AI Strategy Advisory Retainer
Standing AI strategy counsel on AIR and GENOMIA. The portfolio picture is kept current; counsel is the retainer.
Why this engagement exists
AI strategy is a point-in-time document in a moving environment. Portfolios shift, readiness changes, and new use cases arrive monthly — while the strategy that governs them was written for a world that no longer exists.
What it looks like in your organization
- The AI strategy is a document, not a living picture.
- Portfolio decisions are made without updated readiness or dependency data.
- New use cases are approved ad hoc because the strategy has no update mechanism.
- Leadership asks about AI direction and gets last year’s deck.
What we do and how it works
We keep the AIR readiness and GENOMIA structural pictures current, and provide standing counsel as portfolio decisions arrive. AIR bills by organization band; GENOMIA by size × complexity; the retainer fee is the standing advisory around both.
The engagement includes
- AIR and GENOMIA pictures kept current across the year
- Standing counsel on portfolio and use-case decisions
- Quarterly strategy reviews with updated readiness
- Investment sequencing advice as the portfolio moves
- Board or IC-ready narrative updates
What you take away
Every deliverable is named, formatted, and tied to the outcome it enables. Nothing ships as a deck with no use.
Current readiness and structure pictures
Living picturesAIR readiness and GENOMIA structure kept current as the organization and portfolio change.
Strategy decisions rest on current evidence, not a stale baseline.
Standing strategy counsel
AdvisoryCounsel on portfolio decisions, use-case approvals, and investment sequencing as they arise.
Decisions get evidence-backed input when they happen, not after.
Quarterly strategy reviews
Review cadenceThe portfolio reviewed quarterly against updated readiness and dependency data.
The strategy operates on a cadence instead of decaying.
Board / IC narrative updates
Narrative updatesThe AI story kept current for board or investment-committee consumption.
Oversight conversations run from the current picture.
How this engagement runs
Baseline the portfolio
Month 1AIR band and GENOMIA sizing are confirmed; the portfolio and readiness pictures are baselined.
A current strategy baseline and priced scope.
Run the counsel cadence
Months 1–12Standing counsel runs alongside quarterly reviews; pictures update as the portfolio and org change.
Strategy stays live as decisions arrive.
Review quarterly
QuarterlyPortfolio reviewed against updated readiness and dependencies; sequencing advice refreshed.
Investment sequence stays defensible.
Keep leadership current
As neededBoard and IC narratives updated when the picture moves materially.
Oversight never runs on last year’s deck.
How the fee is built
The engagement fee moves on three multipliers — sensitivity, involvement, and organization type — and the platform units the work consumes are their own lines. Nothing is hidden inside a flat number.
Sensitivity
×0.90 – ×1.30 on the engagement feeSensitivity sets the handling envelope around the whole engagement: how data moves, where evidence lives, who can touch it, and what containment we must maintain. Higher sensitivity means cleared handling, segregated evidence, and slower, more deliberate operations — real cost that a flat fee would hide.
Open information. Standard handling, no containment overhead.
Proprietary business information. NDA-grade handling and controlled evidence storage.
Compliance-bound data. Framework controls and audit-ready evidence handling shape the work.
Defense-grade pathways. Cleared handling, boundary containment, and evidence segregation inside your perimeter.
Involvement
×0.85 – ×1.35 on the engagement feeInvolvement is how much Multipolar operator time is on the hook. Counsel at checkpoints is a different commitment than embedded delivery inside your team, your systems, and your cadence. The multiplier tracks senior hours actually committed — not a markup.
We advise and interpret; your team executes. Senior counsel at defined checkpoints.
We run the engagement end to end, with your stakeholders at the decision points.
Embedded delivery. Our operators work inside your team until the outcome is actually in place.
Organization type
×0.85 – ×1.25 on the engagement feeThe same technical work lands differently depending on who is buying it. Federal and defense engagements carry procurement, compliance, security review, and stakeholder alignment that a mid-market engagement does not. The multiplier prices the coordination and accountability surface, not the analysis.
Fewer stakeholders, faster decisions, lighter coordination overhead.
The baseline: standard commercial engagement surface.
Public-sector procurement and multi-agency stakeholder surface.
Investment-platform cadence: deal-driven timelines and IC audiences.
Joint-delivery and enablement motions with partner delivery teams.
Assurance functions: evidence standards and underwriting audiences.
Federal procurement, compliance crosswalks, and multi-office alignment.
Mission-critical review, security handling, and acquisition-process alignment.
Scope & scale of platform units
The largest component of most totalsEvery engagement consumes platform units — CYBAIR workloads, AIR organization bands, GENOMIA twins, WINS scenarios, SiliconAIR systems. Units track your estate, not our appetite for flat pricing: an 8-workload assessment and a 50-workload assessment are different engagements and are priced as such. You set the scope in the configurator; the total moves with it, and nothing is quietly under-scoped to fit a number.
Simulation compute
Estimated until configured · billed on actualsWINS simulations carry real compute costs that scale with scenario count, branching depth, and campaign length. A focused single-scenario game and a sustained multi-agent campaign are orders of magnitude apart. Facilitation and after-action are in the fee; compute is estimated once the game is configured, then billed on actuals — you pay for what actually runs, never a padded average.
Platform units in this engagement
Units track your estate, not our appetite for flat pricing. You set the scope; the total moves with it. Each unit below is consumed by this engagement and billed as its own line.
The organization or portfolio profiled against the AIR readiness ontology, sized by headcount and portfolio breadth.
The size of the organization being assessed: people, portfolios, and the systems that matter. A 200-person shop profiles at the Small band; a 10,000-person multi-portfolio enterprise profiles at Large or Extra-large.
The organizational twin: people, skills, systems, dependencies, and projects modeled as a living graph.
Headcount or agency count sets the size band; structural complexity multiplies it. Multi-system, contested, or mission-critical environments cost more to model because they are more to model.
What the engagement fee covers
- Scoping, workshops, and interpretation
- Every deliverable listed on this page
- Cross-framework mapping where the package includes compliance
- Executive translation — board, program-office, or IC language
- Handoff and a defensible next-step recommendation
What it does not cover
- Platform units consumed by the work (shown as their own lines)
- WINS simulation compute (estimated, then billed on actuals)
Frequently asked questions
It is standing strategy counsel with platform-backed pictures — not an embedded executive. The substance is AIR and GENOMIA evidence plus advisory judgment.
Ready to brief us on the AI Strategy Advisory Retainer?
We choose who we work with and confirm scope, capacity, and final pricing in the briefing.