Want a strategic operator to run your business? Meet your Smarty chief of staff →

Forward Deployed Engineers and Operators

Own the software that runs your business.

Custom, AI-native software shaped to your workflows — faster and cheaper than stitching together thirty SaaS tools that don't fit.

Book a discovery audit Low-commitment. Days, not quarters.
Why now

Off-the-shelf SaaS made sense when building was hard.

AI writes most production code now — the cost of custom collapsed, and the cost of stitching thirty subscriptions did not.

How we work

From audit to working software in days, not quarters.

01

Discovery

Map your workflows, tools, and data — and where the real opportunities live.

02

Rapid prototyping

Usable prototypes in days, so you see real value before committing to a build.

03

Build what proves out

Prototypes that deliver get hardened into production by our engineering team.

04

Maintain and evolve

Your stack stays modern and custom as the technology changes underneath you.

Working software next week. Not a seventy-page report next quarter.

Recent engagements

What we built. What changed.

Some details and client names are anonymized.

Large NYC real estate fund

Workflow tooling, end to end.

Replaced a stitched-together stack of property and reporting tools with one internal system.

30-year-old NYC electrical company

Full tech stack rebuild.

Replaced legacy scheduling, dispatch, and customer management with a custom AI-native stack.

German accounting firm

A custom alternative to enterprise migration.

Designed a bespoke alternative to a proposed multi-year SAP rollout.

Government-data startup

AI search and chat over a decade of records.

Built natural-language search and chat over 10–15 years of public records.

Multiple seed-stage startups

Embedded as additional AI engineers.

Shipped product alongside founding engineering teams as additional senior capacity.

Who you'll work with

A senior team, not a single contractor.

  • A fractional strategist — ex-McKinsey, MIT, HBS.
  • AI-native senior engineers, executing the build.
  • A senior CTO when the work needs one.
How we operate

Two things we won't compromise on.

Model-agnostic. No lock-in.

We use whichever model is best for the task, so you're never trapped in one vendor's ecosystem.

Inside your constraints.

We work inside your security rules, your codebase, and your access controls — you decide how much.

Start with a discovery audit.

We map your workflows, your tools, and your data — and show you where the real opportunities live.

Book a discovery audit
Chief of AI — COAI

Build your unfair advantage.

A fractional CTO and a senior AI engineering team — auditing your stack, building what's missing, and keeping you ahead as the field moves.

Modernize your IT See what we build
What we ship

Custom systems where you used to have SaaS bloat.

Off-the-shelf software was built for the average buyer. We build what your specific business actually needs — owned, not rented.

AI Tools

Internal AI that actually ships.

  • Custom GPTs trained on your data
  • AI copilots inside your existing tools
  • Document AI — extract, summarize, route
  • Voice agents for ops, sales & support
  • Workflow automation with reasoning
Custom Platforms

One tool. Yours. Replaces five.

  • Internal tools to kill SaaS sprawl
  • Client-facing portals & dashboards
  • Bespoke CRMs / ERPs / project tools
  • Mobile companion apps for field teams
  • Vendor-lock escape ramps
Data Infrastructure

A single source of truth.

  • Unified data warehouse (no consultants)
  • Real-time pipelines from every system
  • Dashboards your team will actually open
  • Data quality & enrichment loops
  • Predictive analytics where it pays off
Integrations

Plumbing that just works.

  • API & webhook plumbing
  • System-to-system handoffs (no copy-paste)
  • Trigger-based workflow engines
  • Legacy system bridges & wrappers
  • Zapier-killers for high-volume flows
Modernize your IT
The SaaS reckoning

You're paying for software that doesn't understand your business.

  • The 30 SaaS subscriptions that promised one thing and delivered three settings panels.
  • The "AI feature" that's just a chatbot stapled onto last year's product, billing you 3x for the privilege.
  • The IT consultant who set you up on Salesforce three years ago and hasn't been heard from since.
How we engage

Audit. Build. Maintain.

Three phases baked into every CoAI engagement — so you go from "we should think about AI" to "we have the most modern stack in our industry," without ever managing a developer.

01 — Audit

Map the truth

Two weeks of interviews, system maps, and cost teardowns. By the end you have a roadmap that says exactly what to build, what to kill, and what to keep — with ROI attached.

02 — Build

Ship the systems

Your fractional CTO leads. Senior engineers execute. We ship the first production tool in week six — then keep shipping until your stack matches your business.

03 — Maintain

Stay ahead

The field moves weekly. We stay on retainer to update what we built, swap in better models as they ship, and keep your stack a quarter ahead of your competition.

Why we win

Not advisors. Not contractors. Operators.

The AI consulting world is split between strategists who don't ship and dev shops that don't strategize. We do both — and we own the outcome.

Fractional CTO ownership

A real CTO on your account who'd be your full-time hire if budget allowed. Strategy, hiring plans, board updates — they own all of it.

Senior engineering bench

Vetted senior engineers from our partner network. Pulled in when you need them, billed only for the work — never a full FTE you don't need.

Yours forever

Every line of code we write is your IP. Your repos, your accounts, your infra. If you ever leave, you take everything — no lock-in.

Always modern

The model you used in Q1 is the wrong one in Q4. We swap, refactor, and upgrade as the field moves so your stack never goes stale.

Our promise

Built for your business.
Owned forever. Always modern.

The reason we exist

The board asked about your AI strategy. You changed the subject.

By next quarter, you should have an answer. By the one after, you should have shipped it.

Get a real answer
How it works

Three phases to your unfair advantage.

01

The audit. (2 weeks)

Your fractional CTO interviews every team that touches a tool, maps your full stack, and costs out what you're spending vs. what you'd spend if it were custom. You walk out with a prioritized roadmap and a number — what this would cost a competitor to copy.

02

The build. (Weeks 3–12)

First production tool live by week six. Your CTO leads architecture and design; senior engineers execute. We work in 2-week sprints, ship in your repos, and review with your team weekly. You see code, not slides.

03

The maintain. (Forever, optional)

When the build is done, most clients keep us on a smaller retainer to maintain, swap in newer models, and ship the next thing. Your stack stays a quarter ahead. If you'd rather take it in-house, we hand off cleanly — no contract, no clawback.

Built for the build-don't-buy era

Built for businesses tired of renting their stack.

Founders, CEOs, and operators who know AI is the wedge but don't have the budget for a CTO + team — or the patience for a 6-month consulting engagement that ends in a deck.

6w
To first build live

From kickoff to your first production AI tool shipped — not prototyped.

⅕
The cost

What you'd pay vs. an in-house CTO + senior AI engineer, fully loaded.

100%
Code ownership

Yours from day one. Your repos, your accounts, your IP. No lock-in, ever.

"

I run three companies. They all need an AI strategy. None of them can afford a CTO. CoAI is the only thing I've found that gives me senior thinking and senior execution at a price that makes sense.

D
Daniel K.
Multi-Co Operator (HVAC, Consulting, Startup)
The smart choice

How CoAI compares.

In-house CTO + team
Dev agency
AI consultant
Smarty CoAI
Time to first build
6+ months
8–12 weeks
Never builds
6 weeks
Strategy + execution
✓ Both
Execution only
Strategy only
✓ Both
Stays current as AI evolves
Maybe
×
×
Always
You own the code
✓
Negotiable
N/A
✓ Day one
Annual cost
$500K+
$200–400K
$50–150K
~$120K
You manage developers
✓ All you
Some
N/A
Never
Knows YOUR business
Eventually
×
×
Built in
Start with the audit
The payoff

A stack that compounds.

Every tool we build becomes the foundation for the next. Every model swap makes the system sharper. Six months in, you've got an asset your competition can't copy in less than a year.

Month 1
  • Stack audit complete
  • ROI-ranked roadmap delivered
  • Sprint plan locked
  • First build kicked off
Month 2–3
  • First production tool live
  • 2–3 SaaS subscriptions cancelled
  • Team trained on new system
  • Cost savings showing on the P&L
Month 6+
  • Stack fully migrated
  • AI baked into core workflows
  • Competitors quietly noticing
  • Next-quarter roadmap shipping
Start with the audit

Your business is different.
Your stack should be too.

We start with a 2-week audit and a roadmap. If you're not impressed, you walk — no contract, no clawback, you keep the audit.

Modernize your IT
Questions

Things people ask.

What does "fractional CTO" actually mean?

It means a senior technologist who'd be your full-time CTO if you had the budget — engaged for a defined slice of their time. They sit in your leadership meetings, own the technology strategy, talk to your board if needed, and are accountable for the outcome of every build.

Who actually writes the code — you, or a dev shop?

A senior engineering team from our vetted partner network — typically US-led with offshore execution. Your fractional CTO leads architecture, code review, and release. You don't manage the engineers; we do.

Do we own what you build?

Yes — completely, from day one. Code is in your repos, infra is on your accounts, all IP transfers immediately. If you ever fire us, you keep everything. No lock-in.

What happens when AI tech changes? It changes weekly.

That's exactly why most clients keep us on retainer after the build. New model drops, new SDK, new pattern — we evaluate, swap in, and refactor as needed. Your stack stays current without you ever having to think about it.

How is this different from hiring a dev shop?

A dev shop builds what you spec. They don't tell you what to build, they don't kill the SaaS subscriptions you don't need, and they disappear when the project is "done." We're an operator on retainer — strategy, build, and ongoing ownership.

How is pricing structured?

Audit phase: ~$15K, two weeks. Build phase: $10K/month retainer + scoped engineering (typically $80–150K total for the first quarter of build). Maintenance phase: $5–10K/month. Month-to-month, no long-term contracts.