Question 1

What does Qognition Labs do?

Accepted Answer

We're an engineering studio that ships custom software, AI systems, and automation infrastructure. We work across four pillars — AI automation, software development, specialized engineering, and AI/data support — for clients in the USA, Canada, Europe, the GCC, Australia, South America, and India.

Question 2

Who do you work best with?

Accepted Answer

Founders and operators who've been burned by agency hour-clocks, freelance teams, or stalled internal projects — and want a partner who locks scope, commits a ship window, and owns the outcome.

Question 3

Do I own the code you build?

Accepted Answer

Yes. You own the code, the infrastructure, and the documentation. We build production-grade, typed, documented systems designed to be maintained by your team or ours.

Question 4

How much does custom software development cost?

Accepted Answer

It depends on scope, but we quote a fixed price before any code — grounded in a real architecture from the Blueprint phase, not a guess. You know the number and the ship date before we start. We offer three models: fixed-scope builds, sprint-based teams, and embedded engineering pods.

Question 5

Why don't you bill hourly?

Accepted Answer

Hourly billing rewards slowness and punishes you for our learning curve. We lock scope and price before code so incentives point the same way: ship the outcome.

Question 6

How do you set a fixed price before building?

Accepted Answer

The Blueprint phase exists for exactly this. We scope the architecture and define the success metric before quoting, so the price is grounded in a real plan.

Question 7

What if the scope changes mid-build?

Accepted Answer

Scope changes are handled explicitly as new, separately-priced work — never as silent timesheet creep. You always know what you're paying for.

Question 8

What is the Forge Method?

Accepted Answer

Our five-phase delivery methodology: Blueprint (scope, architecture, and price locked), Prototype (a working core loop validated on real data), Forge (full-stack production build), Harden (performance, security, documentation), and Launch & Compound (go-live, monitoring, and roadmap ownership).

Question 9

How fast can you ship?

Accepted Answer

Fixed-scope MVPs often ship in a 30–60 day window depending on complexity. We commit to a ship window during the Blueprint and deliver against it — speed without skipping the hardening that keeps systems alive in production.

Question 10

What does a typical first engagement look like?

Accepted Answer

Most clients start with a Blueprint, then a fixed-scope build of one well-defined system. From there, many move to a sprint team or embedded pod to compound the roadmap.

Question 11

What's your tech stack?

Accepted Answer

Full-stack and specialized: TypeScript, React/Next.js, Python, Node, and Postgres on the core; LangGraph, Claude, OpenAI, Pinecone, and RAG tooling for AI; and Swift, Kotlin, Solidity, Rust, Unity, and Electron for specialized engineering. We pick the stack that fits the outcome.

Question 12

Should we use RAG or fine-tuning?

Accepted Answer

For most business use cases, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) is the right starting point — it grounds answers in your data, updates instantly, and avoids costly retraining. Fine-tuning makes sense for fixed style, format, or narrow classification tasks. We scope the choice during the Blueprint.

Question 13

Can you integrate AI into our existing software?

Accepted Answer

Yes. We add LLM-powered features — copilots, semantic search, document processing, agents — into production apps, wired into your existing stack, with evals and guardrails so they hold up in the real world.

Questions, answered straight.

Working with the Labs

Pricing & engagement

Process & delivery

Technology & AI

Start with a Blueprint.
Lock the scope. Ship the system.