Minds
People
The right people asking the right questions.
Fractional AI Engineer for $2M to $30M companies
Run your 20-person company with the intelligence infrastructure of a 200-person company.
I build the AI infrastructure that turns your data into decisions, and I ship it, not slideware.
30 minutes, directly with Stephen.
Entrepreneur and operator for over 3 decades, delivering operational excellence through people, process, and data. I build companies, model the money that runs them, and build the intelligence behind the decisions. For the last 2 years, AI accelerates all of it.
The Multiplier Effect
Human IntelligenceStrategy and creativitytimes
Artificial IntelligenceSpeed and scaleequals
Exponential GrowthVelocity and valuationStop adding. Start multiplying.
Operating experience
- Owner/Operator
- Entrepreneur
- CFO
- COO
- Manufacturing
- Professional Services
- Technology
The idea
Great decisions need minds, models, and data.
Most companies have one or two. The missing piece is where decisions stall.
Models
Systems and technology
Tools that turn questions into answers.
Data
Timely, accurate information
Numbers you can act on without second-guessing.
Where it hurts
You run on all of these. Which one is bleeding?
Every function pays a quiet tax: work that does not get done, or does not get done well. You do not need the whole list. One line should land.
CEO / Ownerthe one who feels all of it
Sales
Wait. Chase. Lose.Reps work leads in the order they arrive, not by odds of closing.
Guess. Commit. Miss.Forecasts run on gut feel, so the commit number misses.
Fade. Miss. Churn.Customers go quiet and nobody notices until they are gone.
Marketing
Create. Post. Forget.Every piece of content gets used once and dies.
Run. Drop. Burn.Campaigns tank with no warning while budget burns.
Rank. Fade. Forget.Pages that used to rank quietly decline, unnoticed.
Operations
Deliver. Invoice. Wonder.Project profit is unknown until the margin is already gone.
Add. Absorb. Lose.Scope creep gets absorbed with no change order.
Plan. Guess. React.Capacity planning is reactive, so hiring is a guess.
Finance
Cash. Guess. Hope.Cash forecasts run on gut feel, and the position surprises you.
Serve. Bill. Wonder.Nobody knows which clients actually make money.
Due. Overdue. Chase.Collections depend on who remembers to send the reminder.
HR
Apply. Stack. Skim.Resumes pile up and get skimmed, so good people hide in the stack.
Pay. Guess. Lose.Offers run on gut feel, and top talent leaves for market pay.
Leave. Know. Lose.People leave and their knowledge walks out with them.
That one you just felt? That is where we start. A no-commitment working session on the seat that is bleeding, then an Assessment that turns it into a roadmap you own.
My Approach
Strategy, then build. Fast.
I have run the C-suite. CFO, COO, Chief Intelligence Officer. That is how I know what to build. It is not where I stop.
No 6-month strategy. No 200-slide decks. I get to the punch line. A focused 30, 60, or 90-day audit, whole-business or one function, that surfaces the AI worth doing, quantifies the ROI, and maps the build.
You leave with a plain-English roadmap and a technical appendix. Run with it yourself, or hand it back to me to build.
Most firms stop at the roadmap. I ship it. Production-grade, built by the operator who scoped it, not passed down to a pod billing hours. Build. Ship. Iterate.
The AI Offering Ladder
Stop adding. Start multiplying.
I meet you where you are, we work within your budget. The buildup is one-time. Execution never stops.
The buildup, one time
- 01
Alignment
A no-commitment working session with your team. We get to know your business, surface the pains and the problems, and find the opportunities worth solving. Then one clear decision: move into the Assessment together, or not. No drama, no chase.
- 02
AI Assessment
We dig into your real workflows and data, score and rank them, and build your AI Operating Model: the prioritized roadmap you own and execute, with us or your own team.
- 03
Foundation
Connect the data that pays off first, sized to your budget.
Execution, never stops
The disciplines that compound, every turn. And the engine's first job never stops: widening the foundation it runs on.
- #1 · Never stopsThe foundation, always wideningKeep connecting your data directly, until nothing is left unconnected.
- The Engineyour operating model, compounding
- Adoption/TrainingYour people get fluent on their own workflows, then build on them.
- Skills/AgentsSkills solve tasks. Chained into agents for multi-step work, with a human keeping the judgment.
- Analytics/InsightsAsk your business in plain English. Model what a hire or a price change does to cash before you commit.
#1, the engine's first job: keep connecting your data directly, so you stop burning time on copy-paste, export-import, UI clicks and navigation, until nothing is left unconnected.
<10%
Fewer than 10% of companies reach real impact with AI at scale. The barrier is the operating model, not the technology.
Source: McKinsey, Building the Foundations for Agentic AI at Scale, 2026One team delivers the whole ladder, one phase at a time.
I am client zero. I don't build anything I would not use in my business. I run what I build before you ever do. It works or it doesn't. I iterate until it does, then size it to your business.
Who Is Building Your AI?
| DIY bots | An AI advisor | MMD | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sets the strategy | No | Yes | Yes |
| Builds and ships it | you do | No | Yes |
| Accountable for ROI | No | No | Yes |
| Your data stays in your accounts, commercial terms | No | varies | Yes |
| Pick the right model per job, swap without a rebuild | No | varies | Yes |
| Built once, owned by you | No | No | Yes |
DIY bots means configuring an off-the-shelf consumer AI agent yourself.
The AI reality
Hand off what drains you. Keep what makes you.
AI is exceptional at the grind. It cannot do the human part, and done right it makes that part worth more, not less.
Hand it to AI
The work that drains your energy
- Repetitive, manual tasks
- Data gathering and analysis
- Copy-paste and formatting
- Status updates and reporting
- Reconciliation and matching
- Performance tracking and dashboards
- Scheduling and coordination
- Research and synthesis
This is still you
Worth more, not less
RelationshipsCustomer and vendor trust
JudgmentWhen to hold, when to escalate
StrategyWhere the business goes next
NegotiationPrice, terms, and scope
Problem-solvingThe exception no rule covers
Process expertiseHow the work really gets done
Institutional knowledgeWhy you do it this way
LeadershipYour people and your culture
AI does the doing. Your people do the strategy, thinking, deciding. Orchestrators, not doers.
Automate a task and you save an hour. Lift the people around it and the whole company compounds. Whoever runs your books stops chasing invoices and starts protecting margin. Whoever runs your pipeline stops building reports and starts closing. One layer, felt on the bottom line.
Who Owns It After I Build It
The hub that makes it stick.
The reason most rollouts stall is that no one owns them. I stand up the hub: a skill library with a named owner, versioning, and quality control, plus a community of practice so proven work spreads instead of hiding in personal accounts. Governance sized to the risk, not red tape.
- A named owner who moves work from prototype to production
- A versioned, quality-controlled skill library
- Proven workflows cataloged, not trapped on one laptop
AI in action
Two processes every CEO feels. Same fix.
Paying bills and getting paid. Toggle between them. Green is where AI runs or assists. The money decisions stay human.
Invoice out to cash in. The reminders that eat your team's week send themselves. A human only steps in when the conversation gets real.
Accounts receivable, invoice-to-cash
Manual AI-assisted Automated
Step 1
Invoice and terms
Apps: accounting system
Send the invoiceAI issues it the moment the work is done, terms attached.
Payment link includedCustomer can pay in one click.
Step 2
Track and age
Apps: accounting system
Watch every due dateAI ages the ledger continuously, no spreadsheet.
Predict the late payersAI flags accounts likely to slip before they do.
Step 3
Remind
Apps: email, SMS
Reminders send themselvesBefore due, on due, after due, in your voice.
Tip: The chasing nobody wants to do is the part AI does best.
Escalating cadenceTone firms up automatically as it ages.
Step 4
Prioritize and work
Apps: worklist, phone
Rank the worklistAI puts the biggest, riskiest balances on top.
Draft the escalationAI writes the note, you approve the tone.
Make the callA person handles the real conversation.
Step 5
Apply and reconcile
Apps: accounting system, bank
Match the paymentAI applies cash to the right invoices.
Resolve disputesA person owns the short-pays and the exceptions.
Days to get paid
~50 days→~31 days
19 days sooner
Past-due invoices
Fewer slip late
~20% fewer
Time chasing payments
Manual follow-up → automatic
~70% less
And your people? The reminders send themselves, so your collector stops chasing and starts closing, the disputes, the at-risk accounts, the relationships that actually move cash. Same team, pointed at the hard dollars.
Getting paid about 19 days sooner on $5M in annual sales frees roughly $260,000 of cash, one time, with no loan. Illustrative, scaled to your sales and current DSO.
Benchmarks: PYMNTS (DSO, days faster), HighRadius (past-due), Tesorio (follow-up time). Workflow and ROI are illustrative, not a specific client.A standard invoice-to-pay cycle. Almost every step is green. The three gray boxes are the only places a human is required.
Accounts payable, invoice-to-pay
Manual AI-assisted Automated
Step 1
Receive
Apps: AP inbox, email
Invoices arriveBy email and mail, one stream per entity.
Sort and routeAI reads each one and files it to the right queue.
Flag missing infoAI marks anything incomplete for follow-up.
Step 2
Record and code
Apps: accounting system
Capture the fieldsAI extracts vendor, amount, dates, line items.
Propose the codingAI suggests GL account, department, class.
Tip: AI reads the invoice. A person still owns the coding call.
Confirm the entryA person reviews and posts the bill.
Step 3
Review and correct
Apps: accounting system
Match and screenAI matches to PO and catches duplicates.
Surface exceptionsAI pulls the mismatches that need eyes.
Fix and respondA person corrects and replies.
Step 4
Approve
Apps: accounting system
Route to approverAI sends each bill to the right person by rule.
Tip: Every dollar that leaves still needs a human yes.
Review and sign offThe approver checks and approves.
Step 5
Pay run
Apps: bank portal, tracker
Reconcile and check fundsAI updates balances and flags shortfalls.
Draft the runAI assembles the payables due this cycle.
Release paymentA person approves and releases.
Cost per invoice
$10.89→$2.78
74% less
Time to pay
10.9 days→3.1 days
72% faster
The hands
Manual at every step → three human decisions
AI runs the rest
And your people? More than half of invoices run untouched, the rest get a quick check, and your AP person moves from processing every bill to owning the exceptions, the vendor relationships, and the calls that need judgment. Same team, redeployed to what matters.
At a typical 150 to 300 invoices a month, automating this one process saves roughly $15,000 to $29,000 a year. Illustrative, your volume times the benchmark gap of about $8 per invoice.
Benchmarks: Ardent Partners (cost, cycle time), Corpay and APQC (SMB volume). Workflow and ROI are illustrative, not a specific client.Track record
Built and run, not just advised.
Entrepreneur and operator for over three decades.
$7M to $28M
Tier One auto supplier
Co-founded and sold
HRIS company
30+ years
Turning data into decisions
2+ years
The whole career, pointed at AI
How it works
We find the fit first, then build.
- 01
Start
Rate your own readiness with the 5-minute scorecard, or book a 30-minute call. We find out fast whether there is a real need I can solve.
- 02
Alignment
A no-commitment working session with your team. We get to know your business, surface the pains and the problems, and decide together whether to move into the Assessment.
- 03
AI Assessment
We dig into your real workflows and data, score and rank them, and build your AI Operating Model: the prioritized roadmap you own.
- 04
Build and run
Production-grade, built by the operator who scoped it, connected and handed to your team to run every day. Build. Ship. Iterate.
About
Your fractional AI Engineer.
Stephen Wojno
Founder, Fractional AI Engineer and Solution Architect, Minds Models Data
I am an operator, not a vendor. Three decades running companies as owner, COO, and CFO. I turned around, grew, or launched five of them, including a Tier One automotive supplier I co-owned and operated from $7M to $28M. I have carried the number and made payroll. I have sat where you sit.
I develop the plan, build alignment, and own the delivery. I am obsessed with the systems, process, and structure that let a company scale without breaking, the same proven growth frameworks I have used to drive my own success. I am the detail-oriented, follow-through type who loves getting granular, and I hold myself to the result, not the effort. That has always meant business intelligence: strategy, the right people in the right seats, systems, and data. For the last two years it means AI, which makes all of that easier.
I stay in my lane. Always SMB, never enterprise. Show me a constraint and I build what removes it. I am built to lift everyone around you, not just automate a task. Your team, your customers, your advisors, your numbers. That is the point.
- Co-owned and operated a Tier One auto supplier from $7M to $28M
- Co-founded and sold an HRIS company
- Ran companies as owner/operator, CFO, COO, and Chief Intelligence Officer, always SMB, never enterprise
- 2+ years building AI systems, agents and LLMs in production
- 10+ years in Power BI, data modeling, and predictive analytics
FAQ
Straight answers.
Who do you work with?
Entrepreneurs and C-suite leaders at $2M to $30M companies who want better decisions from the data they already have.
What does a fractional AI Engineer do?
Builds and runs your AI infrastructure part time, from the data foundation to agents and analytics. You get senior capability without a full-time hire.
How fast will I see something real?
Quickly. Alignment is a working session on your business, not a sales call, so you leave the first meeting with something useful. The Assessment then digs into your real data and hands you a prioritized roadmap you own, with a first working proof where it fits.
What do I get from the Assessment?
Your AI Operating Model: a read on where you stand, your workflows scored and ranked, and a prioritized roadmap you own. Build it with me, or hand it to your own team.
AI Readiness Scorecard
Rate your own AI readiness in five minutes.
For owner-led companies, whatever operating system you run (or none). 18 questions, 5 minutes. Rate each statement from 1 (not true) to 5 (fully true). No email, no sign-up.
Contact
Book a 30-minute call.
Bring the decision you are stuck on. Here is what happens next.
- We find out fast whether there is a need I can solve.
- If we fit, a no-commitment Alignment session with your team.
- Then the Assessment, your roadmap, and a build you own.