One problem. One fixed price. A guaranteed finish.
£3,000 + VAT. If it needs more than three days, the extra days are on us.
The 3-Day Challenge
Try us on one real problem. Keep the result.
The 3-Day Challenge isn’t our standard service. It’s a low-risk introduction. One business problem. Three days. A working solution your team keeps using. And we only accept it if we believe it will return at least five times what you pay.
£3,000 + VAT. Fixed. Guaranteed to finish. Full security controls as standard.
One problem, three days
Your business problemCosting time or money today. Worth at least 5× the fee.
Accepted
Day 1 · Day 2 · Day 3
A working solutionYour data, your team, full security controls
Delivered
Intent
Iterate
Hand over
Low cost. Not low quality.
5× return or we say no ↗
We only accept a challenge we can deliver, and that will pay back five times over.
Three daysFixed priceGuaranteed finishFull security controls
Why it exists
This isn’t our standard offering. That’s the point.
Our usual work is scoped, planned and priced as a project. That’s a lot to ask of a business that hasn’t worked with us yet.
So we made the first step small, fixed and low risk. You see exactly what we can do on a problem that matters to you, and you get real business benefit whether or not we ever work together again.
A working solution, not a demo.
Built on your data, inside your processes, with your team. It earns its keep from the day we leave.
An introduction, not a contract.
No retainer. No obligation. Want to do more? We scope it properly. Don’t? You keep what we built.
The five-times rule
If it won’t return five times the cost, we won’t take it on.
We don’t accept every challenge. Each one has to pass two tests. Can we deliver a working solution in three days? And will it return at least five times what you pay?
On a £3,000 challenge, that means at least £15,000 of value we can both point to. Hours back. Errors gone. Quotes out faster. If we can’t see it, we say no, and we tell you why.
Submit a challengeWe’ll also say no to replacing a core system of record, or to a problem nobody in the business owns.
Low cost. Not low quality.
The same security vetting and controls as every project we take on.
The price is introductory. The engineering isn’t. Nothing gets skipped because it’s three days instead of three months.
Vetted before we start
Every challenge goes through the same security and risk review as a full project. No shortcuts because the fee is smaller.
Data handling agreed in writing
What we can touch, where it lives and how it’s handled is agreed with you before day one. Real data, real safeguards.
Access only to what the job needs
Least-privilege access, granted for the challenge and removed when we leave.
An engineer accountable for every line
AI writes the first draft. A named DATAFORT engineer reviews and stands behind everything that ships.
Tested and secured before handover
Day three is for hardening: testing, security checks and the dull bits that stop things breaking at 2am.
Documented, not a black box
Your team leaves knowing what was built, how it works, and what production would take.
The alternatives
Our biggest competitor? Your mate down the pub.
You know the one. “Does a bit of AI.” And at the larger end it’s no better, just pricier: consultancies whose AI experts were selling computer networks last month. New job title. Same people.
The mate down the pub
- Does a bit of AI. Mostly ChatGPT.
- Cheap. Until it isn’t.
- Security policy: “it’s in the cloud, it’s fine.”
- Hard to find when it breaks.
The overnight AI consultancy
- Last month: computer networks.
- This month: AI transformation.
- Six-week discovery phase. Forty slides.
- Working software? That’s phase two.
DATAFORT
- In IT since 2000. Building AI systems now.
- Engineers who do this for a living.
- Working software by day three.
- Controls you’d happily show your auditor.
Three days is the cheapest way to see the difference for yourself.
How it runs
Built in the room, with your team steering.
No specification phase. You explain the job the way you’d explain it to a new starter, and a Forward Deployed AI Engineer builds as you talk.
We check the problem, the value and the security.
Data handling and access are agreed before anyone touches a keyboard.
We capture what you need as you describe it.
Something works before the first session ends.
You use it on real work. We change it on the spot.
Minutes, not change requests.
We harden it, secure it and hand it over.
Your people leave understanding what was built and why.
Small firm or large
Same challenge. Same standards. Whatever your size.
The problems differ. The rules don’t.
Running the business yourself?
No IT department needed. No AI knowledge needed. You know the job; we bring the rest. The usual suspects:
- Quotes that take days to turn round
- Orders and invoices retyped from emails and PDFs
- The report that eats every Friday afternoon
Answering to a board and a security team?
One bounded problem with a named sponsor, so there’s no programme to stand up and nothing to unwind. You finish with:
- Controls agreed with your security team up front
- A record of every decision made along the way
- A plain statement of what production would take
Fair questions
Before you set us a challenge.
Is this how you normally work?
No. It’s an introduction. Our normal work is scoped and priced as a project, and this price is for a first challenge only.
How do you judge five times the cost?
With you, before we accept. Time saved, errors avoided, revenue unlocked. No credible number, no challenge.
Is it a proof of concept?
It’s a working solution to the problem you set, built on your data. Day three also tells you what scaling it would take.
Do we need to know anything about AI?
No. You need to know your business. We bring the rest.
What do you need from us?
Whoever owns the problem, available across the three days, and access to the data they work with.
What are we signing up to?
One challenge at a fixed £3,000 + VAT. No retainer. No obligation to continue.
Set us a challenge
Describe the problem. We’ll tell you if it passes.
Pick a time for a short call and tell us about it in your own words: who owns it, what it costs you today, and what “solved” would look like. We’ll tell you whether we can accept it.
- ✓£3,000 + VAT, fixedAn introductory price for a first challenge.
- ✓Guaranteed finishAny extra days needed are at our cost.
- ✓Full security controlsThe same vetting as every project we take on.
- ✓An honest yes or noIf it won’t pass both tests, we say so.
Which describes you?