§ 00 / Position Statement · Mid-Market Tech

From AI for AI's sake to AI as strategic infrastructure.

A facilitated program that aligns your AI exploration with the strategic initiatives leadership is already accountable for — and gives your team the structure to make it compound.

See engagement tiers → Book a 30-min intro → Most engagements open within two weeks

Plate 00 — Trajectory From scattered exploration → strategic infrastructure

Today · current state

Pockets of power-users.

Scattered tool subscriptions
Occasional internal demo
No tie to OKRs
Cost without ROI

Target · 12 weeks out

A program that compounds.

Sanctioned exploration framework
Center of Excellence stood up
First pilot launched on an OKR
Internal lead owning it

§ 01 / The Problem

Motion. But not progress.

Your team is experimenting with AI. Pockets of power-users, scattered tool subscriptions, the occasional internal demo. None of it tied to the strategic initiatives leadership is actually accountable for.

Motion without progress, cost without ROI, no path from "playing with AI" to "AI is changing how we operate." The fix isn't more tools — it's a program.

i.Champions burning cycles on demos no one greenlights

ii.Six SaaS subscriptions, none of them governed

iii.A board that's started asking "what's our AI story?"

iv.Pilots that run, then quietly stop, with nothing carried over

§ 02 / The Approach

Four moves. In order. No skipping.

The program is opinionated about sequence. Anchor before structure, structure before execution, and the COE last — not first. Skip a step and the rest stops compounding.

Anchor to existing strategic initiatives.

We don't pitch AI strategy in a vacuum. Every recommendation maps to OKRs and roadmap items leadership already owns.

Discovery before structure, structure before execution.

Most rollouts skip the diagnosis. We map current state, opportunity, and bottlenecks before designing anything.

The COE is the accelerator.

A well-designed Center of Excellence turns scattered exploration into compound returns. We design yours for your org — not from a template.

Your team owns it, end to end.

We're the program architect and change-management coach — not a build shop, not an agency that disappears with the playbook.

§ 03 / What you walk away with

Four artifacts. All operational. None in a binder.

D · 01

A prioritized opportunity map.

Tied to your existing strategic priorities — not a generic AI use-case catalog.

D · 02

A sanctioned exploration framework.

Your team can run it on day one. Decision rights, guardrails, definitions of "done."

D · 03

A Center of Excellence structure.

Designed for your org, ready to staff. Not a template; the structure follows your operating model.

D · 04

An internal program lead.

Prepared to own ongoing execution after we leave. Coached, not credentialed.

§ 04 / Engagement Tiers

Three doors in. Same methodology behind each.

Most teams start at Activation. Discovery is the right entry when leadership wants a read before committing scope. Embedded is for orgs running multiple initiatives in parallel.

TIER 01 — Advisory 4 weeks

Discovery Sprint

$10K fixed · 4 wk

Tell us where to start, what's going to block us, and how to structure exploration.

Includes
Discovery + opportunity map
Systems & bottlenecks audit
Exploration framework
COE model design

Start with Discovery →

Most teams start here

TIER 02 — Advisory + Facilitation 12 weeks

Activation Program

$50K fixed · 12 wk

Diagnose, design, and stand the program up. Run our first pilot together.

Everything in Discovery, plus
Executive alignment workshop
COE stood up + first charter
First pilot designed + launched with internal lead
Weekly working sessions

Activate the program →

TIER 03 — Embedded 6 months

Embedded Partnership

$100K fixed · 6 mo

Guided implementation across multiple initiatives, until your operating model is self-running.

Everything in Activation, plus
3–5 strategic-initiative pilots, sequenced
Monthly COE governance reviews
Quarterly leadership business review
Outcome measurement framework

Talk about embedding →

All tiers fixed-fee. No hourly billing. No surprise invoices.

§ 05 / What we don't do

The shape of the work is shaped by what's outside it.

✕Build your tools
✕Pick your stack
✕Run your pilots without your people
✕Take ownership of the COE long-term

Your people own execution. We're the program architect and change-management coach.

Miyagi, not mechanic.

Danny Cox

Program architect · Reno / Chicago

§ 06 / The practitioner

Enterprise digital transformation pedigree, sharpened by an AI rollout he ran from inside the org.

Pedigree

Razorfish — enterprise digital transformation for Delta Air Lines, Samsung, Google. The early playbooks for "new technology meets large org."

Inside the rollout

Customer marketing at Ridgeline (Jan–Aug 2026), where he was a top 1% Claude Code operator in a 540-person org. He didn't advise on AI from the outside — he operated inside it daily.

Academic practitioner

Faculty at the University of Nevada, Reno College of Business. MBA in progress. The methodology runs in live engagements and gets taught — pressure-tested in both directions.

§ 07 / How to start

A 30-minute intro to scope fit.

If your team is past the experimentation phase and leadership wants a program — not another tool — let's talk. Most engagements open within two weeks.

Book the 30-min intro → Or directly — danny@principl.ai