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AI for companies that don’t sell software

Forward deployed engineers

A small team of senior U.S. engineers joins your team’s daily work. They find the work your people still do by hand. One example: typing emailed orders into your ERP, the main system your business runs on. Then they build AI that does it, connected to the systems you already use.

Start with Compass: 6 to 8 weeks, fixed price. Your leaders and team show us how the work gets done. You get every idea ranked by what it saves and what it costs.

TodayStill waitingAI ideaWaitingOrder emailTyped in by handTest versionNever went liveWith GnarEmail orders, with AIOrder emailRead by AICustomerMatchedItemsFilled inStock checkChecked by AIApproveYour systemsThe ERP and tools you keepERPEmailFilesReportsLiveAI taskTodayStill waitingAI ideaWaitingOrder emailTyped in by handTest versionNever went liveWith GnarEmail orders, with AIOrder emailRead by AICustomerMatchedItemsFilled inStock checkChecked by AIApproveYour systemsThe ERP and tools you keepERPEmailLiveAI task

The Gnar Company provides forward deployed engineer services. At Counter Culture Coffee, our team held more than 15 interviews and found 79 opportunities to save time and money. The top 10 could save $1.5M a year.

What changes

From typed in by hand to done by AI.

Quoting todayRequest arrivesBy handPrices looked upAI can do thisQuote sentBy hand
Quoting todayRequest arrivesBy handPrices looked upAI can do thisQuote sentBy hand

Less retyping

The steps your people repeat all day, like retyping orders or looking up prices, get done by AI.

SavesCostLook up pricesHighLowBuild firstDraft quotesHighHighWeekly reportLowLow
SavesCostLook up pricesHighLowDraft quotesHighHighWeekly reportLowLowBuild firstLook up prices

Biggest savings first

Every task is scored on what it saves, what it costs to build, and whether your data is ready. The best score gets built first.

Test versionOn one laptopYour systemsYour tools, your dataLiveGo live
Test versionOn one laptopYour systemsYour tools, your dataLiveGo live

Runs in your systems

It connects to your ERP and your team’s tools, and it runs in your own accounts. Not a demo on someone’s laptop.

Pick for this taskAI modelWhichever fits the taskToolsWhat your team usesAI companyNot just one
Pick for this taskAI modelWhichever fits the taskToolsWhat your team usesAI companyNot just one

Not stuck with one AI

We’re a Claude Select Services Partner and use Claude by default. If another AI fits a task better, we use that one.

Two ways to work with us

We build it for you, or with you.

Either way, you own what we build. The only question is whether your people learn to build it too.

Hand-off

We build it, you run it

We hand it over finished. Your team runs it from there.

Built by GnarFind the workDoneBuildDoneGo liveDoneYour teamRuns it from hereLiveAI task
Built by GnarFind the workDoneBuildDoneGo liveDoneYour teamRuns it from hereLiveAI task
Side by side

We build it with your people

Two to four of your people work next to ours and learn as we go. When we leave, they own it.

Gnar teamYour peopleTogetherTrainedOwnedBuildTrainOwnBuilt together, then theirs
Gnar teamYour peopleTogetherTrainedOwnedBuildTrainOwnBuilt together, then theirs

Proof

Our work

Finding the savings

Mapping the work and ranking every opportunity at Counter Culture Coffee

79opportunities found, scored and ranked after 15+ interviews
$1.5Min potential yearly savings from the top 10
Read case study

AI training

Teaching GSC Enterprises’ engineers to build software with AI

4weeks to make AI part of how GSC’s engineers build
70GSC leaders those engineers went on to train on AI
Read case study
See all our work

How it works

How we’d work with you

If you build with us, the team that builds it already knows your work from Compass.

Your businessLearned from the people who do itEmailERPFiles
Your businessLearned from the people who do itEmailERPFiles
Step 1 · Compass, 6 to 8 weeks

See how the work gets done

We talk to the people who do the work and write down how each task gets done. You end with every idea ranked, and the first build scoped at a fixed price.

Email ordersLiveQuotingBuildingReportingNext
Email ordersLiveQuotingBuildingReportingNext
Step 2

Build the top task first

If you go ahead, we build it, test it and switch it on for your team. The people who use it sign off first. Then the next one.

In your systemsDoneYour team runs itDoneNext taskIn progress
In your systemsDoneYour team runs itDoneNext taskIn progress
Step 3

Yours to run

Everything we build belongs to you, code included.

Our record

Why Gnar?

Common questions

Frequently asked questions

Still have questions?

What is a forward deployed engineer, and when do I need one?

A forward deployed engineer is a software engineer who joins your company’s daily work instead of taking requests from the outside. You need one when your board wants AI and there is no plan yet. You also need one when you pay for AI tools few people use, or when AI test versions never go live. Gnar’s forward deployed engineers find the tasks AI should do, build them, and put them live in your systems.

Does The Gnar Company provide forward deployed engineers for AI?

Yes. The Gnar Company provides forward deployed engineers as a small team of U.S.-based senior engineers, not a single hire. AI projects usually stall because the steps, the software and the data all need fixing. One person can’t fix all three. A team can.

How do I hire forward deployed engineers to implement AI?

It starts with Compass: 6 to 8 weeks of interviews, writing down how each task gets done, at a fixed price. At the end, you know which tasks are worth building, and in what order. Building is a separate decision, made later, with us or anyone else. If you build with us, our team builds them. To begin, book a call. Or take our free AI Readiness Assessment, a short check of where AI fits.

How are forward deployed engineers different from staff augmentation?

With staff augmentation, you get extra engineers and you tell them what to build. Gnar’s team works out what to build. It finds which tasks are worth changing, then builds the AI that changes them. If you just need more engineers for your own plans, Gnar offers that separately as staff augmentation.

How is this different from hiring an AI consultant?

A consultant hands you a plan and leaves. Someone else has to build it. Gnar’s team does both. The plan is Compass. If you build with us, our engineers write the software and put it to work in your systems. You end up with AI that runs, not a plan you still have to hire people to build.

Do your forward deployed engineers only work with one AI vendor?

No. Like all of Gnar’s AI services, our work starts from your problem, not from a product. Our own engineers use Claude by default. Gnar is also a Claude Select Services Partner, an official partner of Anthropic, which makes Claude. Still, each task gets whichever AI fits it best.

Do you work with our ERP and the systems we already have?

Yes. We build around the ERP and other systems you are keeping. The AI reads from them and writes back to them, only in the ways you allow. Your team keeps working in the tools it knows. We build one task at a time, not a year-long ERP replacement. If something has to be replaced, we will tell you why first.

What access does the AI get to our systems?

Only what you agree to. You decide what the AI can see and do, one system at a time. For example, it can look up an order without seeing prices. Or it can fill in an ERP entry that waits for a person to approve it. We build in a record of every action it takes, so your team can check what it did. It is all built inside your own systems, so you stay in control.

Who owns what gets built?

You do. It all lives in your systems, and the code stays in your accounts. We leave written instructions so your team can run it. If your people built it with us, they keep the skills too.

Your businessFirst, we find where AI fitsEmailERPFilesReports
Your businessFirst, we find where AI fitsEmailERPFilesReports

Start here

Not sure where AI fits yet? That is the first thing we work out.

If your own team has the capacity and the direction, you do not need us. We will tell you that on the call.

Book a call

Let’s Talk

Contact Us

Tell us what you’re trying to build or fix.