Karnworks / Fixed-price prototype
Can someone build a fixed-price AI prototype for my small business in about a week?
Yes. Karnworks starts with a free one-hour chat, then builds a fixed-price prototype of the best idea and shows it to you about a week later, with an estimate for the full build. The prototype is a few days’ work, at a price agreed before we start.
How it works
- A free one-hour chat. We talk about your business, where the time goes and any ideas you already have. Together we pick the area with the best bang for buck.
- A fixed-price prototype, about a week later. A few days’ work. We show you a working example of what’s possible in that area, on your kind of work, not a slide deck.
- An estimate for the full build. With the prototype you get an estimated range for building it properly. If you go ahead, we work to that estimate with frequent check-ins, so there are no surprises.
The price is fixed and agreed with you before work starts. See how pricing works for the chat, the prototype and the build.
What’s included
- The one-hour chat to find the right idea, free.
- A working prototype of one idea, built in a few days.
- A walkthrough of the prototype with you, showing what it does well and where it falls short.
- An estimated range and timeline for the full build.
What a prototype is, and what it isn’t
It is a real, working example of one idea, so you can judge it on your own work rather than on a promise. It answers two questions: does this help, and what would it take to build properly?
It isn’t the finished product. It covers one job, not your whole business. It isn’t hardened for daily use, wired into every system you have, or tested against every odd case. That work is the build, and it comes with its own estimate.
Example prototypes
Admin automation
An agent that takes the repetitive part of a busy process, such as turning emails, forms or notes into the records your team retypes today, and drafts them for a person to approve. See automating admin with AI.
An internal knowledge assistant
An assistant that answers questions from your own documents, processes and history, so staff stop interrupting the one person who knows. See custom AI assistants.
Drafting agents
Agents that draft replies to requests, quotes or documents in your house style, inside the tools your team already uses, for a person to check and send.
Why prototype first
AI projects tend to disappoint when the money is spent before anyone has seen the idea work on real tasks. A prototype keeps the first step small and fixed: you see the thing working, then decide. It’s how we built our own products too: automatic timesheets, now about 95% accurate, up from about 70% from memory, and Haunts, a Margate guide kept current by an AI pipeline with a person approving every change.
Questions people ask
- How much does an AI prototype cost?
- It depends on the idea, so the price is agreed with you after the free one-hour chat and fixed before any work starts. You know the cost before you commit.
- How long does it take?
- About a week from the first chat. The prototype itself is a few days’ work, and you see it working before you decide anything else.
- Is the prototype something my team can use straight away?
- Sometimes, for a small internal job. But it is built to show what is possible and to estimate a build, not to run your business on. Hardening it, connecting it properly to your systems and handing it over is the build.
- What happens after the prototype?
- You get an estimated range for the full build. If you go ahead, we work to it with frequent check-ins, and you decide when it is done or worth taking further. If you do not, you have spent the prototype fee and nothing more.
- Do I need to be technical?
- No. You bring the knowledge of your business. We turn that into the prototype and explain it without jargon.
See your idea working in a week.
The first hour is free. Tell us where your time goes and we'll suggest what to prototype.
Talk to us →