Field notes.
Real opinions about what AI is getting right and wrong for operators in 2026, written by us, in our own voice, not a content calendar. Plus the occasional teardown of something Izzy built and what it taught us.
Articles
From €115 to €43,000: Preventing LLM Cost Catastrophes
A single AI agent caused a €43,000 bill in 4 weeks. Learn the 5 behavioral failure modes driving runaway LLM costs and the guardrails to stop them.
FinOps for AI: How to Track & Reduce LLM Costs Per Feature
Spending over €5K/month on LLMs? Learn why per-feature cost tracking is critical for AI FinOps, EU compliance, and cutting token waste by up to 50%.
LLM Vendor Lock-in: Why Switching Costs 10x More Than You Think
Most teams underestimate LLM switching costs by 3x. The issue isn't the API, it's prompt lock-in. Learn how to build a multi-provider strategy that works.
Why Cost per Token is Ruining Your AI Budget
Discover why cheaper LLMs often increase your total AI bill. Learn how tracking Cost per Success uncovers hidden escalation costs and truly optimizes AI FinOps.
Prompt Caching vs. Fine-Tuning: Stop Wasting AI Budget
Is fine-tuning inflating your LLM bill? Discover why Prompt Caching is the superior architecture for context injection and how to save 90% on input tokens.
LLM Observability Costs 2026: Pricing, Categories & The APM Tax
Is your APM bill hiding a €50k/month "Observability Tax"? We break down the 4 tool categories, 2026 pricing models, and how to choose the right hybrid stack.
Your AI Bill Is a Workflow Problem, Not a Hardware Problem
Torn between dedicated and serverless GPU? Our CTO guide offers a data-driven breakdown, TCO calculations, and a strategy for optimizing your AI infrastructure.
The 4 AI "Loops of Death" That Kill Budgets (And How to Stop Them)
Autonomous agents don't crash when they fail; they burn capital. Discover the 4 AI "Loops of Death" draining your engineering budget and the necessary safeguards to stop them.
The "Redundancy Tax": How Prompt Caching & The Rule of 3 Fix AI Margins
Stop paying full price to re-process static data. Discover how Prompt Caching reduces LLM costs by 90%—but only if you follow the "Rule of 3" break-even math.
Field notes, in your inbox
One email per week. No content calendar — just what we’re building, what broke, and what we changed our minds about.
Operator Stack
The free community where we continue these conversations between posts.