The challenge
A Series B AI lab had grown from prototype to production faster than its procurement function. The infrastructure team was running hardware buys directly, contracts were ad hoc, and the next training cluster needed to be sourced and contracted before the quarter closed.
What Group APZ did
- Embedded as fractional CPO with a weekly cadence with the founders and infra lead.
- Built a supplier playbook covering compute, storage, networking, cloud, colocation, and indirect categories.
- Negotiated MSAs and warranty terms with the lab's primary hardware suppliers, then ran the active GPU and server sourcing event in parallel.
- Stood up a lightweight intake and approvals process scaled to a small engineering organization, not an enterprise.
Outcome
The first PO under the new process went out in nine days. The lab kept its training schedule, the contracts protected the company through hypergrowth, and the procurement function survived the next round of headcount growth without rework.
Placeholder narrative — replace once the engagement is approved for public reference.