What it costs to start an AI agency
The fixed cost is $49 a month. The real number is the cash dip when your first client signs. Here is the month-one math at the cheap and expensive ends, and who should wait.
You can start an AI agency for $49 a month plus the cost of finding your first client. That is the whole fixed cost on Lumina Sales. The client work is separate and only shows up when someone signs: for a full Top Tier buildout, we publish a wholesale guide of $1,150 to $1,400 setup and $315 to $460 a month, plus $0.35 a minute on the voice line. You set the retail price and keep the difference.
That answer is accurate and also incomplete, because "cost to start" means three different things depending on who asks. This post separates them, shows the month-one cash math for a first client, and says plainly who should not start this way.
What does it cost to start an AI agency?
Three buckets, and people mash them together.
Fixed cost to exist. On our side this is the $49 a month platform. It gets you the demo site on your subdomain, the client portal, access to the fulfillment platform, onboarding help for closed deals, and 100 live voice minutes, 500 chat messages and 50 website audits a month for demos. It does not scale with client count. One client or twelve, it is still $49.
Cost to find a client. This is the one nobody can quote you, because it is your time or your ad spend. One voice-agency guide from Trillet puts a realistic starting budget at $299 a month, made of a $99 platform, $200 of ads and a landing page. That is one vendor's number for its own product, so treat it as a data point, not a rule. If you prospect by phone and message, your acquisition cost is hours, and the hours are the real price.
Cost to deliver a client. This only exists after a yes. It is the setup fee, the wholesale monthly and the voice minutes, agreed on a 30-minute pricing call for each build. Nothing is owed for clients you do not have.
So the honest figure for "what do I need in the bank before the first deal" is $49, plus whatever you choose to spend finding people, plus enough float to cover the first client's setup if you pay it before they pay you.
What does the first client cost in cash?
Use the top of every range, because planning against the best case is how you end up short.
Top Tier guide, upper end: $1,400 setup, $460 a month, and 300 voice minutes at $0.35, which is $105. Retail $1,500 a month with nothing charged upfront.
| You pay out | Client pays | Running total | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Month 1 | $1,400 + $460 + $105 + $49 = $2,014 |