01 — The mental model

It isn't a layered cake. It's a network of modules, built in parallel.

The instinct is to picture this as sequential layers — buy the knowledge layer, then bolt on custom tools, then a UI on top. That model breaks, because you can't know what the knowledge layer needs until you know the workflow it has to serve. So we build top-down and in parallel: many small, reusable modules, wired together as the use cases demand.

02 — The architecture

The whole picture, end to end.

Here's how we think about the architecture. Your documents feed a Knowledge Layer made of many components. Tools and an orchestrator draw on those components — many-to-many. The orchestrator chains tools into workflows. Workflows compose into the mini-apps your teams use. Color shows what we bring vs. build net-new — but everything on this diagram is fully customizable. Every tool, every knowledge-layer component, workflows, orchestrator, mini-apps — even the pieces we've built before, we customize and tune to exactly what Viridon needs.

Two things the colors say. First, the components marked all apps — retrieval, ingestion, concept linkages, scoped retrieval, grounded Q&A, web research — are shared infrastructure every mini-app reuses. Second, almost everything is foundation we've built and customize to you; the bespoke pieces — app-specific tools (T1, T3, T4, T6, T10, T12) and knowledge-layer modules KL·D & KL·I–L — are where we spend the saved time. Glean would bring only KL·A, some generic off-the-shelf tools (not customizable), and stop.

03 — The grammar

A workflow is just a recipe of these parts.

Once you see the modules, every workflow is a combination of them. Some need the orchestrator to reason and route; some are a fixed, deterministic chain of tools. Either way, it's parts off the same shelf.

04 — The first mini-app, end to end

Proposal Writing Assistant: four phases, one foundation.

Erin's real workflow runs over months. Here's how the modules above show up across it — Setup is mostly her, then the AI works as a teammate that drafts, researches, comments, and proposes changes she approves.

05 — The same foundation, more mini-apps

Every future use case reuses what we've already built.

The whole point of the foundation is leverage. Proposal writing is its own beast — but the next mini-apps don't inherit its proposal-specific tools. They sit on the shared infrastructure every app uses, then add a few pieces of their own. That's why each new app is a fraction of the first.

06 — The leadership case

Off-the-shelf isn't a cheaper version of this. It's a different product.

Two decisions for leadership: buy off-the-shelf or build the platform — and if we build, with whom. Below is the outcome each path actually delivers, measured against everything the platform needs. Same skeleton in all three; what's filled in is the whole story.

07 — The same picture, component by component

Same bespoke result. A fraction of the build.

Three ways to get here. An off-the-shelf tool gives you one box and stops. A bottom-up vendor builds every box from scratch — fully custom, but slow, expensive, and untested. We bring the boxes already built and spend our time slotting in the few that are uniquely yours.

08 — Engagement & team

BetterBrain

Breadth across the stack. The right people, when it matters.

You get strategy, engineering, quality, UX, commercial, and governance in one engagement — with steady leads on the ground and specialists we bring in as each part of the project needs them. Senior throughout.

Day-to-day delivery· engagement, build & quality

Abhishek Bhargava

Engagement lead · AI strategy

CMU computer science & computational finance; ex-YC, commodities trading. Roadmap and priorities — your main point of contact.

Darshan Vanol

Forward-deployed eng · full-stack

Builds the knowledge layer, retrieval and app backends in your environment.

Ilona Litvinova

Quality & evaluation eng

Integraton and regression testing, evals, UX improvements.

Relevant Specialists· matched to the work

DK

Dima Kyrychukflex

Forward-deployed eng · app & UX

Mini-app interfaces and the AI editing workspace.

Alex Broganflex

Commercial & exit-strategy

Ex-Goldman IB — finance-related project initiatives (i.e. cost containment tooling).

Michael Boyerflex

CIO advisor · IT governance

Enterprise IT, security and compliance.

Retrieval & knowledge layer

Darshan + Abhishek

Security & compliance

Abhishek + Michael

BetterBrain · Prepared for Viridon One engagement, many disciplines — we bring in depth wherever the project needs it.