A course gives you information. A generic coach gives you opinions. We do two things neither does: we'll tell you exactly where AI belongs in your operation and where it shouldn't go, and then, if you want, we build the systems and remain accountable for keeping them running. Advisory here means decisions and standards grounded in what we actually ship, not a slide deck.
Every engagement starts with a free consultation, where we share the rate for each package. From there it splits two ways. Advisory is for owners who aren't sure where AI belongs yet: a one-time AI Opportunity Audit puts a dollar figure on every workflow you run, records a build, buy or skip call on each one, skip is a real answer, and leaves you a written 90-day roadmap you can hand to your own team, another builder, or us. The audit fee itself is never credited toward a retainer, so the advice stays independent of whether we ever build anything. If the roadmap points to a build and you start Workflow Launch or Operations Growth Partner within 30 days of your roadmap, the setup fee is waived on a 12-month term and half off month-to-month. Advisor on Call (monthly, on a 16-week term or month-to-month) keeps us on hand for decisions, vendor vetting and async questions. Implementation is for businesses that already know what's broken: Workflow Launch (a one-time setup fee, then a monthly retainer) where we build and run one high-value system; Operations Growth Partner (monthly retainer) for one scoped system every month; and Fractional AI Operations Partner (by application, priced to scope) for us to own and maintain the whole function, with a private team training session included every month. Most clients start with an audit, and the roadmap shows whether Advisory or Implementation fits.
Advisory is us helping you decide what to do: where AI actually pays in your operation, what to prioritise, which tools are worth buying, and where AI shouldn't be used at all. Implementation is us building those systems into your business and keeping them running. Advisory covers decisions, standards and direction, building is always quoted separately, so the advice stays honest instead of doubling as a sales pitch for our own build work.
Both, but they're separate products. A team workshop is a one-time private session, 60 minutes live online, or 90 minutes in your building, for up to 20 people. We audit your operation live, demo AI built for your business, train your team hands-on, and you keep a written roadmap and the recording whether or not you ever hire us for anything else. It's the fastest way to fix the real bottleneck, which is usually your people not knowing what's possible rather than the software.
The Day-30 Guarantee protects you: if your first AI system isn’t live and running inside your business by day 30 from kickoff, your setup fee is refunded in full and your term is void. That matters: a 12-month term normally doesn’t cancel for convenience, but if we miss day 30 it releases immediately, so you are never held to eleven more months of a system that never shipped. Your setup fee is custom, scoped and agreed in writing before any build begins, so you know the exact number the guarantee covers. The one condition is timely access: we need the accounts and information the build depends on, and if we’re waiting on your side, the clock pauses until we’re unblocked.
A fractional Chief AI Officer is an advisory role, typically 8–20 hours a month of strategy, vendor management, and oversight. You still need someone to build the systems, and that’s a separate cost. The Fractional AI Operations Partner tier includes the implementation: we own the roadmap and We build, integrate, and run the systems ourselves. You get the strategy and the working software from the same place, at a price comparable to advice alone.
We build and run AI systems inside client businesses every day, and we're certified directly by Anthropic, the company behind the Claude models we build on, holding Claude Code 101, Building with the Claude API, plus four AI Fluency certifications (Framework & Foundations, for Small Businesses, for Educators, and Teaching the AI Fluency Framework). You're hiring someone who does the work, on what we've actually shipped and run, not theory.
Established local businesses with real revenue, typically $500K+ ARR, looking to use AI to compress operational cost, scale without adding headcount, or expand sales capacity. If your business has repeated workflows, customer touchpoints, or a sales motion, there's almost always something worth automating. Beyond the revenue number, the best fit is an owner who wants their time back from follow-up and admin, and a business that's in this for the long haul, each month another system stacks on the last, so the payback compounds for the clients who grow with us rather than buying a one-off project.
Tampa-first. We're based in Tampa, FL and prefer to do kickoffs in person when possible. Working nationwide remotely otherwise. Time-zone overlap with US business hours is required for retainer clients.
A 20–30 minute fit check, not a mini-audit. We talk through how your business actually runs, whether there's a real opportunity worth pursuing, and which path makes sense if there is: advisory, a build, or nothing yet. If it isn't a fit, we'll say so on the call. What you won't get is a ranked opportunity list or a roadmap. That's the AI Opportunity Audit, and it's paid work for a reason.
Yes. The consultation is free, with no commitment. If we're a fit and you want to move forward, that's when the retainer starts. No pressure either way, the call is genuinely about figuring out if there's a real opportunity in your business.
About 20–30 minutes. If you move into Workflow Launch, kickoff is where we scope the one workflow we're building, what's breaking, what it's costing you, how it connects to your tools, then build it and walk you through it live. Typically a few days from kickoff to live system. That kickoff scoping is narrower than the Opportunity Audit: it covers the system you're buying, not your whole operation.
Yes. The roadmap delivered in Month 1 is yours to share, internal alignment, board updates, vendor briefs, or your own implementation.
Workflow Launch is about fixing and running one high-value workflow, low risk, fast to prove. The Operations Growth Partner retainer makes operations improvement a permanent function. Instead of running a single system, we work a prioritized roadmap one implementation at a time across sales, service, and admin, maintain everything already live, and own the roadmap with you. Different scope, different intent.
One active implementation priority at a time, outreach engines, CRM intelligence layers, support agents, content pipelines, proposal systems, and similar, scoped to your business off the roadmap we set together. Everything already built stays monitored, maintained, and improved in parallel.
No, but most clients start with an audit. It prices every repeated task in your business and tells you which route fits, so you never commit to a retainer on a guess. If you already know exactly which workflow is costing you, you can start on Workflow Launch or Operations Growth Partner directly.
Only if you choose it. Operations Growth Partner comes two ways: a lower rate on a 12-month term, or about 20% more month-to-month, cancel anytime, no long-term contract. The annual term is the discount, not a requirement.
Outreach and prospecting automation, AI-powered follow-up, intake bots, CRM intelligence layers, content engines, internal-ops automations, customer-support agents, and similar. The audit determines exactly what; every business is different.
Your systems are built, hosted, and maintained as part of your retainer. You get full use of everything they do for your business while we work together. They run on my managed infrastructure and keep improving every month. When the engagement ends, the managed service ends with it and so does access to the systems themselves. What you walk away with: your data, your accounts, everything the systems produced, every roadmap and piece of documentation I wrote for you, and an inventory of the accounts and integrations your systems touched, so nothing is a mystery to whoever picks it up next. Month-to-month cancels any time on 30 days’ written notice. A 12-month term runs its year, with one exception: if your first system isn’t live by day 30, the term is void and the setup fee is refunded. If you’d rather own and self-host a specific build outright, that’s a separate written agreement and a separate fee.
Built, hosted and run for you: that's the whole point. You're not buying software to go operate; you're buying a system that works and someone who keeps it working. I build it, host it, and maintain the engine behind it, so when models change, an API shifts or something breaks at 2am, that's mine to handle, not a ticket on your team's desk. It's wired into your own tools and accounts wherever possible, and while you're on a retainer you have full use of it and of everything it produces. What's permanently yours: your data and your accounts; the output the systems produced, content, records, reports; every roadmap I write for you, advisory or implementation; the costed workflow model and readiness scorecard from an Opportunity Audit; plain-English documentation of how each workflow runs; any brand voice guide; your team's AI usage standard; decision logs; and workshop recordings and handouts. All of it yours to keep and act on with no strings, whether or not you ever hire me to build a line of it. If we part ways I'll also hand you an inventory of every account and integration your systems touched, so nothing is a mystery to whoever picks it up next. What isn't: the systems themselves, the automations, configurations and the engine behind them. They live on my infrastructure and access ends when the engagement does, which is the trade that lets me charge a retainer instead of a build fee, and keeps me accountable for whether it still works in month nine. Want to own and self-host a specific build outright? That's a separate written agreement and a separate fee, ask on the consultation and I'll price it.
Established businesses that want a partner responsible for their AI and automation strategy rather than just execution, companies large enough to benefit from a senior operations voice in the room, but not large enough (or not ready) to hire a full-time AI lead. We act as a fractional executive, owning the roadmap, building the big systems, training the team, and reporting ROI.
Ownership and scope. The Fractional AI Operations Partner owns the whole function, full roadmap ownership, multiple active initiatives at once (vs. one priority at a time), department-by-department improvement, executive dashboards and ROI reporting, team training and documentation, and vendor oversight with priority support. You're handing off the function, not buying more automations.
Yes, and it's the most common path. Most Fractional AI Operations Partner clients started on the Operations Growth Partner retainer and graduated when their AI footprint outgrew the lighter tier.
All retainers are billed in advance on the same day each month as your start date. Payment by card, ACH, or invoice, whichever works for your accounting setup. The consultation is free.
Existing clients get an upgrade credit. Move up to a higher Implementation tier on a 12-month term and the setup fee is waived; move up month-to-month and it's half off. We've already done the groundwork on your business, so you don't pay for it twice. You stay on your current term and end date, your systems keep running without a break, and the new rate starts on your next billing date. Larger custom builds are scoped separately.
It depends on the engagement. Month-to-month retainers cancel any time with 30 days written notice; once a billing cycle starts that month isn't refundable, and partial months aren't prorated. Term retainers run at the lower rate and don't cancel for convenience mid-term, that commitment is what the lower rate buys. Implementation terms are 12 months; Advisor on Call commits for 16 weeks, not a year, then converts to month-to-month. Implementation carries the Day-30 guarantee: if your first system isn't live and running within 30 days of kickoff, the setup fee is refunded in full and the term is void, and you choose whether to end it or continue month-to-month. That is the only case where a term retainer releases early, so you're never locked in behind a system that never shipped. It's conditional only on our having had timely access to the accounts the build depends on. One-time engagements (the Opportunity Audit and team workshops) can be rescheduled free with 5 business days' notice, and are refunded in full if cancelled more than 10 business days out, less any non-recoverable travel. Full terms are on the terms page.
Every engagement is covered by a mutual NDA by default. Your business data, customer information, and proprietary processes stay private. We don't share client information, never use your data to train external models, and follow least-privilege access on every integration.
We integrate with what you already have whenever possible, HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, Notion, Google Workspace, Slack, Stripe, etc. If a tool genuinely needs replacing, that's part of the audit recommendation, but we won't push a switch unless it's the right call.
Hosting is included in your retainer. Software and AI usage costs (Anthropic, third-party SaaS, etc.) are reviewed with you on the call before we start anything: light usage is covered by the retainer, and if a system will use more, we agree in writing how it's billed first. Nothing extra is ever charged without your approval.
The consultation is typically scheduled within 2–3 business days of booking. If we're a fit, your retainer can start the following month, Month 1 is when kickoff scoping and the pilot build happen.
Email carter@flowbackai.com, we read and reply personally.