Stopan — securing the foundation
We help businesses think clearly about AI — which problems are worth solving, what to avoid, and what it will cost in reality. We give you the clarity to make the right decisions and retain full control over the outcome.
Solutions in search of a problem
Tools and pilots start before anyone has agreed what problem they should solve.
Expensive wrong turns
Costs, risks and dead ends show up after the money is spent.
Loss of control
Solutions handed over by vendors or consultants leave you dependent instead of capable.
Our focus
Before AI, writing the code was the hardest part. That gave teams natural time to think the concept through and validate that it works at all. Today code, automations and AI agents are generated in hours, while a clear goal and quality validation often fall behind. This is where we step in: we help you clarify the idea and safeguard the outcome. That way the speed of AI creates real value.
A rule of thumb for any work done with AI. AI takes the middle, so people can give their full attention to the beginning and the end.
How teams are changing
Software used to move through a relay: the product manager writes the spec, the designer mocks it up, engineers build, QA tests, and someone else deploys it and explains it to the client. Every handoff cost time and context. AI agents now draft code, write tests and build prototypes, so the relay is collapsing into three roles.
PM + software + design + QA
One person talks to users, decides what to build, designs it, ships it and tests it, with AI agents doing the drafting.
LinkedIn replaced its Associate Product Manager programme with an Associate Product Builder programme that teaches coding, design and product management together (Chief Product Officer Tomer Cohen, Lenny's Podcast, December 2025).
Analyst + delivery + architect
Works inside the customer's real environment, with its people, systems and data, and turns their problem into a solution that runs there.
A model widely credited to Palantir. In May 2026 OpenAI launched the OpenAI Deployment Company to place such engineers inside its customers.
Platform + DevOps + data + ML
Keeps the shared foundation under both roles reliable: infrastructure, data, models, security and cost.
Both roles move fast only on a platform that holds. Speed without stability just ships problems sooner.
And the Scrum Master? With fewer handoffs there is less to coordinate; that work shrinks or folds into the three roles.
of Claude Code conversations in Anthropic's study were automation: the AI did the task itself, not just assisted.
AI adoption improves software delivery throughput but increases delivery instability.
US job ads for forward-deployed engineers: all of 2023 against January–September 2026. Ads, not hires.
AI absorbs the handoffs between roles. What stays with people is choosing the right problem, the right user and the quality bar: the two human ends of the 20/60/20 rule. That is how we work in a project: a senior engineer beside your team, AI agents for the drafting, and a person who reviews and tests every result.
Where the world stands
One in three people now uses an AI chatbot, mostly for free. Far fewer pay for one, and only a sliver use AI to build software, automations and agents. That small group is where the real productivity gains are made.
The tools are open to everyone. What sets the last group apart is knowing how to give AI a clear goal and how to check what it returns. That is exactly what we help your team learn.
Sources: Digital 2027 report by We Are Social and Meltwater (DataReportal, October 2026); OpenAI (paid subscribers, February 2026; Codex users, June 2026). Shares of the world population, rounded; each person counted at their highest level of use.
Our core
Because everything starts with an idea — and we guard it so it does not get distorted during implementation.
Through questions, not ready-made answers: what outcome, for whom, measured how — and whether AI is the right tool at all. You find the answer; we make sure the question is the right one.
Before anything is built, we define together how you will know it actually works — the tests, the risks, and the cost of being wrong. And we stay with you until you prove it in practice.
An outside view from someone who has seen many systems succeed and fail — we notice what hides in the shadows and ask what nobody in the room dares.
Tools we think with
Simple models we use in our conversations. They make the trade-offs visible — so you decide with open eyes, before money is spent.
Pick two of three
Quality, speed and cost pull against each other. Better outcomes need more reasoning and validation; faster ones need shortcuts; cheaper ones need less computation. We help you choose the balance consciously.
Every AI solution stands on something: a real need, people and processes that will use it, and data and systems that can carry it. We help you check each layer before you build on it.
How will you know the system really works? We help you define the success criteria at every level — and all three must hold for the solution to stand over time.
How we can help
Some businesses need one good conversation, others a partner through the whole journey. You choose the scope; we adapt to your needs.
One session to think out loud about a challenge, an idea or a decision — with someone who understands both AI and the business.
A short series of structured sessions. We guide, challenge and bring what we know; you and your team work out the path — so you understand it and own it.
When you go ahead, we stay close: reviews, checkpoints and a sparring partner — and hands-on help when you want it, backed by deep cloud, data and SRE experience.
Approach
A free 30-minute call. You describe the challenge in your own words; we listen for what sits underneath it.
The questions that make the problem clear: outcome, constraints, risks, costs, what to avoid.
You and your team choose the path — with the trade-offs in plain sight. The result is yours.
As much or as little as you need: checkpoints, reviews, hands-on help — or simply a call when you are stuck.
What you get
The problem framed in your own words — and the question worth solving.
Decisions you made yourselves, with the reasoning, risks and costs understood.
A team that can carry on without us — and knows it can call when it helps.
Systems, automation and infrastructure built to withstand real-world pressure, backed by concrete technical validation.
Philosophy
Our work ethic and culture are driven by Stoic philosophy — discipline, truth and calm under pressure. The qualities that make systems reliable are the same ones that make a partnership reliable.
Comfort is not stability. We do the unglamorous work — before it is needed, not after the outage.
“It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that they are difficult.”
We tell you what we see — the risk in the plan, the AI project not worth doing, the estimate that will not hold.
“If it is not right, do not do it; if it is not true, do not say it.”
Incidents are handled with facts, not fear: what is actually happening now, not the worst imagined future or last year's failure.
“We suffer more often in imagination than in reality.”
Blameless post-mortems and open reviews. We discuss systems and ideas, never people.
“An uneducated person blames others for their misfortunes; one who has begun to learn blames themselves; one whose learning is complete blames neither others nor themselves.”
I helped a man climb a mountain and found that I, too, had reached the top.
And some wisdom from our own time:
“Without commitment, you'll never start, but without consistency, you'll never finish.”
See it working
We use AI exactly as we advise our clients: with strict engineering safeguards. This is an interactive, simulated copy of an internal dashboard we built to run several Claude Code sessions in parallel. Every code change goes through a rigorous review before it reaches production.
Start, watch and steer several named coding sessions, each isolated in its own workspace.
A pull request, a review, an approved merge and a health-checked deploy with a rollback button.
Every session, server and repository you see is made up and lives only in your own temporary demo. No signup, nothing is stored.
A simulation of an internal tool, not a customer system. It resets when you leave.
About
Stopan AI helps businesses find their own way with AI. We don't hand over ready-made answers to depend on. We ask the questions that help you see your situation clearly — because a path you worked out yourself is one you understand, trust and can keep walking without us.
Behind the questions is real engineering depth: years of hands-on work with cloud infrastructure, observability and automation. So when you want direct advice or practical help, it is there — and it serves your thinking, not the other way round.
FAQ
If you want, yes. But you usually get further by getting there yourselves: we guide, challenge and share what we know, and you make the decisions — so you understand them and own them.
Yes. Sometimes one good talk is all a decision needs. There is no obligation to continue.
No. We start from the business challenge and translate the technical side as we go. If your team is technical, we go as deep as you like.
When you need it. We have deep hands-on experience with cloud infrastructure, data, automation, and observability. We can run an audit, advise strategically, or roll up our sleeves together.
Yes. We work remotely with clients across the EU and invoice in euros. Services to businesses in other EU countries are invoiced under the reverse-charge mechanism.
On request, we sign an NDA before any detailed discussion. We prefer EU-hosted services, minimise personal data in AI workflows and document where data flows.
Contact
Tell us briefly what is on your mind — a challenge, an idea or a decision. We'll get back to you soon with a few time slots for a free 30-minute call.
Prefer email?hello@stopan.ai· Sofia, Bulgaria · working with clients across the EU