Project Phoenix
A 95-step AI-driven sales pipeline.
Cut development time roughly in half.
Earned Zapier's Automation Hero of the Year (2025).
Forward Deployed Operator
My number is build-and-launch cycle time.
weeksdayscycle time
I embed inside a business, find where the real work breaks down, and own the outcome end to end. Not a deck. A working thing that moves a number.
Across Local Howl, Krafzen AI, and Drive Social Media I've taken projects that used to take teams weeks and shipped them in days, by pairing AI judgment with automation and light code instead of headcount.
Currently taking on select workSt. Louis, MORemote, hybrid, or on-site
- 280+
- Production Apify actors
- 79+
- God Mode Intel tools
- 6,000+
- Zapier apps integrated
- 11+ yrs
- As a player-coach CTO
01The proof
Working things that moved a number.
Invisible work doesn't get you hired. Here it is, made visible.
A B2B intelligence MCP server: lead generation, company research, competitive intelligence, AI-powered outreach.
79+ intelligence tools (7 standalone, no API keys required).
Make Community Challenge finalist (Scaling the Future with Make and MCP).
Howl IQ
An AI SEO / GBP product built from zero to a working platform that agencies run their clients on.
Apify Actor Fleet
Data infrastructure other teams build on: production Apify actors, including MCP servers.
280+ production actors (137 published), including 17 MCP servers.
Enterprise AI-augmented CAD / BIM / MEP platform and the AEC engineering firm behind it (white-label BIM/MEP/Revit services).
LeadIQ Zapier Integration
A published Zapier integration connecting LeadIQ enrichment to the Zapier app ecosystem (triggers, actions, and searches).
Integrates with 6,000+ Zapier apps.
02The approach
Not a consultant. Not a developer. An operator who owns the outcome.
01
Not a consultant
I don't deliver a deck and leave. I embed, find the operational truth, and own the outcome end to end.
02
Not a developer
I build the smallest useful thing: no-code, automation, AI, or light code. The problem picks the tool, never the reverse.
03
Process before tools
I map what actually happens, the workarounds and the shadow spreadsheets, before anyone builds anything.
04
Proof, not vibes
Invisible work doesn't get you hired. I make it visible: measured, demoed, and told as a tight story.
AI made building cheap. The scarce skill is knowing what's worth building, and being able to prove it. That's the discipline I bring: build / buy / rent judgment, technical fluency deep enough to brief any developer, and the habit of showing the work rather than talking about it.
03Who I am
The scarce skill isn't building. It's knowing what's worth building, and proving it.
AI made building cheap. The scarce skill is knowing what's worth building, and being able to prove it. That's the discipline I bring: build / buy / rent judgment, technical fluency deep enough to brief any developer, and the habit of showing the work rather than talking about it.
Some people call this a forward deployed engineer. Others hire it as a fractional CTO. I call it a Forward Deployed Operator, because the job isn't the code, it's owning the outcome the code is supposed to move.
Certified
CCISO
Certified Chief Information Security Officer
EC-Council
CISM
Certified Information Security Manager
ISACA
Anthropic AI
4 Anthropic AI certifications
Anthropic
Partnered with, and building on
- ApifyAffiliate Partner
- ZapierAutomation Hero of the Year, 2025
- Anthropic
- Semrush
- WP Engine
- Firecrawl
- DataForSEO
- Local Falcon
- MakeCommunity Challenge Finalist
- Clay
- n8n
- Google Workspace
04The range
I build the serious stuff. I also ship the stuff nobody asked for.
Fractional Comedian is on the resume for a reason. If that reads as a red flag, we probably weren't going to be a fit anyway.
Clippy: First Blood
A 22-stage Contra-style platformer / FPS / brawler starring Microsoft Clippy on a revenge mission. Vanilla JS + HTML5 Canvas, packaged as a cross-platform Electron desktop app.
Zap Arena
Manual workflows get gibbed.
A Quake-themed tribute to Zapier automation. WebGL port of classic Quake, wrapped in a made-with-love automation homage.
Duke's SEO Arsenal
Time to kick ass and rank keywords.
A Duke Nukem-themed tribute to keyword research. Retro shooter aesthetic wrapped around an SEO tooling homage.
Actor Arsenal
294 actors, fully armed.
An over-the-top showcase site for the Apify actor fleet. All the production data infrastructure, wrapped in a battle-arsenal theme nobody asked for.
05Where I work
Player-coach CTO across three companies, and a Cohort 1 operator.
FDO School
Forward Deployed Operator, Cohort 1
Aug 2026 to Present
Farther Focus Business Advisory
Advisory Board Member
Aug 2026 to Present
Local Howl
CTO
Jul 2025 to Present
Krafzen AI
Fractional CTO
Sep 2025 to Present
Drive Social Media
Chief Technology Officer
Jan 2015 to Present
Standing
- 11+ years as a player-coach CTO.
- Led Drive Social Media to HIPAA compliance (2021), opening healthcare and pharmaceutical marketing.
- Led an enterprise Salesforce initiative end to end: built the team, negotiated the product mix with Salesforce, and owned the rollout.
- FDO School Cohort 1.
- Farther Focus Business Advisory board member.
Certifications appear under Who I am.
06Questions
The forward deployed operator, engineer, fractional CTO question.
Same instinct, different labels. Here is how I think about the titles people search for, and what actually gets delivered.
What is a Forward Deployed Operator?
A Forward Deployed Operator embeds inside a business, finds where the real work breaks down, and owns the outcome end to end. It borrows the forward deployed engineer model, sitting with the people doing the work instead of shipping a deck from the outside, but the deliverable is a moved number, not just code.
How is that different from a fractional CTO?
A fractional CTO owns your technology strategy part time. I do that too, and hold the title at Krafzen AI and Local Howl, but the Forward Deployed Operator framing is about owning a specific operational outcome, not just the tech function. If you want someone who will both set technical direction and personally build the thing that moves the metric, that is the overlap.
Are you a forward deployed engineer?
Same instinct, wider mandate. A forward deployed engineer embeds with a customer to make the product work in the real world. I embed to make the business work, using whatever the problem calls for: no-code, automation, AI, or light code. The tool follows the problem, never the reverse.
What does an AI automation consultant actually deliver here?
Not a strategy doc. I pair AI judgment with automation and light code to compress work that used to take a team weeks into days, then demo it working. If it does not move a number you can see, it did not happen.
Who is this for?
Founder-reachable companies, roughly 20 to 50 people, that own a number that is not moving. If you are conservative to a fault or do not connect with the style, we probably are not a fit, and that is fine.
How do engagements work?
It starts with a working session, not a sales call. We name the number, I find where it actually breaks, and we agree on the smallest useful thing to build first. Remote, hybrid, or on-site.
Want the long version? Read the full breakdown of what a Forward Deployed Operator is.
You own a number that isn't moving. Let's move it.
If you own a number that isn't moving, and you're a 20 to 50 person, founder-reachable company, that's exactly the conversation I want.