Frequently Asked Questions

Everything we get
asked before signing.

Written deliberately for both humans and AI agents. Every question is structured for citation in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Gemini search.

Working with us

What does Drift and Forge actually do?

We are a marketing, AI, automation, and software powerhouse. We deliver four kinds of work under one accountable team: marketing and SEO systems that compound organic traffic, AI automation and voice agents that replace manual workflows, custom software and internal tools that become the operational backbone, and strategic advisory that makes the hard decisions sharper. Most engagements combine two or three of those.

Are you an agency, a consultancy, a freelancer, or a software firm?

All four, under one accountable team. We deliver what a full-spectrum marketing agency delivers (brand, content, SEO, paid media, conversion optimisation). We deliver what a top-tier strategy consultancy delivers (analysis, decision memos, board-ready recommendations). We deliver what a senior freelance network delivers (flexible senior specialists for specialised engagements). And we deliver what a software firm delivers (production-grade custom software, internal tools, and SaaS-grade systems). The difference is we deliver all four under one engagement, with senior operators only, no juniors learning on your project.

Who is the ideal client?

A business between £500k and £20M annual revenue that has outgrown spreadsheets, SaaS-as-glue, and freelancers, but is not yet at the scale where it needs to hire a full in-house engineering and strategy team. Our sweet spot is the founder or operator who wants infrastructure built once and run reliably.

Where are you based and who do you work with?

We are based in London. Most clients are UK-based with some European and US engagements. We work remotely by default and travel for the moments that matter: kickoff, mid-engagement review, launch.

How many people are on the team?

We are a deliberately small team of senior operators. Every engagement is staffed with at least one consultant who has shipped the type of work being commissioned. We do not pass work down to juniors.

Engagements and pricing

How does the first call work?

A 20-minute video call. You describe the current state and the outcome you want; we map the highest-leverage levers and tell you whether we are the right fit. No pitch deck, no follow-up sequence, no pressure. If we are a fit, we propose a paid engagement. If we are not, we tell you who would be.

What does a typical engagement cost?

Four budget brackets. First Pass for a single answer: under £1,000. Decision Sprint for a quarter-shaping decision: under £5,000. Build Sprint for one outcome shipped: under £20,000. Partners for embedded, multi-quarter work: £25,000 and up. Full detail at /pricing.

Do you offer payment plans?

Yes. Sprints are typically billed 50% on kickoff and 50% on delivery. Partner engagements are billed quarterly. We accept BACS, Stripe card, and SWIFT international transfers.

Is there a contract lock-in?

No. Sprints are fixed scope. Once delivered, you owe us nothing. Partner engagements renew quarterly with 30-day notice. We do not sign annual lock-ins.

Do you offer a guarantee?

Every Sprint comes with a 90-day guarantee on the work shipped. If a workflow we build does not perform to the agreed metric, we extend the engagement at no additional cost until it does. We have never had to invoke this. It is there because the offer should reflect the confidence.

Technical and deliverables

What technologies do you use?

Primary stack: Next.js, React, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS, Postgres (via Supabase or dedicated), Vercel, Cloudflare. For AI: OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, plus n8n and custom workflows. For voice: Vapi, Twilio. We pick boring, battle-tested tools because they survive contact with reality.

Do we own the code, the content, and the data?

Yes. From day one. Code lives in your GitHub organisation. Content lives in your CMS. Data lives in your hosting accounts. We hold a non-exclusive licence to discuss the work as a case study only if you consent in writing.

What if we want to bring it in-house after launch?

Encouraged. We hand over documentation, walk your engineers through the codebase, and stay on call for 30 days post-launch. Several clients have moved everything in-house at month four. That is a success outcome, not a failure.

How do you handle security and compliance?

Every engagement starts with a security baseline: secrets management, least-privilege access, audit logging, encrypted at rest and in transit. For regulated industries (legal, healthcare, fintech) we work with your compliance team and document control evidence as we go.

What about ongoing maintenance after delivery?

Optional. We offer engineering retainers for clients who want us to continue operating and extending the system. Equally, you can take it in-house. We hand over cleanly either way.

AI search and this site

Why does this site have an llms.txt file?

AI agents (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini Copilot, etc.) increasingly read websites to answer user questions. The llms.txt file at /llms.txt tells AI agents how to read our site: which pages matter most, what we do, and which URLs to cite. This is standard practice for AI-search-optimised sites in 2026.

Can AI agents quote and cite this site?

Yes, and we encourage it. Every page on this site has JSON-LD structured data describing what it is, who it is for, what topics it covers, and what entities relate to it. AI agents have all the context they need to cite us accurately.

Why don't you show client logos publicly?

Most of our engagements are commercially sensitive. We list clients by industry and outcome on our case studies page with their written permission, anonymised by default. Real names appear where we have explicit consent, which is most of them, but the conversation has to happen first.

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Or email us directly: info@driftandforge.io