Two successful RAG audits, zero paying clients: technical interest isn't buying intent
SeaAstronomer9044 · reddit · 2026-10-15
The author built a small consulting practice around independent RAG retrieval evaluations. Two audits delivered real results — including 15 scoring discrepancies in an open-source RAG benchmark, independently reproduced and adopted by the maintainer. He packaged the service as a fixed $400 assessment comparing two retrieval configurations across up to 30 queries with reproducible findings.
But customer acquisition failed. Cold outreach and community participation generated technical interest, not buying intent. Competing audit services show little verifiable evidence of how they win clients either. His working hypothesis: customers don't buy an "audit" — they buy help making a specific decision (deploy a change, accept vendor work, investigate a costly regression). He has paused cold outreach and asks readers how their first specialized B2B audit/QA/evaluation clients found them.
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