Find the three places AI pays off in your business. Skip the rest.
Most business owners have been told AI will change everything and have no idea where to start. The honest answer is that in a typical company a handful of tasks are worth automating, a few more are worth assisting, and most of the rest should be left alone. Finding that handful is the job.
Rune does AI consulting the way an engineer would: look at how the work actually moves through your business, measure where the hours go, test the candidates against real examples from your files, and write down what to do in what order. The person doing it has shipped production software for a decade, uses AI in his own products and his own engineering work every day, and teaches software development at Butte College. He will tell you when the answer is a spreadsheet formula, not a model.
- Process audit first
- Tools you already pay for
- A person approves every result
AI consulting
Fixed-price audit and plan, then a fixed quote for anything we build.
Process audit
A walk through how quotes, orders, scheduling, documents, and customer questions actually flow, with the hours and the error points written down. This is where the real candidates show up.
A plan you can budget
The two or three automations worth doing first, what each one needs, what it costs to build and run, and what it should return. In writing, in plain language.
Tools you already pay for
Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, your CRM, and your accounting software already carry AI features. We turn on what helps, configure it properly, and skip what does not.
Data and privacy rules
What can go into an AI tool and what cannot, which vendors keep your data out of training, and a one-page policy your team can follow.
Training for your team
Hands-on sessions on the tools you chose, with your own documents and your own tasks, so the habit sticks after we leave.
An engineer to build it
When a workflow needs more than a setting, the same person builds it. See AI process automation, below, for what that looks like.
Projects where we did this
Live builds, with the story of how each one was made.
Skal CMS
Our own content management system. A visual canvas that edits the real page, so a custom-built site stays editable by the person who owns it.
Homeschool.fit
A full SaaS platform for homeschool families: curriculum planning, scheduling, progress tracking, and community. On the web and in both app stores.
SP3-SiteHazards
A seismic hazard platform for Haselton Baker Risk Group: address in, engineered PDF report out. The complete system - data model, API, auth, CLI, PostGIS - estimated at 250 hours and delivered on time.
Questions we get about this
Is this for small businesses or large ones?
Both, with different shapes. For a small business it is usually a half-day audit and a short plan, then one or two automations. For a company with a few departments it is a longer audit, a phased plan, and an ongoing role closer to a fractional technical lead.
Will you promise a percentage of time saved?
No. We measure the hours a task takes today, estimate what the automation would take, and report what actually happened after it runs. Numbers promised before the audit are marketing, not engineering.
Do we need to buy new software?
Often not. Most of what we recommend runs inside tools you already pay for or on usage-based AI services that cost a few dollars a month at small-business volumes. If something new is needed, it is in the plan with its price.
What about our customer data?
Part of every engagement is deciding what data may go where. We prefer vendors with written no-training commitments, keep sensitive records out of general-purpose tools, and write the rules down so staff do not have to guess.
Do you work with businesses outside Chico?
Yes. The audit and training run over video and screen-share with clients anywhere in the United States. Northern California businesses can have them in person.
What does it cost?
The audit and plan are a fixed price quoted after a free intro call. Anything we build afterwards is quoted separately, as one number, before work starts.
Other things we can take off your plate
Want a straight answer on this?
Tell us what you are after. You will hear back from the person who does the work, with a fixed quote and an honest read on whether it is worth doing.
Replies within one business day.