"What an AI feature really costs: a budgeting guide"
Founders budgeting for an AI feature usually fixate on the API bill — which turns out to be the smallest line. The real money goes on the build around the model, the eval suite, ongoing human review and maintenance. Here is how the budget actually breaks down.
"What will the API bill be?" is the first question I get from almost every founder budgeting an AI feature. It is a reasonable question with a surprising answer: in nearly every system I have shipped, the model API is the smallest line in the budget. If your spreadsheet has one row for "AI costs" and it points at token pricing, you are budgeting for the wrong thing.
Have an AI feature stuck between demo and production?
The gap — reliability, evals, cost control, the plumbing that keeps it running unattended — is exactly the work I do. If that sounds familiar, a short conversation is usually enough to point you the right way.
Book a free consultation