AI got good fast. Most small businesses still aren't using it.

AI has gone from a party trick to something that can read a contract or reconcile a month of invoices, and it keeps getting better. Adoption numbers, though, mostly count the easy stuff. Someone tried ChatGPT once. A marketing team picked up a writing tool. Look at who's running AI anywhere near their actual operations and the smallest businesses are barely there.

The reasons are practical rather than stubborn. Most owners have no idea where to start, because nothing about running a business tells you which of your problems AI happens to be good at. The tools worth having sit behind developer accounts, API keys and pricing written for companies with an IT department. And nobody wants to spend six months learning a new craft to build one thing they'll use on a Tuesday.

So don't. Hand me the problem instead. I diagnose what is actually going wrong, tell you what would fix it, and build it when building is warranted.

I'm curious about how groups of people organize themselves to get big things done, and how often the technology meant to help ends up in the way.

I've spent seven years in tech as a solutions consultant and product owner. Most of that was sitting across a table from people who run businesses, working out what software could and couldn't do for them. No jargon, no overselling.

I look at the business first and the technology second. The question is never how to get you using AI. It's what's costing you time and money, and whether AI belongs anywhere near the answer. If something does get built, I stay on it with you rather than handing it over and moving to the next contract.

Sometimes the right answer is a cheap automation that takes an afternoon. That's a fine outcome.