Stay Relevant in the Age of AI

Yes, that is the end goal... you must own the proprietary AI that drives your industry, or end up beholden to your competitor's AI as they drive down your earning potential with a commoditized self-serve product.

I work with businesses that are seen as experts and advisors by their customers, primarily consulting businesses and agencies, sometimes startup founders who come from a professional services background.

My clients understand that generative AI is an immediate threat to any business relying on expert information as a high-value revenue source. We work together to develop a vision for AI + cloud-based tools that deliver service outcomes at scale as a B2B SaaS business.

Transitioning your professional service business to a scalable B2B SaaS business involves three keys steps.

1. Planning - defining an AI-centric technology roadmap, prototype, team, and go-to-market strategy.
2. Fundraising - if necessary, acquiring the necessary capital through venture capital, private equity, or strategic investment.
3. Scaling - putting the team in place, accelerating product development and marketing.

I focus on technology and product deliverables while referring in other experts for more specialized help with marketing and finance, if necessary.

I charge a flat fee of $4,500 per month with no long term commitment. However, many of my clients end up choosing to work with me for years as I become a trusted source of strategic guidance.

The full transition to a B2B SaaS business can take a few years depending on several factors like capital, hiring pace, progress toward product-market-fit, and continued delivery of services.

An AI prototype can be set up in a matter of days or weeks, depending on how committed your team is to provide training data. A production-ready AI model can be ready in a few months.

My clients usually hit significant milestones within 3-6 months related to their technology roadmap, go-to-market strategy, and fundraising efforts - which is where most of my advisory work is focused.

If you don't yet have a minimum viable product (MVP), building one can take 6-12 months, assuming adequate focus and capital, with a fully baked product emerging in 12-24 months.

$50-100k and 3-6 months to get through initial milestones, assuming you already have an MVP (minimum viable product). This includes my fixed retainer of $4,500 per month, plus consulting fees for other experts related to fundraising and go-to-market.

Initial milestones include your technology roadmap, a go-to-market strategy, pitch deck, financial model, and initiation of a fundraising campaign.

The full transition to B2B SaaS can take up to a few years with seed funding of ~$3-6MM to achieve full product-market-fit with venture scale growth potential.

The CEOs and leadership teams I work with are understandably extremely busy. With the threat of generative AI and the need to evolve quickly, they're also fully committed to becoming AI-driven B2B SaaS businesses and willing to allocate several hours per week to working with me and other specialists as needed.

While it's ideal that you've already developed some kind of digital tools to augment your services, it's perfectly feasible to start with an idea based on demand from your established clients.

I have decades of experience as a software engineer and CTO, along with developer contacts who can provide the appropriate skillsets on demand until it makes sense to hire internally. Such skillsets include UX/UI design, system architecture, and engineering for frontend, backend, and AI.

So even if you don't have a product yet, I can guide you through the development process with the right talent to design, build, and maintain your product.

Yes.

If you are not fully committed to making the transition to a product-led business, then you should probably consider another less risky business model. My clients all see their mission as leveraging deep experience to do something bigger in a way that builds lasting value for themselves and their markets.

Following from that purpose, they are willing to invest the necessary time and capital into realizing their vision.

Keep in mind that you may be able to maintain a competitive advantage by utilizing proprietary AI to continue delivering human-powered services without moving to a product-based business model. Your upside will be limited, but so will your risk and effort.

Yes, this is the core service that I offer.

A technology roadmap is a clear plan to continuously invest in technology that accumulates value over time. If you don't have a tech roadmap, you're missing a fundamental part of your north star. If generative AI isn't a part of your tech roadmap, you're missing the bigger narrative in professional services.

But generative AI requires special consideration because it necessitates a fundamental mindset shift across your entire organization where your AI model becomes the central asset you're building in the business.

Becoming an AI-driven organization means ensuring that underlying business processes are documented and executed in a way that constantly trains, tests, and improves your AI model.

The most challenging aspect of this is usually changing human behavior, which is why having a clear roadmap is vital.

Yes, I support the development of a go-to-market strategy as it relates to the product vision, timeline, and capabilities.

Your GTM strategy is the natural extension of a well-defined technology roadmap. If my clients don't have the skills in-house to develop a viable product-based GTM strategy, I typically refer in outside experts such as a fractional CRO or GTM-focused consulting firm.

Yes, this is a standard part of my process.

Usually the product side of the business should operate separately from the service side, especially if you're trying to convince investors you're serious about growing.

A product-focused mindset is very different from services, especially in sales and marketing. You can also end up with conflicting interests, making tradeoffs for immediate revenue versus what's best for growth of the product.

Therefore, you will want to hire product-focused roles that operate separately from your service team. But to avoid loading up on new full time hires too fast, fractional resources can be a good option.

I work with my clients to identify the best allocation and timeline for product-related roles, and the best way to find them – often referrals through my network, but traditional hiring is also an option.

Yes, this is a standard part of my process.

A typical seed-stage funding round would be $3-6MM. The purpose of seed funding is to achieve product-market-fit and hire the core leadership team for your product business, so it may be necessary to seek a pre-seed round or debt financing if you don't yet have a product developed.

I work with my clients to craft a proven pitchdeck, financial model, and fundraising campaign that captures the unique potential of an established professional service business with venture scale potential.

Ideally, not as much as you...

I'm an expert in technology, process, and problem solving – with an emphasis on AI-driven products. The CEOs and leadership teams I work with are the top experts in their field.

I know what questions needs to be asked, best practices to follow, and how technology creates value – but ultimately it's you and your team who decide what's best or most innovative for your industry.

No.

Your service business is a source of stability that offers a competitive advantage against traditional tech startups, especially as a deep source of proprietary knowledge to train your AI.

The team that runs your product business should be separate from your services team, and it may be beneficial to legally separate the two. But your services will continue to play an important role in the early stage of seeding your AI and scaling into a B2B SaaS business.

If you're raising capital, many investors understand this is part of the unique opportunity you offer.

Fill out the application above where you can book a free 1-hour strategy call with me. From there, if I'm confident I can help you, we can work out the details.

Please understand that my capacity is extremely limited and therefore I'm only able to work with highly qualified business owners who are ready to invest in their future.