Operating model
How this actually works.
Context Theory is operated by Siddharth Sharma from Raipur, India, as an independent consultant.
Contracts are under the laws of India. Invoices are payable in US dollars by card.
Live overlap with US Eastern hours is 8:00am–12:00pm ET, Monday to Friday. A named response time is in every scope document.
That is the whole disclosure. It is here once, near the top, because you were going to find out anyway and finding out later is what costs a deal.
The five questions nobody asks out loud.
If this goes wrong, do I have any recourse?
Every engagement runs on a written agreement and a scope document naming what is being delivered, under the laws of India. The counterparty is a named individual, not an anonymous brand. Context Theory is not incorporated, so you are contracting with an independent consultant rather than a company — which is stated here rather than discovered at signature.
How do I pay, and is it a hassle?
By card, through Stripe. The audit is paid in full upfront. The retainer is billed monthly, in advance. There is no international wire to arrange and no foreign bank details to key in. Further payment methods get added when a client needs one; Stripe is what is live today.
Will I be able to reach you when I need to?
Live hours are 8:00am–12:00pm ET, Monday to Friday — which is 5:30pm–9:30pm IST where I am. Four hours inside the overlap window. Next business day outside it. The escalation path is stated in the same terms: email first. Phone if email has not moved it. A call on Google Meet if it is genuinely breaking.
Is this one person who will disappear?
It is one person. The work is done by me, and you deal with me directly — there are no account managers and no outsourced strategy. What that costs you is capacity, which is why the retainer tiers differ on build scope rather than on how fast you get answered. What protects you is the continuity clause below: the accounts are yours, the configuration is exportable, and the documentation is written as the work happens.
Is this cheap because it is cheap labour, or because it is efficient?
It is not cheap. The retainer runs $2,500 to $6,500 a month, which sits inside the normal US band for this work rather than under it. The leverage is in the systems and the operating model, not in cutting the scope.
| Engagement | Per month |
|---|---|
| Focused, one to two services | $1,500–$4,000 |
| Full service | $3,500–$8,000 |
| Context Theory | $2,500–$6,500 |
2026 agency pricing survey · per month · verified
§6.1
Five objections, five artifacts. None of them are handled by reassurance.
Reaching me.
Named hours beat flexible hours by an enormous margin. Flexible reads as unavailable.
| Commitment | Stated as |
|---|---|
| Live overlap | 8:00am–12:00pm ET, Monday to Friday |
| Same window, my time | 5:30pm–9:30pm IST |
| Response time | Four hours inside the overlap window. Next business day outside it. |
| Escalation | Email first. Phone if email has not moved it. A call on Google Meet if it is genuinely breaking. |
| Channels | Email · Slack · Weekly Google Meet call |
| Scheduled call | Weekly, in your timezone |
The contract and the money.
| Item | Terms |
|---|---|
| Counterparty | Siddharth Sharma — Individual Consultant (until incorporated) |
| Jurisdiction | Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India |
| Governing law | The laws of India |
| Paperwork | A written agreement and a scope document per engagement |
| The audit | Paid in full upfront, $497 |
| The retainer | Billed monthly, in advance |
| Initial term | 3 months, then month to month |
| Notice | 30 days, in writing |
| Payment rails | Stripe |
The initial term is 3 months because that is how long systems work takes to move a number, not because a longer commitment is better for me. After that it is month to month with 30 days notice, and cancelling is an email.
What happens to your data.
The short version, in plain language. The long version is on the privacy page, and it says the same thing.
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Where it lives | Cloudflare, GitHub, Google Workspace, Stripe |
| Who can access it | Siddharth Sharma only. No subcontractors. |
| At termination | Exported and deleted within thirty days, or sooner if you ask. |
§5.4
Three lines, not a twelve-page policy. A policy that long is written for a buyer you do not have.
Continuity, and what this model will not do.
Continuity
Every account is created in your name and stays in your name. Configuration is exportable and documented as it is built, not at the end. If I am unavailable, you keep the systems, the documentation and the access, and nothing has to be rebuilt to move on.
Limits
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will not put someone on a phone at 2am your time. There is one person here and that is not a service one person can honestly offer.
will answer inside 8:00am–12:00pm ET on a named clock, and tell you what is running overnight while you wait.
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will not staff up to match a deadline. Capacity is the real constraint of a solo practice and pretending otherwise is how work slips.
will say no to a scope that does not fit the month, before the month starts rather than during it.
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will not accept work that needs credentials I have no business holding. Measurement is done from public surfaces.
will work from what your buyers can see, and tell you when a question genuinely needs access I do not have.
Start with the measurement.
Every engagement starts the same way: I measure what your funnel does with a real inquiry, before either of us commits to anything larger.
$497 · delivered in 5 business days · credited against month one
Or write to [email protected].