Find your calm with Fern Strategy.
Your go to AI builder partner.

We help product teams and tech companies build and ship AI systems faster through hands-on building, automation design, and battle-tested engineering leadership.

Big SystemsFast RoadmapsHigh Stakes

We join your team to lead mission‑critical work and leave you with the strategy to keep it going.

AI Implementation Roadmap

Choose your starting point — each phase builds on the previous one

Start Here
1-2 Weeks
PHASE 1

Audit

What and How to Build

If you're exploring AI but unclear where to start or need validation on your technical approach, start here.

AI Readiness AuditFor teams exploring AI but unclear where to start
Technical AI AssessmentFor teams with an AI idea needing architecture validation
Tell Us Your Opportunities
1-4 Months
PHASE 2

Build

Turn Strategy into Working AI Systems

After the audit, we build and deploy your AI solution to production—with implementation and handoff so your team can maintain it.

AI Implementation SprintMonthly retainer during build phase
Full Build + RolloutComplete quarterly cycle including training and monitoring
Discuss Your Project
Ongoing
PHASE 3

Partner

Scale with Embedded Leadership

Two retainer paths for different needs:

PATH A: FRACTIONAL TECH LEADERSHIP
Advisory Track(8-12 hrs/month)Best for: Teams needing technical sounding board
Embedded Track(15-20 hrs/month)Best for: Teams undergoing transition or building AI capability
PATH B: RETAINED DEVELOPMENT
Standard Scope— Quarterly deliveryBest for: Teams needing consistent velocity
Premium Scope— Complex features, higher velocityBest for: Teams with ambitious roadmaps
Explore Partnership Options

What you get

1

Clear AI Roadmap & Architecture Decisions

No more analysis paralysis—know exactly what to build and how.

2

AI Features Shipped to Production Faster

Working systems delivered, not just recommendations.

3

Team Capability Upgraded

Your team learns AI-assisted workflows that outlast the engagement.

What's the Investment?

Projects typically start at $7k for diagnostic audits and scale based on scope and complexity. Most clients working with us have a monthly AI budget of $20k+ for implementation or ongoing partnership engagements.

Every engagement is scoped based on your specific needs, team size, and technical complexity. Book a call to discuss your situation and get a custom proposal and price sheet.

Book a Discovery Call

Our leadership

Will Drewes - Founder and Tech Lead at Fern Strategy, engineering leadership consultant

Will Drewes

Founder & Tech Lead

Will is a veteran technology leader with 15+ years delivering complex, high-stakes systems across music, healthcare, and e-commerce. He's led engineering teams at UnitedMasters, Science 37, and LTK - building everything from SaaS, telemedicine platforms to music distribution technology and applied AI products for today's top artists and record labels.

Our go-to design partner

When the experience demands delight

We partner with world class designers to deliver AI systems that feel natural, trustworthy, and delightful. From conversational agents to workflow copilots, we go beyond technical correctness to craft interactions that resonate with how humans think and feel.

Alice Kang - Product Design Partner at Fern Strategy

Alice Kang

Product Design Partner

Alice is an experienced product design leader with 8+ years focused on simplifying complex systems and shaping end-to-end user experiences. She has led major design initiatives and 0→1 product launches at SoundCloud, Vault, Los Angeles Times, and UnitedMasters (including the flagship Blueprint AI creative tool). Her expertise spans AI-driven products, digital media, subscription monetization, defining product strategy, and creating design systems for large-scale artist and consumer platforms.

Our Five-Step Engagement Process

Discovery & Alignment Process
1

Discovery &
Alignment

We get right to work. No bloated decks. No endless discovery loops. We meet the people who matter and quickly map your goals, constraints, risks, and success metrics. Within days you have clarity on what actually moves the needle and where AI can create leverage immediately.

AI roadmap planning session - team prioritizing high-ROI use cases and dependencies
2

Sizing &
Sequencing

We size every opportunity fast and shape it into a clean, prioritized roadmap. No ceremony. No hand-wavy strategy. Just a practical, reality-checked plan that exposes dependencies, highlights the high-ROI AI use cases, and shows the smartest path forward.

Engagement planning consultation - deploying fractional tech leads and AI workflow architects
3

Engagement
Planning

When scope is set, we deploy exactly the talent you need. That might be a fractional Tech Lead, an AI workflow architect, or a hands-on IC who ships. You get a simple credit model, a crisp working agreement, and an embedded partner who integrates into your team without slowing it down.

Design & Kickoff Process
4

Design &
Kickoff

We create only the artifacts that unlock momentum: lightweight architecture, agent workflows, observability plans, and launch steps. Then we run a tight kickoff that brings everyone into alignment so execution starts immediately.

AI-accelerated engineering delivery - outcome-driven development cycles with agent-based execution
5

Delivery &
Evolution

We deliver in short, outcome-driven cycles using AI-accelerated engineering and agent-based execution. Progress is visible, communication is simple, and every build is designed to be owned and extended by your team long after we're gone. You get speed and clarity, not churn.