Filip Szalewicz

Deploy AI to Crush Rivals and Lead Your Market
 —
Real Results, Zero Fluff.

As a Fractional CTO, I bring 20+ years of VP Eng/CTO/Architect expertise to supercharge your engineering team with AI and smart decisions.

Questions or to Schedule a Session: info@solidcage.com

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Why Work with Me

Software Engineering with AI at the Core

Phase 1

Learn and Analyze (30-60 Days)

Objective:
 Establish a baseline, align with stakeholders, and set the stage for AI and PMF gains.

Duration: 30-60 days, depending on client complexity.

Parallel Workstreams:
1. Client-Facing Discovery
2. Engineering Deep Dive

Deliverable by Day 60: A unified "Kickoff Deck" combining both reports, presented to leadership with initial AI tooling and PMF recommendations.

Phase 2

Implementation (6-12 Months)

Objective: Deploy AI tools, refine processes, and accelerate Product Market Fit with iterative wins.
Duration: 6-12 months, with weekly and monthly progress reviews.

Activity Sequence:
1. AI Tooling Adoption (Months 1-3)
2. Architecture Refinement (Months 2-4)
3. Engineering Experience Overhaul (Months 3-6)
4. PMF Acceleration - Idea Evaluator (Months 4-9)
5. Cultural Shift: Owner’s Mindset (Months 6-12)
6. Continuous Delivery (Months 6-12)

Reporting: Dashboards to management with KPIs, qualitative wins and next steps. 

Outcomes

Continous KPIs

1. Rate of Innovation: Double Your Innovation: 2 to 4-6 Features per Quarter

2. Cycle Time: Cut Cycle Time 30-50%: 10 Days to 5-7 Days

3. Turnover Rate: Slash Turnover Below 10%

Service Engagement Models

AI-Driven Engineering Audit
Phase 1

Duration: 30 days
Price: Fixed Fee
Deliverables:

  • Baseline assessment of KPIs (Cycle Time, Turnover, Rate of Innovation)
  • Identification of pain points and AI opportunities
  • Prioritized AI tool and strategy roadmap
  • Initial consultation on cultural shifts

Best For: Startups and midsize companies seeking a low-risk way to assess and plan improvements.

AI Integration and Process Optimization
Phase 2

Duration: 6 Months
Price: Fixed Monthly Fee
Deliverables:

  • Deployment of AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT, Grok, Replit/Copilot)
  • Training for 20% of team as AI champions
  • Streamlined engineering workflows
  • Initial architecture refinements for PMF
  • Monthly progress reviews

Best For: Companies ready to implement AI and optimize processes for measurable gains.

Full-Scale AI Transformation
Phase 2

Duration: 12 Months
Price: Contact for Pricing
Deliverables:

  • Full AI implementation across the stack
  • Comprehensive cultural shift (EOS, Topgrading)
  • PMF acceleration with AI-driven idea evaluation
  • Weekly releases and revenue-focused engineering workflows
  • Quarterly executive strategy reviews

Best For: Companies committed to transformative growth and top-tier performance.

Book a Free 30-Minute Strategy Call

How It Gets Done

Phase 1

Objective: Establish a baseline, align with stakeholders, and set the stage for AI and PMF gains.

Assess & Evaluate

Assess current engineering processes, including cycle time, turnover, and tech stack, to establish a baseline (e.g., cycle time = 10 days, turnover = 20%).

Evaluate client needs, such as PMF status, revenue goals, and retention challenges, by interviewing client success, sales, and marketing teams.

Identify & Define

Identify AI opportunities, such as replacing manual QA with AI agents or using Grok/ChatPGT/Gemini for code reviews, aligning with "AI first before human hire" approach.

Define metrics, core values, and OKRs, ensuring a single source of truth for tracking progress.

Outcome

This phase establishes baselines for all KPIs (e.g., Cycle Time, Turnover Rate), enabling measurable progress in Phase 2.

Book a Free 30-Minute Strategy Call

Phase 2

Objective: Transform your engineering team into an AI-powered, 
PMF-focused powerhouse,  delivering measurable wins—faster cycles, stable talent, and soaring revenue.

AI Tooling Adoption 
(1-3 Months)

Action: Deploy AI tools—Grok for code reviews, Replit/Copilot for scripting, and AI agents for QA automation—while training 20% of your team as AI champions through hands-on workshops.

Impact: Automates 50% of manual tasks like QA, accelerating your delivery process and freeing engineers for innovation.

KPI: Cuts Cycle Time by 20-25% (10 to 7-8 days) by Month 3; boosts Rate of Innovation with faster ideation cycles.

Architecture Refinement 
(2-4 Months)

Action: Redesign your system to align with PMF goals—mapping outcomes like 99.9% uptime and 2x speed to budget and skills—while embedding AI across ingestion, compute, and CICD with self-healing features like auto-scaling.

Impact: Builds a lean, scalable architecture that minimizes downtime and lets your team focus on feature development over maintenance.

KPI: Reduces Cycle Time by an additional 10% (7-8 to 6-7 days) by Month 4; increases Revenue per FTE as output rises.

Engineering Experience Overhaul (3-6 Months)

Action: Streamline workflows with pre-configured dev environments (e.g., Docker), a 20% tech debt refactor, 1-day CICD cycles via GitHub Actions, and AI-driven docs/tests (50%+ automated), while defining "Done" to ensure quality.

Impact: Enables engineers to ship faster with less stress, shifting their focus from maintenance to innovation.

 KPI: Achieves a 30-50% Cycle Time reduction (10 to 5-7 days) by Month 6; increases Rate of Innovation to 3 features/quarter; lowers Turnover Rate to 15% (from 20%).

PMF Acceleration via Idea Evaluator 
(6-12 Months)

Action: Leverage the Idea Evaluator (People/Process/Tech, 80/20, Revenue/Risk) to score and test product ideas with AI insights (e.g., Grok ranks concepts), conducting 5-10 sales calls with client success to build a "hell yes" case study through 30-60-90 sprints.

Impact: Identifies true customer demand, eliminating guesswork and delivering products that resonate.

KPI: Boosts Client Retention Rate to 75-80% (from 70%) by Month 9; increases ARR by 10-20% ($2M to $2.2M-$2.4M); sustains Rate of Innovation at 3-4 features per quarter.

Cultural Shift: Owner’s Mindset 
(6-12 Months)

Action: Implement EOS (metrics, Level 10 meetings, OKRs) and Topgrading to hire/coach 1-2 A-players, while sharing my YouTube training content (e.g., "Systems Over Goals") and gamifying AI use with a "Prompt Leaderboard" to enhance engagement.

Impact: Aligns your team to a unified vision, boosting talent retention and fostering a strong sense of ownership.

KPI: Reduces Turnover Rate below 10% by Month 12; raises Revenue per FTE to $200k-$250k; achieves a Rate of Innovation of 4-6 features per quarter.

Continuous Delivery & Revenue Focus 
(6-12 Months)

Action: Implement PMF-driven CICD with weekly releases tied to client feedback, prioritizing the top 20% of ideas (Idea Evaluator) for revenue impact, and integrating engineering with client success for real-time iteration.

Impact: Delivers products customers truly want, driving business growth and enhancing loyalty.

KPI: Increases ARR by 20-40% ($2M to $2.4M-$2.8M) by Month 12; lifts Client Retention Rate to 80-85%; achieves Revenue per FTE of $250k+.

What You Get

  • Retain Top Talent with Stable, Innovative Teams
  • Drive Product Innovation for Peak Valuation
  • Cut Risk and Optimize Operations Fast
  • Accelerate Product Market Fit

About Me

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