Walk in knowing the buyer's commute, budget and trade-in, and show the numbers on the spot.
Pre-Sales Edition · Forward Deployed Engineering
What is a forward
deployed engineer?
Forward deployed engineering is the AI-native version of value engineering, done where the customer works. A forward deployed engineer finds the problem that matters, shows a working answer in front of the customer, often built with transformer-based large language models (your AI, or your company's), and turns the value they prove into an order. It works for anything you promote, anything you're proud of, anything that needs a signature (and anything you sell).
For everyone who brings in revenue
It doesn't matter
what you sell.
Cars. Homes. Equipment. Insurance. Services. Software. You don't need a technical product to work like a forward deployed engineer.
The cost of software and AI has dropped so far that anyone can now bring technology into the conversation. The car you sell is still a car. The house is still a house. What changes is how you prepare, how you show value, and how fast you earn the yes.
Turn a showing into a working plan: costs, schools, commute and resale, built in front of the client.
Model the customer's downtime or savings live, in their words, before the quote goes out.
How it works
Discovery. Demonstrated
value. Order.
Use it in pre-sales, after the sale, on internal projects, or whenever you need funding, underwriting or revenue.
These methods move everything faster: approvals, signatures, quota attainment, bonuses, the incentive trip abroad. It is for the people in the persuasion game. The movers and shakers who get people out of the doldrums and into AI.
Find the problem that matters.
Listen past the request to the business problem, the people it affects and what it costs.
Prove it in the room.
Build a working answer with your AI while the customer watches, using their words and their data.
Earn the order.
Turn demonstrated value into a decision, a next step and a commitment.
Who it is for
For the people closest
to the customer.
If your work ends in someone saying yes, this is your craft.
- Enterprise and ERP sales professionals, past and present
- Anyone responsible for revenue: account executives, agents, brokers, dealers and distributors
- Sales and solutions engineers
- Contractors and project leads
- Owners and managers making the case for investment
- Experienced professionals moving into a new role
Apex 8 · The book behind the FDE method
The field manual for forward deployed engineering.
Apex 8: The Art of Persuasion in a Technical World. Every yes starts with value up front.
Get it on AmazonForward Deployed Engineering Boot Camp
Two ways
to attend.
Live instruction with applied assignments. Bring your own paid AI account and a real customer situation.
| Cohort | Dates | Pacific | Eastern |
|---|---|---|---|
| One-Day Thursday, October 22 or 29 | Thursday, October 22, 2026 Thursday, October 29, 2026 Three sessions in one day. The 4 PM session is shared with the evening cohort on October 29. | 7 to 9 AM 12 to 2 PM 4 to 6 PM | 10 AM to 12 PM 3 to 5 PM 7 to 9 PM |
| Evening Three-Night Boot Camp | Tuesday to Thursday, October 27 to 29, 2026 Two hours each evening | 4 to 6 PM | 7 to 9 PM |
The Boot Camp is open to League members. Seats are limited; choose any eligible cohort, subject to availability.
Pre-Sales Edition
Are you an AI pioneer?
Started your AI journey, but not sure where to go from here? Losing out on roles because you need more AI on your resume? One of the smarter people in the room, but struggling to explain the power of it?
This is the course for you.
The Boot Camp comes with League membership.
See membershipWho teaches it · for a limited time
Learn from the masters
of AI platforms.
Daren L. Fields · President, League of Industrial Operators · Author of Apex 8
Enterprise AI and industrial AI are Daren's specialty. He has been deploying, selling and running projects with forward deployed engineering and advanced value engineering since 2017, and has spent 40 years in the industrial sector. He mastered the value engineering of augmented intelligence in enterprise applications. At Infor he was a five-time Circle of Excellence winner and led some of the company's largest deals.
He is President of the League of Industrial Operators and the author of Apex 8: The Art of Persuasion in a Technical World, the book behind the method.
Teaching with Daren: Michael Hathaway, a systems developer and forward deployed engineer, certified as an architect and engineer on the Workato AI orchestration platform, and Joshua Normandin, director of an agentic AI lab, who specializes in commercializing AI agents and is the author of several recursive agentic applications.
The wisdom is in the group. The author is in your back pocket. The members are shoulder to shoulder, and the community has your back.
Questions
Forward deployed engineering,
answered.
Still have a question? Ask us.
What is a forward deployed engineer?
Forward deployed engineering is the AI-native version of value engineering, done where the customer works. A forward deployed engineer, or FDE, finds the problem that matters, shows a working answer in front of the customer, often built with transformer-based large language models (your AI, or your company's), and turns the value they prove into an order.
Do I need to sell a technical product?
No. Forward deployed engineering works for anything you sell, from cars and homes to equipment and services. What makes it work is using affordable technology to understand the customer and show value faster.
Is forward deployed engineering only for pre-sales?
No. Use it in pre-sales, after the sale to drive adoption and expansion, or on internal projects where colleagues need to see the value before they commit.
What is the difference between forward deployed engineering and value engineering?
Forward deployed engineering is the AI-native version of value engineering, done in the field: in front of the customer, with the tools to show the value on the spot.
What does the Boot Camp cover?
How to discover the real problem, demonstrate value live with AI, and move the customer to a decision. Live instruction with applied assignments.
How long is the Boot Camp?
Choose one: the One-Day Boot Camp (three two-hour sessions on a Thursday: 7 AM, 12 PM and 4 PM Pacific), or the Three-Night Boot Camp (two hours on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evening, 4 PM Pacific). Both cohorts share the Thursday 4 PM session.
What do I need to take part?
Your own paid AI account, a laptop, and a real customer situation to work on.
Is the Boot Camp included with membership?
The Boot Camp comes with League membership. See the membership page for current terms.
Who teaches the Boot Camp?
Daren L. Fields, President of the League of Industrial Operators and author of Apex 8, teaches the launch cohorts.
Humans B4 Machines