Project Compass
A six-month technical advisory engagement helping a VC portfolio plan its AI infrastructure.
The challenge
Solstice Capital — a mid-stage growth fund — needed help advising its 18 portfolio companies on AI infrastructure decisions. Companies were making major bets on model providers, evaluation infrastructure, and data platforms without a shared frame.
Some duplicated work. Others were burning cash on capabilities they didn't actually need yet. The fund's operating partner asked for an outside view that could be shared across the portfolio without choosing favourites.
What we built
A six-month advisory engagement: deep technical reviews for 12 portfolio companies, written briefs on key decisions (build-vs-buy on evals, switching costs across model providers, RAG vs fine-tuning, observability stacks), and quarterly playbooks the fund could share without disclosing any one company's specifics.
We met portfolio CTOs monthly for office hours. No code shipped — this was strategy work, the kind that benefits from being able to say 'don't build that yet.'