How an engagement works
What an engagement looks like.
Most distributors I work with want to know two things before a first call: what does this cost, and what does the calendar look like. Both answers are below.
The shape of an engagement
Three phases. Diagnostic-first, build-last.
Week 1
Floor observation.
I am on-site. I watch the COA pipeline, the label render, the Metrc reconciliation, and the floor procedure. I document gaps as I find them. I do not bring slides.
Weeks 2–3
Vendor accountability.
Where a gap belongs to an existing vendor — Acumatica, BarTender, Loftware, Zebra, Treez, Distru, Flourish — I document the failure mode with the evidence the vendor needs to fix it. We give the vendor the chance to fix what's theirs.
Weeks 3–5
Build only what has to be built.
Where waiting on a vendor is more expensive than building around them, I build the bridge. Chrome extension, ZPL pipeline, custom integration — whatever the gap requires. Only when the math says build.
Calendar
What the calendar usually looks like.
Engagements typically run 4–6 weeks at 15–25 hours per week. Embedded on-site at minimum once a week if you are in California; remote work on the data pipeline in between. Some engagements end at week 2 because the gap belonged to a vendor and the vendor fixed it. That is the right outcome.
Pricing
How pricing works.
Engagements are flat-fee, defined per-engagement against an outcome — for example, "the label pipeline produces a passing audit trail at full design rate" — rather than billed hourly.
Typical engagement at a mid-scale distributor: $20,000–$40,000 flat. Larger or vertically integrated operators: higher. The frame I work in is "what does one recall cost you?" Six- to seven-figures plus brand damage plus license risk. The engagement price is sized against avoided recall cost, not against my hours.
What I will not do.
- I will not call regulators on you. I build the audit trail for you so you survive when the DCC arrives.
- I will not recommend custom software when your existing vendor can fix the gap.
- I will not take engagements where my role would put me between you and your existing compliance staff. I work alongside them.
- I will not take cash, and I will not handle product. All payments are ACH, wire, or check.
What a first conversation covers
Thirty minutes, free, no slides. We talk through which of the failure-modes-page patterns you are seeing, whether the gap probably belongs to a vendor or to me, and whether an engagement makes sense. If it does not, I will tell you that on the call.
Schedule a 30-minute call
Thirty minutes. No slides. If an engagement does not make sense, I will tell you on the call.