Questions we get.
Twelve answers, plain. What we do, who we work with, how engagements run, how to get in touch. If yours isn't here, write a note.
What does Alpen Tech actually do?
Three moves, in order. Rewire the process spending money and time. Ship the platform that runs it in production inside thirty to ninety days. Prove the number moved against a dated baseline written before the build. Most AI work fails in the rewire, not in the model.
Who is this for?
Small and mid-sized businesses, roughly 10 to 500 people. Three operator profiles fit best: professional services firms (10-200), SaaS and tech startups (10-100), and manufacturing, industrial, or engineering firms (50-500). Sub-10 is past it before we finish the intake call. 500-plus has a different problem set than the one we're built to solve.
Who runs this?
Phil Howard. Seventeen-plus years in tech leadership, including a ten-thousand-user AI rollout at a Fortune 20 retailer. Nuclear and mechanical engineering training before the tech career. Builds production AI infrastructure daily. The founder signs every page of every deliverable.
Is this an agency?
No. Solo practitioner consultancy. No team layered between you and the work. The person you talk to on the intake call does the build, writes the readout, and signs the final page.
Do you only do AI?
No. Sometimes the answer is an agent or a pipeline. Sometimes it's a Python script, a workflow redesign, or a conversation the team needed to have. Sometimes the right move is to stop doing the work entirely. We don't sell a stack. We solve the problem with whatever moves the number.
How do engagements typically work?
Conversation first. Scoped engagement second. Ship and measure third. Most engagements run thirty to ninety days from kickoff to a first production cut. If the first ship isn't in production, the engagement failed regardless of the readout.
Do you resell model APIs or cloud?
No. You pay your own vendor invoices at cost. No markup, no kickbacks, no preferred-vendor arrangements that bend the recommendation. The recommendation is whatever fits your problem.
Whose data lives where?
Yours. The platform indexes against your sources and retrieves from your infrastructure. Nothing leaves your environment to live in ours. We configure the platform; you own the data and the indexes. Exit is a feature, not a scary event.
Do you sign NDAs?
Yes. Standard mutual NDA before any meaningful detail crosses. Your paper or ours, either works.
What if AI isn't the answer?
Valid outcome. We tell you plainly, with a pointer to what to fix first. About half of intake calls don't turn into a scoped engagement, and we tell you that on the call.
What size company is the right fit?
10 to 500 people, with the bands above. Sub-10 is usually overkill on our side. 500-plus has different problems than the ones this practice is built to solve. Outside those bands and still curious? Send a note. We'll tell you straight.
How do I get in touch?
Email [email protected]. Replies within one business day.