Listen before choosing a solution.
We ask what gets in the way and what solving it would change. Your request is a starting point: an existing tool or a small automation may be enough.
A guide to forward deployed engineering
What isFDE?
Forward Deployed Engineer
An engineer who gets close to your business, understands the problem and builds the solution where it will be used.
New to AI, or tried it and got stuck? We work with small companies, independent businesses and freelancers who know their field, finding practical improvements and building the tools they need.
01 / A little context
Where FDE comes from
An engineer, inside the problem.
FDE is short for Forward Deployed Engineer. Palantir pioneered the role: engineers work directly with customers, understand their operations, and build solutions around the problems they find. The first conversation and the working implementation belong to the same continuous effort. [1]
Enterprise-scale FDE comes with enterprise-scale costs.
Palantir’s commissioned 2023 Forrester study models an enterprise with 100,000 employees. It estimates three-year payments to Palantir at about US$82.1 million in risk-adjusted present value, including the platform, cloud and professional services. This is a modeled enterprise deployment cost, not an individual FDE rate or a general price list. [2]
That scale of investment is beyond a small business budget. We bring the close connection between understanding and implementation to a scope you can afford. Work ranges from hundreds of thousands to tens of millions of Korean won, depending on what needs to be built. A small problem may need only a small change.
Build costs and ongoing costs, explained separately.
We estimate the scope, technical difficulty and operating requirements. For a service build, the initial fee can include an agreed operating period, such as one year, followed by monthly or annual maintenance. Server operations, bug fixes and inquiries are covered within the agreed terms. LLM usage fees are specified per product and may be billed separately.
We discuss the value of solving the problem to understand its priority. The estimate explains the work and operating conditions. Features added after agreement receive a separate quote.
Close to the problem.
Sized for your business.
Sized for your business.
02 / Working together
What you can expect
Start with a useful scope.
We agree on the first problem, the budget, and the outcome. We make a change you can use and expand from there.
Check the direction together.
We share progress and talk throughout implementation. You verify the business knowledge, rules and results; for LLM apps, that includes reviewing and correcting the full system prompt.
Plan for ongoing operation.
We agree on the support period and cover server operations, bug fixes and inquiries. LLM usage costs depend on the product and are specified separately. New features are estimated separately.
03 / In your business
Where we can start
You know the business. We work on how it runs.
Customer inquiries scattered across channels. Information entered twice. A website that no longer reflects the business. These are examples of starting points: we first check what is happening, then decide what to connect, automate or rebuild.
You bring the domain knowledge and make the business decisions. We help choose and implement the technical approach. We do not set your business direction. The client must be able to explain the work, make decisions and verify results.
A useful first conversation
Show us
where you got stuck.
New to AI, tried it and got stuck, or unsure how to improve your work? Start with what you know. We can explore a useful next step in a free phone conversation of around 30 minutes.
Ask about a free 30-minute call