kaizen-agentic/wiki/ForwardDeployedAgencyBusinessModel.md

Forward-Deployed Agency Business Model

Status: v1.0 accepted (ADR-007; pilot railiance01 complete) Date: 2026-07-16 Audience: product owners, coulomb ecosystem operators, early client sponsors Companion tech spec: docs/forward-deployed-engagement-architecture.md Canon ADR: docs/adr/ADR-007-forward-deployed-engagement-convention.md Playbook: docs/integrations/forward-deployed-engagement-playbook.md Decisions: docs/decisions/DEC-FDA-001-working-defaults.md Builds on: PricingModel.md, RevenueModel.md, KaizenAgenticMission.md, ADR-006

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1. Positioning

Kaizen-agentic is an agentic consulting practice — a digital talent agency that forward-deploys specialized agents into client environments (companies on the coulomb ecosystem, and coulomb-operated infrastructure itself).

Unlike a library of one-shot prompts, engagements are staffed roles:

Dimension	Meaning
Role competency	The agent is good at its job (sysadmin, coach, TDD lead, release manager)
Domain competency	The agent learns this client's systems, jargon, constraints, and history
Confidential custody	Operational knowledge gained on engagement belongs to the client
Reusable craft	Role patterns, playbooks, and non-secret refinements improve the agency fleet

Clients do not rent anonymous token burn. They engage a named digital colleague with a ramp-up, steady-state duty, and orderly ramp-down — analogous to a forward-deployed engineer, with measurement and continuous improvement baked in.

Who is the customer?

1. Coulomb internal — ecosystem ops (e.g. railiance01 host operator, loop coaches)
2. Coulomb-ecosystem companies — product teams using railiance, state-hub, activity-core, etc.
3. Later: external companies — same model once trial currency proves unit economics

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2. Value proposition

For the client

• A competent agent on their problem, not a generic chatbot
• Knowledge that stays in their custody (engagement vault; see tech spec)
• Explicit lifecycle: request → staff → ramp-up → operate → ramp-down → handoff
• Transparent cost model that starts in trial currency and can convert to money
• Measurable duty: schedules, health reviews, SLAs stated in the engagement contract

For the agency (kaizen-agentic)

• Recurring engagement revenue (or trial-currency demand signal) beyond one-off installs
• Dual learning loops:
  • Role craft compounds in supplier IP (prompts, protocols, coach patterns)
  • Domain craft compounds only where the client allows (engagement memory)
• Reference deployments inside coulomb that prove the model before external sales
• Natural upsell path: more roles, higher cadence, premium tiers (capability multipliers)

What is not sold

• Client secrets, host fingerprints, incident narratives, or tenant topology as kaizen training data
• Unbounded autonomous change rights on production systems
• Transfer of client operational IP into the public agent catalog without scrubbing and explicit license

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3. Engagement product units

3.1 Role (catalog product)

A Role is a supplier-owned agent definition family (e.g. host-operator, sys-medic, coach, tdd-workflow). Roles have:

• Capability tier (1×–5× per PricingModel.md)
• Standard protocols and metrics
• Default cadences (on-demand, daily, weekly)
• Required access classes (read-only shell, cert-bound SSH, no secrets, etc.)

3.2 Engagement (sold instance)

An Engagement is a time-bounded (or open-ended) staffing of one or more Roles for a Client against named Targets (repos, hosts, clusters, product areas).

Field	Example (pilot)
Client	coulomb / railiance ops
Role	host-operator (specialization of infrastructure / sys-medic craft)
Target	host railiance01 (k3s production node)
Duty	keep OS current, security posture, load & workload review
Cadence	daily health review; weekly OS/security pass; on-demand incident assist
Knowledge plane	client-owned engagement vault on client infrastructure
Billing plane	trial Kai ledger → later EUR settlement

3.3 Seat vs. duty

• Seat — right to run a role for a client (subscription-like)
• Duty unit — a scheduled or on-demand work session (usage-like)

Pricing can combine both (seat for continuity + duty units for heavy weeks).

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4. Dual knowledge planes (commercial rule)

This is the commercial expression of the technical confidentiality design.

Plane	Owner	Contents	May feed supplier IP?
Client operational knowledge	Client	Host baselines, incident history, topology, credentials pointers, “how we run X here”	No — unless client explicitly contributes a scrubbed lesson
Role craft (agency IP)	kaizen-agentic	Prompts, protocols, assessment methods, generic playbooks	Yes — always
Shared anonymized metrics	Negotiated	Aggregate success rates, quality scores, cadence stats	Opt-in only
Engagement artifacts	Client	Session reports, run logs, recommendations	Client; supplier may retain billing metadata only

Default contract language: “All operational knowledge acquired during the engagement is Client Confidential Information. Supplier retains ownership of generic Role definitions and non-identifying process improvements.”

Violation of this plane split is a product defect, not a negotiation detail.

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5. In-game currency: Kai

5.1 Purpose

Kai is a trial and internal settlement unit used while the agency model is proven inside coulomb and with friendly clients. It:

• Creates real scarcity and budget discipline without invoicing friction
• Makes role tiers and duty costs felt before EUR conversion
• Produces ledger data to calibrate real prices
• Can later map 1:1 (or with a published FX) to currency

Kai is not a cryptocurrency, not publicly traded, and not legal tender. It is a ledger balance in the coulomb / kaizen settlement system.

5.2 Units and denominations

Symbol	Name	Typical use
Kai	base unit	All ledger entries
kKai	1 000 Kai	Monthly seat packages
MKai	1 000 000 Kai	Portfolio budgets (optional)

5.3 Minting (trial phase)

Source	Amount (illustrative)	Notes
Bootstrap grant	50 000 Kai per new client	One-time, expires in 90 days if unused
Internal coulomb ops grant	200 000 Kai / quarter	Ecosystem self-service (railiance, loop, etc.)
Top-up voucher	Operator-issued	For pilots and demos
Earned credit	Variable	Completing engagement feedback, contributing scrubbed lessons

No automatic infinite mint. Empty balance pauses new duty starts (ramp-down of in-flight work is always allowed without charge).

5.4 Spend catalog (trial price list)

Prices are in Kai and intentionally round for mental math. Capability multipliers from PricingModel.md apply as tier weights on duty units.

Seats (monthly, auto-renew while funded):

Product	Tier weight	Seat / month
Baseline role seat (1×)	1	2 000 Kai
Professional role seat (3×)	3	6 000 Kai
Expert / host-operator seat (4×)	4	10 000 Kai
Premium meta / coach fleet seat (5×)	5	15 000 Kai

Duty units (per executed session, in addition to seat):

Duty	Base cost	After tier weight M
On-demand short assist (≤30 min wall)	100 Kai	100 × M
Standard review session (scheduled)	400 Kai	400 × M
Deep assessment / change window	1 200 Kai	1 200 × M
Ramp-up package (fixed, once)	5 000 Kai	5 000 × M / 2 (half weight)
Ramp-down package (fixed, once)	3 000 Kai	3 000 × M / 2

Access class surcharges (per session):

Access class	Surcharge
Read-only / docs-only	+0
Host observe (non-root shell / metrics)	+100 Kai
Privileged ops (root, package upgrade, firewall)	+400 Kai + human approval gate
Multi-host or cluster-wide	+200 Kai per additional host

LLM token pass-through (optional, trial): Recorded as token_kai = ceil(actual_vendor_cost_EUR * kai_per_eur_fx) for transparency; may be waived in pure internal coulomb trials.

5.5 Example: railiance01 host-operator pilot

Line item	Calc	Kai
Expert seat (4×), 1 month	10 000	10 000
Ramp-up package	5 000 × 4 / 2	10 000
Daily standard review × 20 business days	20 × 400 × 4	32 000
Weekly deep OS/security pass × 4	4 × 1 200 × 4	19 200
Privileged surcharges (est. 4 sessions)	4 × 400	1 600
Month-1 total		~72 800 Kai

Internal coulomb quarterly grant (200 000 Kai) covers ~2–3 such seats with headroom — enough to run the pilot and still force prioritization.

5.6 Conversion to real payments

When trial ends (client or product decision), Kai balances convert:

EUR_due = remaining_committed_work_EUR
        + (optional) unused_Kai_forfeit or credit_at_FX

Published FX (initial, revisable):

Mode	Rule
Trial learning FX	1 000 Kai ≈ 1 EUR of agency list price for calibration only
Commercial FX	Seat and duty price lists republished in EUR; Kai ledger frozen or becomes loyalty credit
Grandfathering	Active engagements keep trial Kai rates for one more full billing cycle after conversion notice

Transition states:

1. trial_kai — only Kai ledger
2. hybrid — seats invoiced in EUR; duty still in Kai (or reverse)
3. commercial_eur — full EUR; Kai optional loyalty only

Settlement systems (invoice, SEPA, etc.) are out of repo; this model only defines the commercial units and conversion rules.

5.7 What Kai deliberately does not buy

• Secrets or elevated access without ops-warden / OpenBao routing
• Guaranteed zero-incident outcomes
• Ownership of supplier Role IP
• Training the public catalog on client confidential data

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6. Competency model (what improves over time)

6.1 Role competency (agency asset)

Improved via:

• Metrics (success, quality, time) across many engagements
• Coach + optimizer loops (existing agency framework)
• Protocol runbooks refined after generalized lessons
• Capability tier promotion of Role products

Commercial effect: higher tier weight → higher Kai/EUR price, justified by lower client risk and better outcomes.

6.2 Domain competency (client asset)

Improved via:

• Engagement memory and node/host profiles
• Client runbooks and decisions in the engagement vault
• Session logs and cleared-issue history

Commercial effect: longer engagements get more efficient (fewer duty units for the same outcome). Discounts for multi-quarter renewals reflect reduced ramp cost, not ownership transfer of client knowledge.

6.3 Learning tax and learning credit

Event	Effect
First engagement of a new Role for a client	Ramp-up package mandatory
Client contributes scrubbed “lesson learned” accepted into Role craft	Kai credit (e.g. 1 000–5 000)
Supplier extracts confidential detail into public Role without approval	Contract breach; engagement freeze

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7. Lifecycle commercial view

Request → Quote (Kai) → Fund → Staff → Ramp-up → Operate → (Renew | Ramp-down) → Close

Phase	Client pays	Client receives	Agency obligation
Request / quote	0	Scope options, tier recommendation	Respond with Role fit + Kai estimate
Staff	Seat (pro-rate)	Named engagement + agent definition bound to targets	Provision definition + access plan
Ramp-up	Ramp package	Orientation, baselines, coach brief, first metrics	Achieve “operationally aware” exit criteria
Operate	Seat + duty	Scheduled work, reports, continuous memory	Meet cadence & safety policy
Renew	Next seat period	Continuity; optional tier change	No re-ramp if knowledge vault intact
Ramp-down	Ramp-down package	Handoff pack, knowledge export, revoke access	Clean exit; no residual client secrets at supplier
Close	Settlement	Final ledger + EUR conversion if any	Archive billing metadata only

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8. Go-to-market inside coulomb

Phase A — Internal dogfood (now)

• Clients: coulomb projects and railiance ops
• Currency: Kai only
• First Role: host-operator on railiance01
• Success: 30 days of reviews, OS/security pass documented, load findings actionable

Phase B — Ecosystem companies

• Same Kai ledger; bootstrap grants
• Roles: host-operator, coach/optimizer loop, release manager, TDD
• Playbook reuse from coulomb-loop (ADR-006) + this model

Phase C — External commercial

• EUR price list derived from Kai consumption data
• Hybrid then commercial_eur
• Optional professional services (custom Role design) as separate line items (see RevenueModel.md §4)

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9. Relationship to existing pricing docs

Document	Role after this model
PricingModel.md	Capability multipliers remain the tier engine (M)
RevenueModel.md	Margin story for EUR phase; Kai is pre-revenue instrumentation
This document	Engagement packaging, confidential knowledge, trial currency, lifecycle

Token markup formula Price = C × M still applies when vendor tokens are pass-through. Engagement pricing adds seat + duty + access class so that value is not only token volume (a careful weekly review can be high value with modest tokens).

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10. Risks and mitigations

Risk	Mitigation
Kai inflation (infinite grants)	Quarterly mint caps; empty balance pauses duty
Client confuses trial with free forever	Expiry on grants; conversion notice period
Knowledge leak into public agents	Dual planes; automated redaction gates (tech spec); legal default
Over-autonomous privileged ops	Access class + human approval; safety-first Role principles
Underpriced expert seats	Recalibrate FX after 2–3 pilots using actual duty mix
Scope creep on “operator” Role	Engagement contract lists hosts, cadences, change windows

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11. Success metrics (business)

1. Pilot completion — railiance01 host-operator engagement runs full lifecycle once
2. Ledger fidelity — ≥95% of duty sessions post a Kai charge event
3. Knowledge boundary audit — zero confidential client artifacts in supplier agents/ without scrub + license
4. Renewal signal — client chooses renew or ramp-down with documented handoff
5. Price calibration — published EUR draft list within ±30% of Kai-implied spend after conversion FX

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12. Open decisions (for sponsor)

Phase 1 locked in DEC-FDA-001: file JSONL ledger; pilot path under engagements/pilots/; one engagement × N targets; metrics opt-in default off.

Still open for later:

1. Is internal coulomb billed only in Kai forever, or eventually soft EUR for cost visibility?
2. Multi-tenant companies: one client account or one per product line?
3. Can unused Kai transfer between sister projects in the same company?
4. When to introduce a shared settlement service beyond JSONL?

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Related

• Canon ADR: ADR-007
• Playbook: forward-deployed-engagement-playbook.md
• Technical architecture: docs/forward-deployed-engagement-architecture.md
• Customer loop convention: ADR-006
• Agency framework: docs/agency-framework.md
• Mission: KaizenAgenticMission.md
• Pilot: engagements/pilots/eng-coulomb-railiance01-ho-001/