01 / Introduction
You don't build the roof before the foundation.
Everyone's selling AI agents. I help owners build what has to come first — captured knowledge, clean data, systems your team actually uses.
I run a manufacturing company. I built ours myself.
You're the owner. Half the company runs out of your head.
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Critical information lives in two people's heads — yours and one other.
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The Drive is a graveyard. Nobody can find anything without asking.
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Quotes still take half a day because the answers aren't in one place.
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You bought ChatGPT licenses six months ago and nobody opens them.
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Every AI vendor pitch sounds the same. None of them have run a shop.
I'm not launching a consultancy from a deck. I'm launching it from the systems I've already shipped.
Two decades of operating — kitchen-oil recycling, organic farming, manufacturing — and the last several years building the AI tooling that runs my own company. The same playbook is what I bring to yours.
Greenhouse manufacturing · Internal build
Quote-while-you-talk.
Replaced a multi-step quoting process — copying sheets, juggling folders, edits across pages — with a single input/output system. Quotes used to land 45 minutes after the call. Now they go out as the call ends.
Greenhouse manufacturing · Internal build
The knowledge stops living in two heads.
A queryable knowledge layer with a manager-curated feedback loop. Anyone on the team can ask "how much of this component did we order last quarter?" and get a real answer. The AI gets better every week — because managers approve the answers, not the model.
$249 · 90 minutes
One workflow. Automated. Working before you hang up.
A live working session: discovery, build, test, hand-off. We pick one workflow you've been meaning to automate and ship it together using the apps already in your Zapier account.
You get a working automation, a Loom walkthrough you can share with your team, and a clear answer on whether deeper work makes sense. No custom code. No new platforms.
Book the build session →Foundation. Then walls. Then the roof.
Most engagements I see start at the wrong end — agents and automation grafted onto data nobody trusts. We work the other direction.
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Step 01
Capture what's in your head.
Most owners don't realize how much of their company runs on knowledge that isn't written down anywhere. We find it, capture it, and put it somewhere your team can actually reach. This is the unsexy work that has to come first.
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Step 02
Clean what's already there.
The Drive that nobody can search. The spreadsheets that almost talk to each other. The tribal naming conventions only you understand. We bring order to the systems you already pay for, without replatforming.
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Step 03
Now ship the AI work.
Once the foundation is solid, automation and AI tools land where they actually matter. Quote-while-you-talk. Knowledge anyone can query. Sales context that surfaces itself. Built on tools you already own.
For the businesses where the owner still knows the most.
✓ A good fit if
- + You're the owner of a small team where critical knowledge still lives in your head.
- + You've tried something with AI and have an honest sense of where it landed — or stalled.
- + You want a working system you control, not another platform license.
- + You appreciate plain language over consulting jargon.
✗ Probably not a fit if
- − You want a glossy AI strategy deck. I write Markdown and ship working tools.
- − You expect referral fees from your tool stack. I don't take any.
- − You're hoping to deploy autonomous agents on data you don't trust yet. We start with the foundation.
- − You want a multi-quarter retainer with no measurable outcome attached. I won't sign one.
Five things I'm willing to lose work over.
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01
Foundation before roof.
You can't deploy agents on a swamp. Every engagement I take starts with capturing knowledge and cleaning data — because the AI future you're trying to reach depends on that work.
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02
MVP, then peel back.
I've seen too many over-architected systems collapse under their own weight. We ship the simplest version that works, then add layers only when reality demands them.
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03
Build before buy when the gap is small.
I once nearly bought an enterprise CPQ for my own company. Then I built what we actually needed in a few weeks of focused work. I'll make the same call inside yours.
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04
Human-in-the-loop on what matters.
Managers curate. The AI doesn't go autonomous on customer-facing work or institutional knowledge until a human has signed off. The systems I build assume someone is still watching.
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05
No retainer without an outcome.
Every engagement ties to something measurable. If we can't define what success looks like, we shouldn't be working together yet.
I came to AI consulting from a strange direction.
Out of college I ran operations and hands-on service for a kitchen-oil recycling company through a 6× growth spurt — 800 sq ft and one truck to 6,000 sq ft and four trucks. I learned what frontline service work actually demands.
Then I farmed. Built one of the largest certified-organic operations by acreage in my county in under five years, running a highly mechanized farm where I was the problem-solver and the engineer.
Then I co-founded the manufacturing company I run now. Turned a $50 investment into a multi-million-dollar business with elite operating leverage — small team, high revenue per head — running on tooling I built myself.
That's three industries learning the same lesson: the hard part isn't the technology. The hard part is the foundation underneath.
The questions I hear most.
Are you going to sell me ChatGPT licenses? +
No. I don't sell software, and I take no referral fees from any vendor. I help you use what you have, or pick what fits your team. The recommendation isn't shaped by who's paying me — because nobody is, except you.
I keep hearing about agents. Why are you saying foundation first? +
Because agents on bad data are an expensive way to fail in public. Every agent demo you see runs on a curated dataset. Your business doesn't have one yet. We build it. Then the agents you deploy on top actually work.
What if our team isn't technical? +
Most aren't. The tools I build are for the team you have, not the team consultants imagine. Plain interfaces. Plain language. If a person on your team can't use it without me, I haven't finished the job.
How do I know what to start with? +
If you're not sure, start with the $249 build session. Ninety minutes, one shipped automation, and an honest read on whether deeper work makes sense. No commitment beyond that.
Are you in Minnesota? +
Based in Minnesota, with a satellite presence in Connecticut. Most engagements run async with periodic on-site days. Travel is included in flat-rate scopes — no hidden line items.