AI for owner-run businesses
Ocean
Navigate the ocean of AI.Bring back your time.
I've built two companies through technology waves and spent seven years helping the largest companies stop wasting money on technology. Now I am helping owner-run businesses use AI to cut costs and get hours back, at a price that makes sense for a small business.
Why me
This isn't my first wave.
I started in engineering at Microsoft. In 2010 I co-founded 2nd Watch and built it into the first certified AWS Managed Services Provider, with 150 employees and customers like Coca-Cola, Starbucks, McDonald's, AIG, Motorola, Mattel, Nike and Toyota. Then I co-founded Vega Cloud, where we've helped over 800 companies like Deloitte, Paramount and Hearst cut more than $300 million in cloud waste.
Every wave looks the same from the inside. Lots of noise, lots of vendors, a few moves that matter. My job is to find those few moves for you.
The gap
Big-company experience. Small-business price.
The Fortune 500 pays millions for senior people to guide them through AI. A business with 5 to 150 employees gets sales pitches and YouTube videos. I built VegaOcean to close that gap: fixed prices, tools you mostly already own, and results measured in hours and dollars.
Start with your own day
Not sure what an "AI agent" is? Most owners aren't.
Most owners I talk to are nodding along in AI conversations without a clear picture of what it can do. So I start with you. In two weeks, AI is handling your email, your calendar, your meeting prep and a daily brief, set up in tools you own. Once you've felt it in your own day, it's obvious where it belongs in the business.
Owner's AI Jumpstart: $2,500, 2 weeks, credited toward a bigger project if you start one within 30 days.
Starting with contractors and trades
Finished work, not advice.
Most AI help stops at a recommendation. I set up AI that does the work and hand it back to you running: a fixed price per job, measured in hours you get back.
Quote Desk
Quotes and estimates out the same day, drafted from your site notes, photos and price book. You review and send.
Today: 8 to 12 owner hours a week
Follow-up Engine
Every new lead, open quote and unpaid invoice followed up on schedule until it closes.
Today: 5 to 8 office hours a week, plus jobs that slip away
Inbox Under Control
Your email sorted, answered in draft and filed every day. You only touch what needs you.
Today: 6 to 10 owner hours a week
Job Recap
Daily job notes and weekly customer updates written from your crew leads' voice memos.
Today: 4 to 6 hours a week across crew leads
Founding clients: the first 5 pay half up front, and the other half only when the package gives them back at least 5 hours a week within 30 days.
Claim a founding spotAnd medical practices
Full schedules. Answered phones. Evenings back.
Dental, medical, eye care and med spa practices run on a full schedule and a front desk that can't keep up. I set up AI that fills the gaps, inside your own systems, under a signed business associate agreement.
Full Schedule
Recalls, reactivation and cancellation fill run automatically, so open chairs and exam slots get filled.
Front Desk Relief
After-hours and overflow calls and texts answered, appointments booked, urgent ones routed.
Insurance Desk
Eligibility checked before every visit, prior authorizations drafted, denials worked.
Charting Time Back
An AI scribe chosen, set up and rolled out, so notes are done before the patient leaves.
Treatment Follow-through
Unscheduled treatment, consults and optical orders followed up until booked.
Start with an AI Safety Check
Most practices have staff pasting patient details into free AI tools. In one week I find it, switch you to safe tools you own, write your AI policy and train the team.
$1,500, credited toward a package
Book a Safety CheckWho I work with
Built for the businesses big firms skip.
Contractors and trades, up to $15M
Electrical, HVAC, plumbing, roofing and general contractors. Quotes, follow-ups and job updates eat the owner's evenings. That's where I start.
Medical, dental, eye care and med spa practices
Owner-run practices with 1 to 15 providers. HIPAA-safe setups under a signed business associate agreement.
Other owner-run businesses
From $250K to $15M. If you're the bottleneck for email, scheduling or follow-ups, the same approach fits, and I can start with AI in your own day first.
Ways to work together
Fixed prices. Pick your starting point.
Navigator Sprint
$2,500 · 2 weeks
Your top 3 AI opportunities, a 90-day plan, tool costs, and one quick win built.
DetailsOutcome packages
$6,000 each
Quote Desk, Follow-up Engine, Inbox Under Control or Job Recap, built and running in your business.
DetailsFractional AI Captain
From $400 a month
Ongoing guidance and one improvement shipped each month. Four tiers by business size.
See the tiersCrew Training
$2,500 · half day
A hands-on workshop for your team on the tools you already pay for.
DetailsOwner's AI Jumpstart
$2,500 · 2 weeks
AI working in your own day first: email, calendar, meeting prep and a daily brief. Monthly follow-on available.
DetailsHow it works
Four steps. No slide decks.
A 30-minute call
Free. We talk about your business, not AI buzzwords. Often I'll build something small for you right there.
A one-page proposal
Fixed price, clear deliverables, and the numbers we'll measure.
We start within a week
No long onboarding.
Results every month
Measured in hours saved and dollars kept.
FAQ
Questions owners ask
How is this different from a big consulting firm?
You get a former CEO, not a team of junior analysts, at a fixed price that fits a small business.
Do I need a technical team?
No. Most of my clients don't have one. I set it up and train whoever will use it.
What will the tools cost each month?
Usually little or nothing new. I start with what you already pay for, like Microsoft 365, Google Workspace or ChatGPT, and show the monthly cost of anything new before you buy.
Are you tied to any AI vendor?
No. Microsoft, Google, OpenAI, Anthropic: I recommend what fits, and I take no referral fees.
Is my data safe?
We use business-grade accounts that don't train on your data, and I'll walk you through exactly where it goes. For medical practices, I sign a business associate agreement, patient data stays inside your own systems and HIPAA-eligible tools, and it never goes into mine.
What size business do you work with?
From $250K to $15M in revenue. Bigger than that, or if you have your own technology team, I'll introduce you to people I trust.
Book a free call
Ready to get your time back?
Thirty minutes about your business. You'll leave with at least one idea you can use this week, whether we work together or not.
I reply within one business day.
Thanks. Got it.
I'll email you within one business day with a few times to talk.