FOUNDER, CYNTHETIC SYSTEMS AI
I built a company, sold it, and now I tell owners the truth about AI.
I help owners put AI where it pays, secure it before it bites, and get their people to actually use it. Sometimes I tell them to wait.
THE SHORT VERSION
I have sat on the seller’s side of the table.
In 1999, I started a web, managed services, and managed security company in Colorado. Over 10 years, I built it on processes, playbooks, and people until it served just under 1,000 customers in the IT space.
In early 2009, I sold it. The sale happened suddenly. Almost overnight, I had to learn letters of intent, deal terms, and waterfalls (who gets paid what, and in what order), and how to get the deal signed in my favor.
That taught me what a buyer actually pays for. Not how hard you worked. What runs without you.
I have spent 20 years protecting Colorado businesses from security threats, and my team has been building AI into real operations since November 2022. Today I work with owner-operated companies between $5M and $50M. I work directly with every client. No junior team, and no platform to sell you.
WHAT I BELIEVE
Three rules I bring to every company.
Measure before you automate.
If you cannot measure it today, AI cannot improve it tomorrow. Before any AI project, you need to know the margin on each line of business it touches.
Secure before you scale.
Every AI tool you add opens a new door into your business, and the people attacking it use AI too. A security floor comes first.
People before platforms.
AI your team will not use is just another bill. Most stalled projects stall because two leaders never agreed it was the priority, not for lack of budget.
WHAT THIS LOOKS LIKE
Two conversations that tell you how I work.
The owner I told to wait
A plumbing company owner, 30 years in business, brought a folder of AI ideas to our first meeting. He wanted AI on service calls because he thought that was where he made the most money.
We walked down the hall to his controller, who knew the overall margin, but not the margin on service calls. So I told them both they were not ready. They could fix that without me, and save the cash a failed project would have burned.
The office manager who got her job back
At a local service store, the owner’s biggest worry was not technology. It was that I would step on his office manager’s toes. She was buried in manual scheduling, and a missed service call sent the office into a panic.
After the work, reschedules and go-backs dropped, which cut overtime and sped up getting paid. And she started doing what she enjoys: selling to multifamily owners.
WHO I WORK WITH
Owners with a leadership team, and nobody to think AI through with.
- ✓ Owner-operated companies between $5M and $50M
- ✓ A real leadership team and payroll, but no senior technology leader
- ✓ Being pushed on AI by vendors, employees, and their own curiosity
- ✓ Want a straight answer, including "not yet"
How we start
Within 48 hours, you will know the few places AI pays in your business, what to skip, and the order to do it in. The full written answer follows within two weeks.
The fee credits in full toward ongoing work if you continue. If you do not, you keep the answer.
SPEAKING
Not Yet: Three Questions to Ask Before You Spend a Dollar on AI
A talk for owners, boards, and the advisors who serve them. Funny, direct, and practical. Your audience leaves knowing whether they are ready for AI, what to fix first, and why buyers are starting to ask.
Best fit: CEO peer groups, board retreats, industry associations, and client events hosted by CPA firms, banks, and advisors.
Recent stages: Hispanic Contractors of Colorado, Colorado Society of CPAs, Hispanic Startup Weekend, and the Virtual Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Featured in 100 Visionaries.
Available in person across Colorado, or virtually from a fully equipped studio.
THE BOOK
Understanding High-Velocity Disruption
Why the AI shift is moving faster than any technology cycle before it, and what leaders should do about it.
Because AI is moving this fast, you cannot afford to bet on the wrong three things.
BEYOND WORK
A little more about me
In the 1990s I played rugby in Aspen, when Aspen dominated American rugby, and came out of retirement at 39 to play for Glendale in the first pro rugby stadium in the US. I still swim, cycle, and run.
I am a believer in Christ. I walk my dog, Sophie, most days, and I love cooking for my wife, Amy.
Ready for a straight answer?
Book a 20-minute call. Worst case, I will tell you what to fix first.