keep trying. If for any reason it still isn't doing what it needs to do we'll try to figure out the best way forward that works for everyone.
The pilot itself is fixed at $15K and 4 weeks. That's intentional: it forces scope discipline and protects you from runaway consulting bills. Larger engagements normally happen after the pilot, but we are happy to discuss on a case by case basis.
A 30-minute discovery call walks through your data, your tools, and the problems or opportunities AI could land on first.
Book a discovery call