A revenue partner.
Not an agency.
FrictionZero is a small senior team that does two things: we find and qualify the customers our clients should be selling to, and we build the search infrastructure that brings buyers to them. We take an implementation fee and share in the measurable uplift. We do not bill retainers. We do not staff projects with juniors. We do not exist to look busy.
Built for: Operators who want senior delivery and aligned incentives.
The shape of the firm
FrictionZero is three founding partners: a chartered management accountant leading commercial intelligence, a technology architect with three decades of platform experience, and an international sales lead with fifteen years in export markets. We do not run a delivery pyramid. There are no juniors learning the trade on your project. The partner who pitched you is the partner who does the work. Meet the team.
We serve two markets: the United Kingdom and South Africa. We have client relationships, operating context and compliance fluency in both. UK engagements run to UK standards — GDPR, PECR, ICO, sector regulators (SRA, ICAEW, FCA where applicable). SA engagements run to POPIA, NCA and the regional context. The same senior team works both markets.
The partnership model
Most agencies charge a monthly retainer regardless of whether the work moves the business. The structure rewards activity, not outcome. We do not believe that produces good engagements over a multi-year horizon.
FrictionZero charges an implementation fee that covers the cost of building the system, then takes a share of the measurable uplift against an agreed pre-engagement baseline. The fee gets us building; the share keeps us aligned with your revenue. If the work does not move the number, we do not earn the upside. The structure is the alignment.
We stress-tested this model on businesses we are directly involved in before offering it more widely. We know what works because we built it for ourselves first.
What we do
We used to sell a catalogue of services. We stopped, because the two that consistently moved client revenue were doing the heavy lifting and the rest were noise. Now there are two offerings.
Both were proven first in global commodity trade, where the buyers are hardest to find and the data is richest. That is where the method was built — but it is not where it stops. The same engines now run for manufacturers, export businesses, financial services and professional services firms.
Deal Origination. We work out who is genuinely buying what a client sells, and where that client can compete profitably. Then we verify the business behind the buyer, reach the decision-maker and establish a real requirement. The client receives an opportunity with the groundwork done — warm, briefed and developed to the point their team can close. Not a lead list.
AI SEO. Search infrastructure and content architecture built with AI and measured against revenue rather than rankings. Compounding organic demand that does not stop when the engagement ends. See our DS4U case study.
Most clients take both. Origination brings deals in now; search builds the inbound channel underneath. What buyers actually ask for during origination tells us precisely what is worth ranking for, which is a better keyword brief than any research tool produces on its own.
Proof, not promises
The single hardest thing in choosing an AI agency in 2026 is separating real practitioners from confident strangers. We do it with proof.
DS4U (South Africa, debt review). 7 → 465 daily organic clicks over six months — 42,182 clicks and 3.1 million impressions delivered. 50% of leads now unpaid. Blended cost per lead R107 → R64. Verified in Google Search Console. Full case.
The ferroalloy supply gap (public-data research). When South African ferromanganese capacity was withdrawn, we mapped who lost supply, who could replace it, and what the landed-cost difference was worth per tonne — built entirely from public trade data. Read the analysis.
EzeOils (South Africa, export). Search visibility and trade intelligence for a certified-organic essential-oils producer selling into international markets. Detailed case study coming.
Sakura Ferroalloys (Malaysia). Buyer mapping, competitive landed-cost modelling and freight benchmarking for a ferromanganese producer. Detailed case study coming.
VDL Attorneys (South Africa, legal). Automated WhatsApp intake and qualification across three legal service lines. Detailed case study coming.
How to work with us
Every engagement starts with a discovery call — free, no commitment. We establish what you sell, what it costs you to deliver, and the margin that makes a deal worth doing. That is what tells us whether there is a market worth going after and whether the economics work on your numbers.
If they do not, we will say so on that call. Taking on an engagement we cannot make money from is a waste of your time and ours, and under this pricing model it is a waste of ours in particular.
Book a discovery call, or read how deal origination and AI SEO actually work first.
The six principles
we will not bend.
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Small senior team. No juniors learning on your project.
Every engagement is staffed by senior practitioners — operators who have built and run AI, SEO and automation systems at scale. We do not pyramid leverage; the partner who pitched you is the partner who builds for you.
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We share in the upside, not the retainer.
An implementation fee covers the build. After that we take a share of the measurable revenue uplift versus an agreed baseline. The structure is the alignment — we only win when you win.
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UK + South Africa, served properly.
UK clients get UK-grade compliance (GDPR, PECR, ICO, vertical regulators). SA clients get POPIA, NCA, and South-African-context proof. Both markets get the same senior team.
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We say no when we should.
If there is no reachable market for what you sell, if your margin cannot carry the cost of winning a buyer, if your business model does not support our partnership structure — we tell you on the first call. Better an honest no than a doomed engagement.
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Outcomes over outputs.
Every engagement is measured against the revenue baseline we agreed at the start. Activity reports are for agencies that cannot point at outcomes. We point at outcomes.
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Evidence before effort.
We establish who is genuinely buying, and where you can profitably compete, before anyone picks up a phone or writes a word of content. Ruling out the wrong buyers early is usually worth as much as finding the right ones.
Keep reading
Tell us what you sell.
We'll tell you who's buying it.
A short discovery call establishes whether there is a market worth going after and whether the economics work on your numbers. If they don't, we will tell you on the call.