Quick Win in a Box · Outcome
A value-based outcome, scoped after our paid discovery (Groundwork) confirms it is real. It locks a sponsor, oracle, operator, close date, and success criteria, then ships the verified result plus a stewardable asset your team keeps.
For funds and portfolio companies
Sponsor one live portfolio-company outcome, designate the operator and oracle, run a close-date cycle of roughly 8 to 12 weeks, then decide whether to scope more outcomes across the company or portfolio.
Bring one live workflow. In 30 minutes, we identify the access path, sponsor, oracle, operator, close-date cycle, and the value an outcome here would be worth.
Quick explainer
The video walks through the unit: sponsor funds, oracle verifies, operator builds with us, criteria define success, and the handoff turns the win into internal capacity.
What you get
01/The outcome
Each unit has one to three success criteria. Usually one or two are business outcomes, like 50% faster hiring or 2x throughput, and one confirms the handoff so the capability survives the engagement.
02/The capital asset
A real GitHub repository your team owns, extends, and deploys in your cloud. Sometimes the asset is a methodology or production workflow, but the default output is stewardable software.
MCP layer · OAuth 2.1 (SSO, Microsoft Entra, Google) · deployable to our Product Nursery (Railway) or your own cloud
03/The capability
Your operator works alongside us, not downstream from us. Their tacit expertise shapes the build, and they learn enough to maintain, adapt, and share the capability internally after handoff.
Pairs work in Claude Code and Codex CLI
Unit mechanics
The model works because each role is explicit before work starts. Payment, verification, operator ownership, and internal upside are all tied to the same close-date outcome.
Sponsor
The sponsor owns the business need and pays for the work. The split is 50% on activation and 50% after verified success.
Oracle
The oracle is the client-side verifier. They confirm the business outcome and handoff criteria against evidence, usually at the close date.
Operator
The operator is the internal person who will steward the workflow, repository, or method after handoff. Sometimes the operator and oracle are the same person.
Upside
We usually recommend reserving about 10% of the bounty as success-only upside for the client-side operator. If the unit fails, that extra upside does not pay.
Success criteria
The best criteria are narrow enough to verify and ambitious enough to matter. We set them after inspecting the data, because the target has to match operational reality.
01
A measurable improvement: 10x faster cycle time, 2x backlog throughput, fewer manual review hours, or a comparable operating result.
02
Some units include an AND or OR condition when the business value has two legitimate paths, such as speed plus accuracy or conversion plus retention.
03
Proof that the internal operator can use, explain, and maintain the repo, production server, workflow, or methodology after we step back.
Buyer risk
The offer works when everyone can see the evidence, the access path, and the payout logic before the build starts. These are the default guardrails we use to keep that clear.
We ask for programmatic access before terms so the target is grounded in reality. That can start with read-only scopes, exports, or a sandbox; production write access only comes when the build actually needs it.
The sponsor, oracle, and operator align on the proof that will count at the close date. If success is ambiguous, the default is that the unit is unresolved unless an extraordinary extension is mutually approved.
The price is a share of the outcome's expected value, confirmed with you before any work begins. There is no hourly billing once the outcome is underway, so the cost does not drift as the work does.
We usually recommend reserving about 10% of the engagement as success-only upside for the client-side operator, subject to the client's compensation rules. It only pays when the oracle verifies success, so the internal owner shares in upside without adding buyer risk.
Proven outcomes
Every resolved Quick Win is tracked in our outcome-based accountability platform. If the live ledger is unavailable in this environment, start with the public case study library.
50%
Jet Parts Engineering cut technical document creation time in an eight-week sprint.
$186k
IGS tied first-week attrition reduction to measurable annual savings.
$70k
An internal contract-review assistant avoided a commercial legal AI purchase.
Ledger unavailable
The live ledger is unavailable in this environment. The case study library is available while the feed is being configured.
Browse our case studiesHow it works
01 / Access
We need programmatic access to the relevant systems first. That can start read-only or through exports, but it has to reveal ground truth so the success criteria can actually be verified.
02 / Terms
Once Groundwork clears the activation gate, the outcome gets a sponsor, close date, oracle, operator, and one to three criteria. The price is a share of the outcome's expected value, confirmed before any work begins.
03 / Build
We can usually create the first breakthrough in week one. The rest of the cycle is grinding through edge cases until the tool fits the operator's hands and the business outcome is real.
04 / Verify
At the close date, the oracle verifies success and the second half of payment is released. We transfer the repository or operating method, then reflect on what changed and the value created.
Investment
There is no fixed sticker price and no hourly billing once the outcome is underway. The price is a share of the value the outcome is expected to create, which Groundwork projects before we commit. We confirm it with you before any work begins, and you pay half on activation and half on verified success.
01/Expected value
Groundwork projects what the outcome is worth: hours saved, revenue unlocked, cost or risk avoided. That projected value is the basis for the price.
02/A share of it
The price is a share of that expected value, confirmed with you before any work begins. There is no hourly billing once the outcome is underway.
03/50% / 50%
You pay 50% on activation and 50% on verified success. The second half is contingent on the oracle confirming the criteria at the close date.
How the outcome closes
The outcome resolves when the oracle verifies the agreed criteria at the close date, and the second half of payment is released then. If the result is ambiguous, the default is that it is unresolved. Extensions are only for extraordinary circumstances by mutual approval, and a re-scoped target is a separate outcome.
Every engagement begins with Groundwork to identify the systems, data, operator, and the value an outcome is worth before the price is finalized.
Why custom code
A no-code workflow is rented capacity that lives inside someone else's product. A custom repository with an MCP layer is owned infrastructure that compounds. AI coding tools have collapsed the cost of building real software to the point where a domain expert and an operator can build production-grade systems together. The result is a verified outcome and a capability your business owns, extends, and shares.
Keep going
Start with paid discovery, or scale outcomes across a fund's portfolio.
Portfolio-wide AI value creation for funds where transformation is core to the thesis.
Custom
Paid discovery that finds the right AI outcome before you commit, and what each one is worth.
Billed hourly
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