K&E Studios
AI Consulting · New York

Put a builder
in the room.

I help companies actually use AI — strategy, custom builds, and an expert who can sit in your calls. Not a slide deck and a vendor list. A working system, shipped fast, by the person who builds it.

Live
AI products in production, with real users
End-to-end
Strategy, build, and deployment — one operator
Days
Time to a working proof-of-concept, not quarters
Why work with me

Most AI consultants talk. I ship.

I'm a founder who designs, builds, and operates live AI products — not a strategist who's never deployed one. That's the difference you're paying for.

I build, I don't just advise

Most AI consultants hand you a deck and a vendor list. I hand you a working system. Everything I recommend, I can also ship — there's no expensive handoff to a separate build team.

Shipped, in production, today

I run live AI products with real users — an e-commerce brand, fintech tools, and multi-agent systems. I'm not theorizing about AI from the sidelines; I operate it in production every day.

Weeks, not quarters

You get a working proof-of-concept in days and a production system in weeks. I keep scope tight, price it up front, and move at the speed of a founder — because I am one.

Plain English, no hype

I'll tell you where AI genuinely pays off and where it's a distraction. The goal is ROI you can measure, not a science project — and I'll say so when the honest answer is 'don't build that.'

Who I build for

Built for people who run things — not engineers.

My best clients aren't technical, and they don't want to be. They lead mission-driven, fast-moving organizations and they're out of hours, not ideas. If that's you, you're exactly who I do this for.

That's me — let's talk
  • You lead a climate, impact, professional-services, commerce, or finance organization — and AI keeps coming up.
  • You're not technical, and you have zero interest in becoming an AI expert. You want outcomes, in plain English.
  • Your credibility is everything — you can't put your name on output you don't trust or can't verify.
  • You're time-poor and stretched thin. AI should be buying back your week, not adding a side-project to it.
  • You've tried a few AI tools, felt the potential, and got stuck on “okay, but how do I actually use this here?”
  • You want a person who'll tell you the truth about where AI helps you — and where it's a waste of money.
Where AI actually helps you

Sound familiar?

Forget the buzzwords. Here's where AI earns its keep for a small team that's stretched thin — in plain English. If any of these is your week, I can fix it.

You're drowning in documents.

Methodologies, reports, contracts, research, policies — the answers exist, buried across hundreds of files nobody has time to read.

A system that answers questions from your documents — and cites exactly where it got each answer.

You rewrite the same thing for every audience.

The board version, the funder version, the customer version, the regulator version — same facts, reformatted by hand, over and over.

An assistant that drafts every version in your voice from one source of truth.

Your data lives in twelve different places.

Spreadsheets, exports, dashboards, inboxes. Pulling it together for a single report is a day of copy-paste every time.

A pipeline that gathers your data and turns it into answers — not another data-entry chore.

The important knowledge is stuck in your head.

How your organization actually works lives in you and your inbox. Every question routes back to you, and it doesn't scale.

An internal assistant trained on how you operate, so your team stops needing you for everything.

You're doing by hand what software should do.

Intake, routing, formatting, follow-ups, status updates — quiet, repetitive work that eats hours nobody can spare.

Automations that handle the busywork in the background, reliably, while you do the real work.

You need speed, but you can't trust the output.

Generic AI makes things up, and in your world a wrong number or a fabricated claim is a reputational problem, not a typo.

AI wired to stay inside your facts and show its sources — so you can confidently put your name on it.

The expert in the room

Need an AI expert on the call?

Sometimes you don't need a six-week build — you need someone who actually knows this stuff in the meeting, today. Book me into your Zoom and I'll be the AI subject-matter expert in the room:

  • Pressure-test your AI strategy or roadmap
  • Sit in on a vendor pitch and call the bluffs
  • Brief your board, team, or investors
  • Technical due diligence on an AI tool or hire
  • Run a live working session with your team
  • Unblock a decision you've been stuck on
$500
per hour · 1-hour minimum

The expert-network call — without the expert-network markup. Notes and a clear recommendation after every session.

Book a call
What I do

The full menu

From a one-hour gut-check to a production agent system. Every engagement is fixed-scope and priced up front — you always know what you're getting and what it costs.

Fixed scope · ~1 week

AI Readiness Audit

A clear-eyed assessment of your data, tools, and team that returns a prioritized, ROI-ranked map of where AI actually pays off for you — and where it doesn't.

from$3,500
1–2 weeks

AI Kickstart Sprint

Turn a vague “we should use AI” into a concrete roadmap and a working proof-of-concept you can actually watch run. The fastest way from idea to evidence.

from$7,500
From 2–4 weeks

Custom Assistant / GPT Build

A production AI assistant trained on your content and wired into your tools — answering customers, drafting, or supporting your team. Not a demo that breaks in week two.

from$8,000
From 3–6 weeks

Workflow Automation

I find the repetitive work quietly eating your team's hours and ship an automation that removes it — documents, data entry, routing, reporting, follow-ups.

from$15,000
From 4–8 weeks

RAG / Knowledge System

Your documents, policies, and data made instantly answerable by AI — with retrieval that's accurate, grounded, and cites its sources instead of hallucinating.

from$25,000
Production-grade

AI Agent System

Multi-step agents that take real actions across your systems — built for reliability and oversight, not a viral demo. I run multi-agent systems in production myself.

from$50,000
Half- or full-day

Team Training & Enablement

Hands-on workshops using your own data and tools, so your team can actually use AI the day after — not just nod along to a keynote. Practical, role-specific, no fluff.

from$2,500
Per call · 1-hr min

AI Expert in the Room

Book me into your Zoom to pressure-test a plan, sit on a vendor pitch, brief your board, or unblock a stuck decision — the expert-network call without the expert-network markup.

from$500/hr
How to work together

Three ways in

By the hour, by the project, or embedded month-to-month. Start small and scale up — there's no lock-in and no minimum you have to commit to before we've talked.

By the hour

The Call

An AI expert in the room when you need one.

$500/ hour · 1-hour minimum
  • Sit in your Zoom as the AI subject-matter expert
  • Pressure-test a strategy, build, or vendor pitch
  • Technical due diligence on an AI tool or hire
  • Brief your board, team, or stakeholders
  • Notes and a clear recommendation after every call
Get started
Most popularFixed-scope project

The Build

A working system, scoped and priced up front.

From $3.5kper project · 50% to start
  • Audits, sprints, assistants, automations, RAG, agents
  • One fixed price — strategy, build, and launch included
  • Working proof-of-concept in days, production in weeks
  • Docs + a training session so your team owns it
  • 30 days of post-launch support included
Get started
Monthly retainer

The Embed

Senior AI leadership, a fraction of a full-time hire.

From $3.5k/ month · 3-month minimum
  • Fractional AI lead / Chief AI Officer for your company
  • Strategy, roadmap, vendor calls, and build oversight
  • On-call advisory — your team is never guessing
  • Priority on builds at a preferred retainer rate
  • Scales from a few days a month to embedded weekly
Get started
Transparent pricing

The whole rate card

No “contact us for a quote” games. Here's what everything costs. Fixed-scope work is priced up front and all-inclusive — every line below is the real number.

Advisory & expert calls

Standard advisory hour
Strategy, review, working session
$300 / hr
AI Expert in the Room
On-call expert for your Zoom · 1-hr min
$500 / hr
Strategy intensive (half-day)
Deep-dive on one big decision
$2,000

Workshops & training

Team workshop — half-day
Hands-on, your tools and data
$2,500
Team workshop — full-day
Role-specific, up to ~12 people
$4,500
Per-seat cohort training
Multi-session program · min 6 seats
$1,200 / seat

Fixed-scope builds

AI Readiness Audit
~1 week · prioritized ROI roadmap
$3,500
AI Kickstart Sprint
1–2 weeks · roadmap + working POC
$7,500
Custom Assistant / GPT
Production assistant on your content
from $8,000
Workflow Automation
Remove repetitive team work
from $15,000
RAG / Knowledge System
Grounded answers over your data
from $25,000
AI Agent System
Multi-step agents, production-grade
from $50,000

Embedded / retainer

AI Advisor
Async access + 2 strategy calls / mo
$3,500 / mo
Fractional AI Lead
Embedded ~1 day / week
$7,500 / mo
Fractional Chief AI Officer
Strategy + oversight ~2 days / week
$12,000 / mo
Fixed scope, fixed price
You approve the scope and the number before we start. No hourly meter on builds.
50% to start, 50% on delivery
Standard for projects. Retainers bill monthly in advance; small jobs upfront.
NDA-friendly & confidential
Happy to sign your NDA. Your data, code, and roadmap stay yours, full stop.
Remote-first, US hours
Based in New York, working with teams anywhere. On-site by arrangement.
All-inclusive

One price. Everything in it.

When I quote a build, that's the number. No padded change orders, no “that's out of scope” surprises. Here's what every fixed-scope project includes, baked into the price.

Start a project
  • Discovery and use-case scoping — we agree exactly what “done” looks like before a dollar changes hands
  • Architecture, design, and model selection — the right tool for the job, build-vs-buy decided honestly
  • The full build, deployment, and wiring into your stack — auth, data, and integrations included
  • Model and API costs estimated and explained up front — no surprise infrastructure bills
  • Documentation and a live handoff session so your team genuinely owns what I built
  • 30 days of post-launch support after go-live — fixes and tuning, not a fresh invoice
  • Direct access to me, the person building it — never a junior or a ticket queue
How it works

From hello to shipped

01

Intro call

A free 30-minute call to understand what you're trying to do and whether I'm the right person to do it. If I'm not, I'll tell you who is.

02

Scope & quote

I write up exactly what we'll build or decide, what “done” means, and one fixed price. You approve it before anything starts.

03

Build & ship

Tight cycles with visible progress. You see a working proof-of-concept early, then it goes live on real infrastructure — not a slide deck.

04

Hand off & support

Docs, a live training session, and 30 days of support so your team owns it. From there, ad-hoc or a retainer — your call, no lock-in.

Proof, not promises

AI I've actually shipped

I don't advise on AI from the sidelines — I run it in production. A sample of what that looks like:

Ascension Labs

A full e-commerce brand — catalog, payments, and an AI product guide — live with real customers.

Multi-agent systems

Production multi-agent frameworks: many specialized AI agents, each with its own model, memory, and job.

Confide AI

A private, encrypted AI companion product — real-time model integration with a calm, focused UX.

Fintech AI tools

Real-time market scanners that score thousands of signals continuously and surface what matters.

Questions

Good to know

Can you actually sit in our calls as the AI expert?

Yes — that's one of the most-requested things I do. I'll join your Zoom as the subject-matter expert to pressure-test a plan, sit on a vendor pitch, run a working session with your team, brief your board, or do technical due diligence on an AI tool or hire. It's $500/hour with a one-hour minimum, and you get notes and a clear recommendation after.

Are your prices really all-inclusive?

For fixed-scope builds, yes. The price covers strategy, design, the full build, deployment, documentation, a training handoff, and 30 days of post-launch support. The only thing on top is your own ongoing model/API and hosting costs — which I estimate and explain up front so there are no surprises.

Do you only advise, or do you build it too?

Both — that's the whole point. Most consultants stop at the recommendation and leave you to find a build team. I can advise your strategy and then ship the actual system, so there's no expensive, lossy handoff in the middle.

What if we're not sure AI is even worth it for us?

Start with the AI Readiness Audit, or just book the free intro call. I'll give you a straight answer about where AI pays off for your business and where it's a distraction. I'd rather tell you not to build something than sell you a science project.

How fast can you start, and how fast will we see something?

I take on a small number of engagements at a time, so start dates are usually within a week or two. On a build, you'll see a working proof-of-concept in days — not a quarter-long discovery phase.

Do you work with non-technical founders and teams?

Constantly — they're who I do my best work for. You don't need to know what a model or a vector database is. I translate everything into plain English, handle the technical decisions, and make sure your team can actually use what gets built.

How do I know I can trust what the AI produces?

This is the right question, and it's most of the engineering. For anything where accuracy matters, I build systems that stay grounded in your own data and cite their sources, so claims are checkable rather than invented. I'll also be honest about where AI is reliable enough to trust and where a human still needs to sign off — you should be able to put your name on the output, and that's the bar I build to.

Let's talk

Tell me what you want AI to do.

The first call is free and there's no pitch — just a straight answer about whether AI is worth it for you, and what it'd take. Book it.

william@kestudios.dev