Services
Human-centred AI strategy for values-led businesses building for their future.
Three paid offers, one free spot a month, and bespoke build work by exception. The work runs on four steps: start with the business, cut the noise, make the call, build it to last.
Client numbers deliberately kept small. The cap exists because the work needs the room.
All prices NZD unless stated. GST exclusive.
Built for and with: Scaled Ambition · Coach Strong · YourHQ · Inspire Change · plus a small portfolio of NZ coaches, consultants, and established business owners.
How the work runs
Four steps. One philosophy.
Start with the business. The AI comes after.
- 01 Start with the business. Not the tools. Not the hype. The business. How it works. Where it's heading. What needs protecting.
- 02 Cut the noise. Most AI advice is too generic to be useful. I separate signal from panic. Trends from actual leverage.
- 03 Make the call. Sometimes AI. Sometimes not. The right move for the business, the people inside it, and the future you're actually trying to build.
- 04 Build it to last. Values in the architecture. Designed for trust, adoption, and long-term coherence. Not just speed.
The Community Hour
One spot kept open every month for Aotearoa-based not-for-profits, social impact organisations, Māori and Pacific networks, and anyone doing genuinely good work who can't access paid support right now.
Free
One spot a month.
What's included
- ✓ 60-minute live session via Zoom
- ✓ Short intake form beforehand
- ✓ One session per organisation. First in, first served.
Best for: Not-for-profits, social impact organisations, Māori and Pacific networks, kaupapa-aligned work without budget.
Capacity: 1 spot per month. Currently taking enquiries.
The Clarity Session
The lightest paid entry into dreamstorm. A focused first look at your business and where AI could actually help. Async on your time. No pitch, no upsell, no jargon.
$450
A focused first look. Written direction within 5 business days.
What's included
- ✓ 30 to 45 minute conversation with a dreamstorm-built AI agent (async, on your time)
- ✓ I read the transcript and follow up if I need to
- ✓ 1 to 2 page written direction document delivered within 5 business days
What you walk away with
A short, specific direction. Where AI could actually help in your business right now. What to leave alone. What to do first.
This is a complete piece of work on its own. Some clients act on the direction and that's enough for now. Others use it as a low-risk way to see how I think before committing to an Audit.
Best for: Owners who want a specific, honest read on where to start before committing to a bigger engagement.
Capacity: Available most months. Currently taking enquiries.
Payment in full on booking.
Book a Clarity SessionThe Audit
A diagnostic engagement. We look under the hood of your business, name what's actually getting in the way, and build a roadmap you can sequence and execute. It's also the gate to the Retainer.
$3,500
Pre-work + 4-hour working session + a roadmap you can actually act on.
What's included
- ✓ Pre-work intake questionnaire
- ✓ 4-hour live working session (in-person Auckland by default, online elsewhere, travel quoted on top if needed)
- ✓ 12 to 20 page roadmap document delivered within 5 business days, with quantified problems and sequenced recommendations
- ✓ One async follow-up check-in within 30 days
What you walk away with
A clear picture of where the business actually is. What's working, what's wasting your time, what you've been quietly avoiding. A sequenced roadmap. Quick wins identified.
A view on whether you keep going on a retainer or run independently from here.
Best for: Owners ready for a real strategic plan they can sequence and execute.
Capacity: Available most months. Currently taking enquiries.
How we'd start Every Retainer relationship starts with an Audit.
Payment in full on booking.
Enquire about an AuditCore Engagement
The Strategy Retainer
The ongoing strategic partnership. The Audit gives you the roadmap. The Retainer is where the roadmap actually gets executed, where new questions get answered as they come up, and where someone stays across the AI landscape so you don't have to.
$2,500/month
A strategist seat alongside the business. I stay across it so you don't have to.
What's included
- ✓ One live monthly working session (60 minutes, bankable up to 3 months)
- ✓ Async access via email or voice through the month, 48-hour response on business days
- ✓ AI landscape briefings when something genuinely matters
- ✓ Vendor sanity-checks before you sign that contract
- ✓ Roadmap stewardship and quarterly review session (90 minutes, written summary after)
What a typical month looks like
A working session early in the month to review what's shifting, what's coming up, what needs deciding. Async questions across the rest of the month as they come up.
I might send you a warning about a tool you're being sold, review a scope of work from an agency, or sanity-check a new internal process. You get the confidence of having an AI strategist on your team. Without the full-time payroll.
Best for: Established businesses needing an ongoing strategist seat, already investing in other thinking partners.
Capacity: Capped at 6 to 8 clients. Currently taking enquiries.
How we'd start A 30-minute discovery call to make sure we're a good fit. Most Retainer relationships begin immediately after an Audit.
3-month minimum. Monthly billing in advance. 30 days notice to cancel after the initial term.
Enquire about the RetainerA few questions I get asked
The honest answers.
Do I have to do an Audit before the Retainer?
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Yes. The Retainer always starts with an Audit. The Audit is what makes ongoing strategic work actually useful. Without it, we're guessing. The Clarity Session is a different door, and it doesn't have to lead anywhere else.
What does the first month of the Retainer look like?
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The first month picks up where the Audit left off. We work the top two or three things from the roadmap. Async strategic support starts immediately. By the end of month one, you'll know how the relationship works in practice, and we'll have agreed on the rhythm.
What happens if I don't use my monthly Retainer session?
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It banks. Up to 3 months, max 3 hours in one banked session. I'd rather you used the time when something genuinely matters than feel pressured to fill a slot.
Can I pause the Retainer if life gets in the way?
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After the 3-month minimum, yes. Genuine life stuff like illness, parental leave, or a family situation gets handled with a conversation, not a clause. I'll pause your billing and hold your spot for up to 3 months. The cap is there because I have to fill the seat eventually, not because I want to make it hard.
What's not included in the Retainer?
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Hands-on coding, content production, deep implementation. The Retainer is for strategic thinking, sanity-checks, and roadmap stewardship. If something needs to be built in the dreamstorm studio, that's a separate Build engagement, scoped on its own.
The studio door
Build work, when the project is right.
I build what your business actually needs. Sometimes that's conversational AI. Often it isn't. Web platforms, internal tools, marketing engines, business systems. AI sits in the architecture where it earns its place, and stays out of it when it doesn't.
Most builds happen alongside the strategy practice, sometimes for existing clients, sometimes for owners who come in with a clear build in mind. Custom code, written from scratch. One active build at a time. Maximum.
What I actually build
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AI coaching companions
Voice-first or text-based AI that sounds like the coach who built it. Knowledge base from real session transcripts, not a brand voice doc. Weekly check-ins, scenario playbooks, scope guardrails. The AI extends the coach between sessions without pretending to replace them. Coach Emma and Coach Strong are both this shape.
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Diagnostic and onboarding agents
Conversational AI that does the front end of your client journey: discovery, intake, qualification, onboarding. Lowers the barrier for clients to start, captures the right information, and hands you a useful summary instead of a transcript dump. Works inside an existing course, programme, or service.
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Internal AI tools for teams
Custom assistants built for the way your business actually works. Trained on your processes, your language, your standards. The kind of tool a vendor can't sell you because it has to be built from the inside out.
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Voice and conversational research tools
The thing the Project Rise builds taught me: voice changes what people will tell you. If you're running research, intake, surveys, or feedback loops where the standard form isn't working, conversational AI often is.
How a build runs
- 01
Phase 1: Scope and shape · Billed hourly.
We figure out what you're actually building, who it's for, and what success looks like. I write a build brief. You sign off. By the end of this phase you have a document that tells you exactly what's being built, in what order, for what cost.
- 02
Phase 2: Build · Fixed price once scoped.
The build itself. I work in two-week cycles, you see progress every Friday, we adjust as we go. Most bespoke builds take 6 to 12 weeks of active work depending on scope. Voice notes and short Looms keep you in the loop without filling your calendar.
- 03
Phase 3: Launch and handover
Pilot users first, never a big-bang launch. We watch what real people do with it, fix what needs fixing, then go wider. Documentation is part of the build, not an afterthought. Your team can run it without me hovering. 30 days of post-launch support is included.
Build rates
Most recent build: Coach Emma, an AI coaching companion built for Scaled Ambition. 16 of 16 users engaged within 48 hours of launch. Live now and in use across the cohort.
- Bespoke build (scoped individually) $10,000 to $30,000+ fixed-fee
- Scoping fee (written scope doc + fixed quote) $750 to $1,500
- Out-of-scope work $250/hr NZD
- International clients (US, UK, AU) Quoted in USD
- Discovery call Free (30 minutes)
Bespoke builds are scoped individually. I act either as your Fractional AI Advisor overseeing your vendors, or I bring the build into the dreamstorm studio for highly specialized execution.
How we'd start A 30-minute discovery call, no charge. If it sounds like the right fit, the first move is the scoping phase. At the end of it you have a written architectural brief and a fixed price for Phase 2.
Capacity: 1 active studio build at a time. Currently taking enquiries.
Three IP models, depending on the work
- 01
Full client ownership.
Bespoke work built entirely to your spec. Tech and content both yours. Full rate. I retain case study and portfolio rights.
- 02
White label / shared IP.
The underlying architecture is reusable across niches. You get a configured version. Reduced build fee. I retain the architecture. You pay a licensing fee.
- 03
Co-ownership / revenue share.
Your IP is core to the product, and there's real commercial potential. Reduced or zero build fee. Defined revenue share. Formal agreement.
Speaking and workshops
For rooms that need a voice that doesn't perform polished distance.
Four keynotes, audience-tagged. Half and full-day workshops on AI capability, ethical AI, and human-centred technology adoption. 2026 founding speaker rates.
Speaking rates
- Community, non-profit, kaupapa-aligned $750–1,500
- Corporate or business event (NZ) $2,000–3,500
- Conference keynote (NZ) $2,500–4,500
- Panel or fireside (NZ) $750–1,500
Workshop rates
- Half-day workshop (up to 4 hrs) from $2,500
- Full-day workshop (up to 7 hrs) from $4,500
- Multi-day intensive (2–3 days) from $9,000
- Workshop add-on after a keynote +$1,500
Includes pre-event scoping call, custom slide deck, participant handout, and 30 days of post-event email support.
Travel and accommodation additional, at cost. 50% deposit on booking, balance on the day.
Working internationally
A small number of international clients each year.
I take on a few US, UK, and Australian clients alongside the NZ work. Rates are priced to international markets, not converted from NZ. Time zones managed honestly. I'm in NZT, and I'll tell you upfront if a regular cadence will work for us.
Why the spots are capped
The cap exists because the work needs the room.
I'm one person, working 15 to 20 hours a week of paid client time. The rest of the week goes to building products, staying current, speaking, and making sure I'm bringing something fresh to every client conversation.
The caps aren't a sales tactic. They're how the work stays good.
The numbers
- ✓6 to 8 Strategy Retainer clients at any one time
- ✓1 Audit a month, sometimes more
- ✓4 to 8 Clarity Sessions a month
- ✓1 active build at a time
- ✓1 Community Hour spot a month
If something's full, you can join the waitlist. If something's open, the form below is the fastest way in.
Key terms across all paid offers
- • Bankable calls valid within a 3-month window. Maximum 3 hours in one banked session.
- • Async support within 48 hours on business days.
- • Scope creep handled with a direct conversation, not a surprise invoice.
- • Builds invoiced against fixed-price milestones. Out-of-scope work quoted upfront at $250/hour.
- • Quoted pricing valid for 30 days from the date of quote.
- • All prices NZD unless stated otherwise. GST exclusive.
Not sure where to start?
If you're between two paths, just send me a message.
I'd rather refer you out than sell you something you don't need.
Get in touch