Art Official Intelligence

I help AEC firms, the investors behind them, and the startups selling to them turn “random acts of AI” into results you can measure. In 90 days, not nine months.

Let’s Chat. On me.

Making sense of the noise

Most firms don’t lack for AI activity. What keeps leaders awake is the gnawing sense that all those internal pilots, vendor demos, and rapidly burning tokens aren’t actually adding up to anything real.

The flurry of activity and seemingly impressive slides chock-a-block with adoption metrics and charts creates a veneer of progress, but no one can really point to durable revenue and/or efficiencies despite all the sound and fury.

That isn’t a strategy. It’s random acts of AI.

I work the problem in a different order than most:

1. Objective first. Name the margin, growth, or capacity result AI has to move, measured in your numbers.
2. Portfolio second. Score every pilot, tool, and vendor against that objective. Fund the few. Stop the rest. Resolve the natural tensions between your portfolio and objectives, and adjust where needed.
3. Technology third. Build, buy, partner, or ignore, decided by value rather than by whoever gave the best demo.

Technology goes third. Because you wouldn’t start building a house by laying out the wiring.

Make AI earn its keep

AI is unusual because it’s a general-purpose technology. Unlike a new expense-reporting system or GIS tool, its applications aren’t inherently obvious. Hoping that an agent installed on every laptop and a digital dump truck full of tokens will result in miraculous savings is like hiring a PhD to sit with every employee and hoping cool stuff will happen.

Instead of relying on the overused “Field of Dreams” strategy (if you build it, they will come), together we’ll:

• Identify the metrics that matter. For AEC firms, it might be backlog, win rate, and margin, while for an AI startup it could be as simple as a marquee customer.
• Link those metrics to intermediate- and longer-term objectives. AI initiatives need to support your broader organizational mission, lest you end up with a portfolio of “gadgets” that don’t get you where you need to go.
• Identify and rationalize. Every AI initiative links to the mission. Every initiative has clear, measurable targets.
• Track and adjust. We don’t leave you with a PowerPoint; we leave you with the tools to interactively monitor progress and measure results.
• Enable compliant adoption. Ensure your teams can use AI freely and capably while client data, PII, and contract terms stay protected.

The 90-day sprint

The AI Value Sprint is how we get there, in 13 weeks:

1. Weeks 1–3, Discover. A leadership objective session. An inventory of pilots, tools, spend, and uncovering the shadow AI nobody told you about, for better and worse.
2. Weeks 4–6, Prioritize. Score every use case on real business metrics, not BS-y “hours saved” or tool use. Agree on what to stop.
3. Weeks 7–10, Decide. Build, buy, partner, or ignore. Governance and a usage policy people will actually follow.
4. Weeks 11–13, Launch. Named owners and metrics. First initiatives underway that create momentum and provide actionable feedback loops versus testing whether IT can install some software.

You walk away with a ranked AI portfolio tied to your P&L, a “stop doing” list, a practical AI use and risk policy, and a board-ready 90-day roadmap. Not another deck.

Who it’s for

Same rigor, three lenses.

AEC firm leaders. Turn random acts of AI into measurable value. You’ve got pilots, tools, a few enthusiastic champions, and no way to tell the board what it’s worth. The Sprint gives you a ranked portfolio, named owners, and a plan the board can follow with an appropriate set of metrics creating light at the end of the tunnel.

Investors and portfolio companies. Make AI a value-creation lever, not a stand-alone tech program. AI tied to EBITDA, the investment thesis, and the exit story. Includes AI diligence on targets, separating real capability and risk from pitch-deck claims.

AEC tech and AI startups. Build what infrastructure firms and asset owners will actually buy. Validate the problem, find the real buyer and the real budget, and shape positioning around the outcomes your customers actually care about. Four weeks before you scale the product.

Ways to engage

Three ways to work together, starting small on purpose.

Investors can also start with AI Diligence on a prospective acquisition, scoped per deal. Startups start with the four-week Validation Sprint, and for the right companies I’ll structure part of the work in equity so you keep your cash for building.

Why me

Operator experience, not generic AI consulting. I spent five years leading digital inside one of the world’s largest AEC firms and built and led a $140M digital practice there: business economics, enterprise sales, delivery, adoption, funding, talent, and governance. Before that, I spent 20+ years turning new technology into products, revenue, and tools people actually use across industry and government. I’m independent and vendor-neutral, so nobody pays me to like a product.

I’m not here to give you another “AI is going to change the world” lecture, or produce slideware the feels important but sparks zero momentum. If you’re in the infrastructure space and need to get “unstuck” on AI, I can help.

Fit check

Probably a good fit if you’ve got plenty of AI activity and want it to add up, someone in the room can make a decision, and you’re willing to stop things that aren’t working.

Probably not a fit if you need a deck to bless a decision already made, you want a vendor rubber stamp, or your procurement process needs a 40-page response to schedule a one-hour conversation.

Take the first step

A 60-minute working session, no charge. Bring the objective, the mess, or the portfolio company. We’ll define what AI has to accomplish, expose the friction, and hone in on your next three moves, whether or not those include working together.

Book a session

Or hit me up: pat@grayforce.one.