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AI Squads Business Model

This document describes how AI Product Squads are sold and positioned. It is written for product managers, sales, and anyone defining ConnectSoft's squad offerings and pricing.

AI Product Squads are virtual teams of specialized agents that deliver concrete outcomes (microservices, features, integrations) monthly. Instead of hiring and onboarding human teams, customers configure a virtual squad and get predictable, high-quality deliverables.

Tip

Price squads as subscription tiers with outcome-based scope (microservices/epics per month), not per-agent like human employees. This aligns with customer value and prevents unrealistic expectations about "hours" or "availability."

Concept: AI Product Squads

AI Product Squads are "AI Team-as-a-Service"—configurable virtual teams of specialized agents that work together to deliver specific outcomes. Each squad includes:

  • Architect Agents - Design bounded contexts, APIs, and event models
  • Developer Agents - Generate code, scaffold microservices, implement features
  • QA Agents - Generate tests, enforce quality gates
  • DevOps Agents - Create CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure, deployment configs
  • Product/PM Agents - Refine requirements, create user stories, track scope

Squads run on the Factory—they use Factory templates, knowledge system, and orchestration to ensure consistency and quality.

Squad Types & Capacity

ConnectSoft offers four standard squad configurations:

Starter SaaS Squad

For: MVPs and early-stage products

Composition: - 1 Architect Agent - 2 Developer Agents - 1 QA Agent - 0.5 DevOps Agent (shared) - 0.5 Product/PM Agent (shared)

Monthly Output: - Up to 1 new microservice - Up to 2 feature epics - Basic CI/CD and observability

Minimum Commitment: 3 months

Growth SaaS Squad

For: SaaS products scaling from MVP

Composition: - 1 Architect Agent - 3 Developer Agents - 1 QA Agent - 1 DevOps Agent - 1 Product/PM Agent

Monthly Output: - Up to 2 new microservices - Up to 4 feature epics - 1 major integration

Minimum Commitment: 6 months

Platform Squad (Enterprise)

For: Organizations building internal platforms

Composition: - 1 Senior Architect Agent - 4 Developer Agents - 2 QA Agents - 1 DevOps/SRE Agent - 1 Governance/Compliance Agent - 1 Product/Platform PM Agent

Monthly Output: - New platform capabilities - Cross-cutting features - Governance artifacts

Pricing: Premium monthly retainer (often part of broader enterprise agreement)

Integration & AI Bot Squad

For: Companies needing integrations and AI capabilities

Composition: - 1 Integration Architect Agent - 2 Developer Agents (APIs, ETL, functions) - 1 AI/ML Agent - 1 QA Agent - 0.5 DevOps Agent - 0.5 Product Agent

Monthly Output: - Up to 2 integration/data pipelines - AI bot implementations

Minimum Commitment: 3 months

For detailed squad definitions, see Product Portfolio - Squads.

What Customers Pay For

Customers pay for outcomes, not agent hours:

  • Monthly subscription / retainer - Fixed monthly fee for defined capacity
  • Defined capacity and outputs - Guaranteed monthly deliverables (microservices, epics, integrations)
  • Optional human oversight - Architect-in-the-loop hours for review and guidance (add-on)

Pricing Structure

Squads are priced as subscription tiers with outcome-based scope:

Squad Type Monthly Output Pricing Model Minimum Term
Starter SaaS Squad 1 microservice + 2 epics Fixed monthly subscription 3 months
Growth SaaS Squad 2 microservices + 4 epics + 1 integration Higher monthly subscription 6 months
Platform Squad Platform capabilities + governance Premium monthly retainer Enterprise agreement
Integration & AI Bot Squad 2 pipelines + AI bots Monthly subscription 3 months

Important

Squad pricing is based on outcomes (microservices, epics, integrations delivered), not agent hours or availability. This prevents unrealistic expectations and aligns pricing with customer value.

Example Plans & Outputs

Starter SaaS Squad Example

Customer: Early-stage SaaS startup building their first product

Squad: Starter SaaS Squad

Monthly Deliverables: - 1 new microservice (e.g., Billing service) with full Clean Architecture - 2 feature epics (e.g., subscription management, payment processing) - CI/CD pipelines and observability setup

Outcome: Production-ready billing system in 1 month instead of 3–6 months

Growth SaaS Squad Example

Customer: SaaS company scaling from MVP, adding new modules

Squad: Growth SaaS Squad

Monthly Deliverables: - 2 new microservices (e.g., Reporting service, Notification service) - 4 feature epics across existing services - 1 major integration (e.g., Stripe payment integration)

Outcome: Consistent architecture across new services, faster feature delivery

Platform Squad Example

Customer: Enterprise building internal platform for product teams

Squad: Platform Squad

Monthly Deliverables: - New platform capabilities (e.g., enhanced Identity Platform features) - Cross-cutting features (e.g., new auth flows rolled out across services) - Governance artifacts (architectural standards, golden paths)

Outcome: Stable, well-governed platform that internal teams can build on

How Squads Use the Factory

Squads are managed configurations of Factory agents. They:

  • Use Factory templates to ensure consistency
  • Access Factory knowledge system for pattern reuse
  • Follow Factory orchestration for proper sequencing
  • Generate code into customer Azure DevOps repositories

The Factory is the engine; squads are the managed service layer on top.

flowchart TD
    C[Customer] -->|Subscribes| S[Squad Subscription]
    S -->|Configures| F[Factory Orchestrator]

    subgraph "Squad Agents"
        A1[Architect Agent]
        A2[Developer Agents]
        A3[QA Agent]
        A4[DevOps Agent]
    end

    subgraph "Factory Components"
        T[Templates]
        KS[Knowledge System]
    end

    F -->|Orchestrates| A1
    F -->|Orchestrates| A2
    F -->|Orchestrates| A3
    F -->|Orchestrates| A4

    A2 -->|Uses| T
    A1 <-->|Query/Store| KS
    A2 <-->|Query/Store| KS

    A4 -->|Generates| ADO[Azure DevOps<br/>Customer Repos]

    style S fill:#2563EB,color:#fff
    style F fill:#4F46E5,color:#fff
    style ADO fill:#10B981,color:#fff
Hold "Alt" / "Option" to enable pan & zoom

When to Recommend Squads vs Factory-Only

Recommend Squads When:

  • Customer wants managed outcomes - They prefer ConnectSoft to manage agent workflows and delivery
  • Customer doesn't want to operate Factory - They don't have resources or expertise to run the Factory directly
  • Customer needs predictable delivery - They want guaranteed monthly outputs with SLAs
  • Customer wants human oversight - They need architect-in-the-loop review and guidance
  • Customer is new to Factory - They want to learn Factory capabilities through managed service

Recommend Factory-Only When:

  • Customer has strong engineering team - They have architects and engineers who can operate the Factory
  • Customer wants direct control - They want to configure agents and workflows themselves
  • Customer has custom requirements - They need flexibility that managed squads don't provide
  • Customer is cost-sensitive - Factory-only subscription is typically lower cost than squads

Tip

Many customers start with Squads to learn Factory capabilities and get predictable outcomes, then move to Factory-only subscriptions as they gain expertise. Others use both: Factory for custom work, Squads for ongoing feature development.