Founders building AI-native products
Free resource · Field guide
Managing AI Costs Without Killing the Product
A practical field guide to understanding, controlling, and pricing AI usage before the API bill becomes the business model.
I break AI cost management down as a product and operating problem: measuring the real cost of a completed workflow, routing work to the right model, controlling agent loops and context growth, setting customer-level budgets, protecting gross margin, and building the reporting needed to know when usage is creating value rather than just spend.
Start the guide ↗15 chapters · free · no signup required
Who it's for
Built for people making the same decisions I made.
This guide extends the same operating principles I used when building FewzenAI: usage has to be attributable to a customer and a workflow, model and token data have to be visible, BYOK has to be distinguishable from platform-funded usage, and cost controls have to sit inside the product rather than in a spreadsheet reviewed after the bill arrives.
Engineering leaders responsible for AI infrastructure spend
Product teams deciding where expensive models are actually justified
Agencies delivering AI-assisted work for clients
Consultants reviewing AI unit economics and operational controls
Finance and operations teams trying to forecast variable AI costs
Structure
5 parts, 15 chapters.
Every chapter follows the same teaching device: the situation, the naive solution, the hidden constraint, the decision, the implementation, the tradeoff, the evidence, the reusable lesson, and the consultant's questions.
Part 1: Understanding the Real Cost
Part 2: Controlling Runtime Spend
Part 3: Turning Cost Control Into Product Behaviour
Part 4: Pricing and Commercial Economics
Part 5: Operating AI Costs as a Discipline
Where I can help
AI Cost and Unit Economics Review
I help teams map the real cost of their AI workflows, identify the expensive failure modes, design model-routing and usage controls, and connect technical consumption to pricing, margins, and customer value.
Book an AI cost review ↗Work with me
Ready to work through it?
Start the guide and progress through it at your own pace. Start with a 30-minute call with me.