Need Help Building AI Stuff? Here's How to Pick the Right Partner
TLDR; Want someone to build your whole AI product? Hire an agency. Need help figuring out what to build? Talk to a consultancy. Just missing a few people on your team? Get some contractors.
So you've decided to add AI to your business. Smart move. But now you're staring at a bunch of different options for getting help, and they all sound kind of the same. Let me break it down for you.
The Full-Service Agency: They Build Everything
Picture this: you've got an idea for an AI product, but you don't have the team to actually make it happen. An agency brings in their own crew—ML engineers, data people, product managers—and they build the whole thing for you.
Why people love agencies:
- One throat to choke – When something goes wrong, you know exactly who to call
- They've done this before – Their teams already know how to work together
- Speed – You're not spending months hiring and training people
- All the toys – They've got the expensive AI tools and infrastructure already set up
- They own the results – They're not just advising; they're delivering
Where it gets messy:
- It costs real money – More than just hiring a few contractors
- You're not the boss – They make a lot of the day-to-day calls
- What happens when they leave? – All that knowledge might walk out the door
- Getting stuck – Sometimes their proprietary stuff makes it hard to switch later
The Strategy Consultancy: The Brains, Not the Brawn
Maybe you're not even sure what you should build. Or you need someone to look at what you're already doing and tell you if it's actually going to work. That's where consultancies come in.
What consultancies are great at:
- Fresh eyes – They see things your team is too close to notice
- Deep expertise – These people have seen hundreds of AI projects
- Risk reduction – They help you avoid the obvious mistakes
- Speaking C-suite – They can translate tech stuff into business language your executives understand
The catch:
- They don't actually build anything – You get a fancy PowerPoint and then... you're on your own
- Sometimes it's too theoretical – Great ideas that don't work in the real world
- Mixed messages – Different consultants might tell you different things
Staff Augmentation: Renting Some Brains
You've got a team, you've got a plan, you just need a few more people who know their way around a neural network. That's staff augmentation—individual contractors who join your team for a while.
Why contractors work well:
- You're still in charge – They work for you, not the other way around
- They fit right in – They use your tools, follow your processes
- Flexible spending – Hire them for three months or twelve months
- The knowledge stays – When they leave, what they built stays with your team
The headaches:
- You need to know what you're doing – Someone on your team has to guide these people
- Management work – You're still onboarding, reviewing, and managing them
- Ramp-up time – They need to learn your business before they can be useful
- What if they leave? – Contractors come and go, and sometimes they leave at the worst time
So What's Actually the Best Choice?
Look, I run an agency, so I'm obviously biased. But I've been doing this long enough to know there's no single right answer.
Here's how I think about it:
- Got the vision but not the people? Agency gets you there fastest.
- Not sure if AI is even right for your business? Start with a consultancy to figure it out.
- Already have an AI team but missing some skills? Contractors fill the gaps perfectly.
For most companies just getting started with AI products, agencies hit the sweet spot. You get the speed, the expertise, and someone who actually takes responsibility for making it work—all without having to build an entire AI team from scratch.
