What we do

AI-era engineering modernization for SaaS teams and PE portfolios.

Heavy Chain helps lower middle-market vertical SaaS companies modernize software delivery for the AI era. We work directly with operating companies, and with the PE firms that need portfolio-level visibility into AI readiness, delivery leverage, and engineering risk.

Start here · find the project

AI Delivery Assessment

A paid one-week diagnostic. We review how your team ships software today, find the biggest bottleneck, and choose the one project worth modernizing first, then record the baseline we measure against. We don't build anything yet; that's the Sprint.

From $10K · one week

What’s included

  • Delivery workflow review
  • AI readiness review
  • Bottleneck map
  • The project to start with
  • Baseline numbers
  • Rollout plan
  • Executive readout

The flagship · build it

AI Delivery Modernization Sprint

Two weeks, led by Jason. We embed with your team and ship one real, funded project the AI-native way: setting up the workflow, tooling, tests, and review standards, and training the team by doing the actual work. We measure before and after, so the gain is proven, not promised.

From $40K · two weeks

What’s included

  • Project spec
  • The AI engineering workflow
  • Our tooling (etc) set up in your environment
  • Team training while shipping
  • Testing and quality gates
  • Review standards
  • Before / after measurement
  • Executive readout

After the Sprint · keep it current

etc Operating License

A monthly subscription that keeps the workflow from going stale as AI tools and models change. The Sprint sets it up; the License maintains it.

$5K / month

What’s included

  • Workflow updates
  • Templates
  • Guidance as models change
  • Office hours
  • Support
  • Ongoing improvements

For PE firms · across the portfolio

Portfolio AI Delivery Program

For PE firms with vertical SaaS portfolios. We work at the fund level: assess which companies are ready, set the rollout order, run the first pilots, and report to the fund on speed, quality, adoption, and risk. One operating lens across the portfolio, not the single-company Sprint repeated.

From $35K assessment · then $10K–$20K / month

What’s included

  • PortCo readiness assessment
  • Rollout order
  • Bottleneck map
  • AI adoption / risk map
  • Recommended pilots
  • Fund-level reporting
  • Speed, quality, and adoption metrics
  • Operating-partner guidance

Additional ways we help

Secondary capabilities, not the headline.

Technical due diligence

Engineering risk, architecture scalability, AI readiness, and leadership quality for an acquisition or board — every finding framed against the thesis, with a Day One operating plan alongside the report.

Fractional, interim & turnaround CTO

When a team needs senior technical ownership rather than a single project, we step in as embedded leadership — strategy and delivery, not advice.

Why Heavy Chain

Twenty years of engineering leadership, the last three building in production with AI.

I led technology at a $1B AUM investment firm — on the operator side of the table, where engineering quality is a line item in the thesis, not an abstraction. Before that, two decades of architectural work across cloud-native platforms, LLMs, and AI-native product systems.

The last three years I spent building in production with AI, not theorizing about it. The tooling, framework, and process that came out of that work are exactly what we install in your team.

Start with an assessment.

We find the highest-leverage project and define what success looks like — before you commit to the Sprint.