The Hybrid Approach: Best of Both Worlds
Start with consulting to generate revenue and validate the market, while building your product in parallel based on real client pain points. Use consulting income to fund product development.
Phase 1: AI Readiness Consulting (Year 1-2)
Your Service: "AI Readiness Transformation"
Core Positioning: "Before you spend £500K on AI tools, spend £50K making your codebase AI-ready."
What You Deliver
1. Code Health Audit
Comprehensive assessment of technical debt, architecture issues, documentation gaps, test coverage, and AI-readiness blockers.
2. Refactoring Roadmap
Prioritized plan to clean critical systems, modernize architecture, and prepare for AI integration.
3. AI-Ready Standards
Clean code practices, testing frameworks, documentation templates, and governance protocols.
4. Developer Training
Teaching your team to code WITH AI tools properly (GitHub Copilot, Claude, etc.) while maintaining quality standards.
5. Implementation Support
Hands-on refactoring of critical modules, establishing CI/CD pipelines, and ongoing advisory.
Pricing Model
Discovery/Audit
£5-10K
2-3 weeks
- Full codebase analysis
- AI Readiness Score
- Detailed report & roadmap
Implementation Project
£50-150K
3-6 months
- Hands-on refactoring
- Developer training
- System modernization
Advisory Retainer
£5-15K/month
Ongoing
- Continuous code review
- Team support
- Strategic guidance
The Upsell Path
AI Readiness Audit (£10K) → Refactoring Project (£75K) → AI Transformation (£200K) → Ongoing Advisory (£10K/month)
Phase 2: The AI Readiness Platform (Year 2-3)
Your Product: "The AI Readiness Score Platform"
Once you've done consulting 5-10 times, you'll see patterns. Build a SaaS platform that automates the assessment and tracking.
Product Features
Core Features:
- Automated Codebase Analysis - Technical debt, complexity metrics, test coverage
- AI Readiness Score (0-100) - Instant assessment with specific recommendations
- Developer Skill Assessment - How well teams use AI tools
- Refactoring Prioritization Engine - What to fix first
- Progress Tracking Dashboard - Monitor improvements over time
- Team Training Modules - Built-in learning for developers
Product Pricing Model
Free Tier
£0
- Basic code scan
- AI Readiness Score
- High-level recommendations
Lead generation tool
Pro Tier
£500-2,000/month
Per team
- Full analysis & tracking
- Detailed recommendations
- Multi-repo support
- Training modules
Enterprise Tier
Custom Pricing
- Unlimited repos
- Custom integrations
- Consulting hours included
- White-label option
Why This Product Works
- Lead Generation Engine - Free scans generate qualified consulting leads
- Empty Niche - Not competing on "AI transformation" (crowded) but "AI readiness" (wide open)
- Sticky Revenue - Companies need ongoing monitoring as they evolve
- Productized Expertise - Your 25 years of clean code knowledge, scaled
- Natural Upsells - Platform users become consulting clients and vice versa
Phase 3: Scale or Exit (Year 3+)
Three Growth Options:
Option 1: Scale the Consulting
- Hire consultants to deliver your methodology
- Build a team of AI Readiness experts
- Franchise your approach
Option 2: Scale the Product
- Grow platform into full AI governance suite
- Add AI code review, security scanning, compliance tracking
- Expand to larger enterprise market
Option 3: Strategic Exit
- Sell to larger DevOps/AI company
- Merge with complementary service
- Partner with enterprise software vendor
Why the Hybrid Model Wins
Strategic Advantages:
- Immediate Cash Flow - Consulting pays the bills while product grows
- Market Validation - Build exactly what clients actually need
- Risk Mitigation - Two revenue streams reduce dependency
- Compound Learning - Consulting insights improve product, product generates consulting leads
- Competitive Moat - Real-world experience competitors can't match
- Exit Optionality - Multiple paths to liquidity event
The Bottom Line
You're not choosing between consulting OR product. You're building a business that starts with high-value consulting to fund and validate a scalable product that feeds more consulting. That's how you build a defensible, valuable company.