Advisory
Fractional Chief AI Officer services
Fractional Chief AI Officer services give a mid-market company a senior AI executive on a part-time retainer: direction set, decisions made and documented, governance built, vendors held accountable. Attain provides the role independently, with nothing else for sale.
Advisory runs $6,000–$15,000 per month, published openly. Most clients engage at $10,000. Every engagement carries a 3-month minimum, then rolls monthly.
The ladder
What a quarter delivers
Each tier is priced on the outcome it is accountable for, not on hours.
Lite Direction
After one quarter on Lite: direction set and written down, current priorities tested against it, and the two most expensive mis-steps on your list taken off it.
Core Decisions
After one quarter on Core: a prioritized AI roadmap the leadership team agrees on, two vendor decisions made and documented, and a governance baseline a customer questionnaire cannot embarrass.
Executive Operating Rhythm
After one quarter on Executive: an AI operating rhythm your leadership team runs without prompting, a board narrative that holds up to questioning, and executives fluent enough to challenge any vendor in the room.
| Tier | Outcome | Price per month | Cadence | Async |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lite | Direction | $6,000 | Two working sessions per month | Async questions answered within two business days |
| Core Most engaged | Decisions | $10,000 | Weekly working session | Async questions answered within one business day |
| Executive | Operating Rhythm | $15,000 | Weekly session plus leadership and board touchpoints | Same-business-day async window |
Each tier carries a monthly time cap, detailed in the engagement terms.
The start
Every engagement starts with the same month
The onboarding month produces the diagnostic baseline: where AI moves revenue, cost, and risk in your business, on your numbers and in your language. From it comes a prioritized 90-day decision agenda. That agenda is the scoreboard the engagement is measured against, starting in month one.
The artifacts
Judgment, in writing
Advisory that lives in meetings evaporates. Ours ships as documents.
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Decision memos
Every significant call written down: the question, the options, the position taken, the reasoning.
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Vendor evaluation memos
What was evaluated, against what criteria, and why the recommendation stands. No commissions behind it.
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Quarterly value report
The decision agenda scored: what was decided, what it changed, what comes next quarter.
Sample artifact
[Sanitized decision memo excerpt, provided at launch]
The alternatives
Fractional, against the alternatives
A fractional CAIO delivers senior AI judgment at a fraction of a full-time executive's cost, with none of the incentives that bend a consultant's roadmap.
| Option | Cost | What you actually get |
|---|---|---|
| Fractional CAIO (Attain) | $6,000–$15,000 per month | Senior AI judgment in the room, decisions documented, no execution revenue behind the advice. |
| Full-time Chief AI Officer | $300k–$550k all-in per year | The right hire in the wrong year: most mid-market companies need the judgment before they can feed a full-time role. When the hire is right: the hiring guidebook |
| Big consulting firm | Six figures per engagement | You get a deck. We put positions on record and stay accountable for them. |
| AI consultant or agency | Varies by project | Their roadmap has their invoice in it. Implementation revenue shapes the advice. |
| Your CTO absorbs it | Hidden | Divided attention on a moving field. A peer beside your CTO beats a second job on top of them. |
Independence and ceiling
Structurally on your side
The ceiling of 5
We serve 5 clients at most, published as a ceiling. It is what keeps async windows honest and working sessions prepared.
The graduation clause
Success includes helping you hire our replacement when scope justifies a full-time AI leader. You inherit a decision history, not a dependency.
Who this is not for
- Companies that want execution capacity. We advise; we do not build.
- Companies below roughly $5M in revenue. The diagnostic may still fit; the retainer will not.
- Companies that want a one-off workshop. The value is in decisions over quarters, not a session.
Terms
Commercial terms, in brief
- Billed monthly in advance. Rolling monthly after the third month.
- 3-month minimum to give the decision agenda one honest quarter.
- Prices reviewed annually; existing clients keep their rate for the engagement year.
- The $5,000 diagnostic is credited against the first retainer month on conversion.
Questions
Asked before buying
How much does a fractional CAIO cost per month?
A fractional CAIO at Attain costs $6,000–$15,000 per month, published openly. Lite runs $6,000 for direction, Core runs $10,000 for decisions, and Executive runs $15,000 for a full operating rhythm. Most clients engage at Core.
Engagements carry a three-month minimum, then roll monthly. The $5,000 diagnostic is standalone and credited against the first retainer month if you convert.
How quickly can a fractional CAIO make an impact?
The first month produces a written baseline and a prioritized 90-day decision agenda; impact shows up as decisions made and documented within the first quarter. Every Attain engagement starts the same way: a diagnostic baseline of where AI moves revenue, cost, and risk in your business.
From there the operating rhythm works through the agenda. By day 90 you have positions on record, not a plan to make a plan.
Do you work in our industry?
Almost certainly, because the CAIO role is domain-independent by design. The judgment being bought is about vendors, governance, sequencing, and risk. Your team supplies the domain depth; we supply the AI depth and the independence.
Thirty years across technology, consulting, and operating roles means most industry patterns are familiar. Where one is not, the diagnostic surfaces it in the first month, on your numbers and in your language.