Fractional CAIO · Mid-Market AI Strategy

Drive AI adoption
with real ROI.

Enterprise-grade AI strategy — built for 50–500 person companies. From readiness assessment to phased implementation, PathForge gives you the execution continuity that Big 4 firms don't.

No six-figure retainers. No junior analysts. Senior strategists who've scaled AI — embedded in your organization until results are locked in.

Get Your AI Readiness Score → Book a Consultation

Built for 50–500 person companies

15+ years cross-industry AI experience

Results in weeks, not quarters

Who This Is For

Built for the leaders making the AI decision.

If you're responsible for AI outcomes — and tired of strategy without execution — you're in the right place.

C-Suite & VPs

CEOs, COOs, and VPs evaluating AI investment ROI. You need a business case that holds up — and a partner who stays through execution, not just the deck.

Operations Leaders

VPs of Ops and Directors tasked with making AI actually work. You need governance frameworks, data readiness, and pilots that don't collapse in month three.

IT & Technology Directors

Leaders who own the infrastructure and know what's actually feasible. You need a strategy built on technical reality, not vendor decks and buzzwords.

Why PathForge

The four things mid-market AI programs fail at. We fix all of them.

Every failed AI initiative has the same fingerprints: no readiness foundation, no governance, no execution continuity. Here's how we address each one.

01 — ROI

Execution tied to business outcomes, not deliverables

We don't bill by the slide deck. Every engagement is scoped around a measurable business outcome — cost reduction, revenue impact, or time-to-decision. You see ROI estimates before you commit, and we track actuals as we go.

02 — Governance

Governance frameworks your board can stand behind

Risk, compliance, data residency, model explainability — mid-market companies face the same governance requirements as enterprises with 10% of the resources. We design frameworks that scale with your organization.

03 — Scale

From one pilot to organization-wide adoption

Most firms help you launch a pilot. We design for the second and third one too. The readiness sprint builds a foundation that supports 12–24 months of AI adoption — not just the next 90 days.

04 — Continuity

Senior delivery from start to production

No bait-and-switch. The senior strategist who scoped the engagement runs the engagement. We stay through the first production deployment and transfer capability to your team — so the knowledge doesn't leave when we do.

Engagements

Three entry points. One continuous path.

Start with the assessment that fits your readiness. Every tier is designed to feed the next — or stand alone as a complete engagement.

2–4 Weeks

AI Readiness Sprint

$2,500–$5,000

Know exactly where you stand before you commit budget. We audit data, governance, skills, and infrastructure to build a business case that holds up in the boardroom.

Full data readiness audit
Governance gap assessment
Skills & capability review
Business case with ROI estimates
Executive-ready findings report

Start with AI Assessment → Buy Now — $2,500 →

4–8 Weeks

Strategic Roadmap

$10,000

A 12–24 month implementation plan with clear phases, ownership assignments, vendor recommendations, and metrics that actually matter to your business.

Everything in AI Readiness Sprint
Competitive & market landscape analysis
Phased 12–24 month implementation plan
Vendor / tool evaluation & selection
ROI projections per initiative
Governance & MLOps design
Stakeholder alignment workshop

Start with AI Assessment → Buy Now — $10,000 →

Ongoing

Fractional CAIO Retainer

$5,000/month

Hands-on AI leadership without the full-time executive cost. We guide your first 2–3 pilots to production and transfer capability to your internal team.

Strategic Roadmap included at start
Monthly executive strategy sessions
Pilot implementation oversight
Vendor management & contract review
Internal team training & upskilling
Continuous roadmap iteration
Board / C-suite reporting support

Book a Consultation → Buy Now — $5,000/mo →

Process

Four phases. Measurable output at every step.

No black boxes, no month-three surprises. You know what we're doing, what it produces, and what comes next.

Diagnostic

We assess your current AI readiness across data, infrastructure, governance, skills, and business alignment. No assumptions — we go to the source.

AI Readiness Score

Strategy

We translate findings into a prioritized plan — which use cases to fund, which to kill, where to start, and how to sequence for maximum ROI.

Strategic Roadmap

Execution

We stay through implementation. Pilot selection, vendor management, team enablement, and governance — all under one engagement.

First Pilot Live

Transfer

Capability transfers to your team. You get the playbook, trained staff, and an AI operating model that doesn't depend on us being in the room.

Internal AI Capability

Experience

Built on 15+ years of real implementation — not theory.

We've shipped AI systems in manufacturing, fintech, logistics, and professional services. Not pilots. Production.

15+

Years of cross-industry AI experience

Enterprise-grade expertise — without the enterprise price tag. We've worked inside organizations large enough to understand what "scale" actually means.

$2–5M

Typical cost of a failed AI program we prevent

The readiness sprint pays for itself the first time it redirects a misdirected $500K vendor contract or stops an underpowered pilot from consuming six months of eng time.

2–8wk

Time to first measurable output

You have a scored assessment, findings report, and prioritized recommendations in your hands before most Big 4 teams have finished their SOW.

Case Studies

What execution looks like in practice.

Real engagements. Specific outcomes. More case studies are added as clients complete engagements and approve publication.

Manufacturing · 200 employees

AI Readiness Sprint surfaces $1.2M in misallocated vendor spend

A mid-market manufacturer was 6 months into an ML platform contract that didn't match their actual data infrastructure. The sprint identified the gap before Phase 2 deployment.

→ Engagement redirected. $1.2M in projected waste avoided.

Professional Services · 120 employees

Strategic Roadmap unlocks first AI pilot in 9 weeks

A consulting firm had been "exploring AI" for two years without shipping anything. The roadmap sequenced three viable pilots, identified the lowest-friction starting point, and cleared governance blockers.

→ First production AI feature live in 9 weeks.

Logistics · 350 employees

Fractional CAIO retainer drives $600K in annual efficiency gains

A regional logistics company needed AI leadership for 12 months without the cost of a full-time CAIO. Two pilots shipped to production. Internal team trained and capable of running the third independently.

→ $600K annual efficiency gains. Team owns the roadmap.

Comparison

The mid-market was stuck between two bad options.

Big 4 firms are too expensive. Boutique tech shops stop at the pilot. PathForge is the third option — strategy and execution, at mid-market cost.

	Big 4 Consulting	PathForge	Boutique Tech Firms
Cost	$500K–$10M+	$2.5K–$25K (or $5–10K/mo)	$75K–$500K
Timeline to first value	6–12+ months	2–8 weeks	4–12 weeks
Who delivers	Junior analysts, senior partners who sell	Senior strategists with implementation track record	Technical specialists — strategy often thin
After the strategy	They leave. Implementation is your problem.	We stay through production. Capability transfers.	Limited implementation support
Governance	Strong frameworks, priced for Fortune 500	Enterprise governance, mid-market pricing	Often underpowered or skipped

Get Started

Ready to build AI strategy
that actually executes?

Start with a free AI Readiness Assessment — scored report, prioritized recommendations, no sales call required. Or book a 30-minute consultation to talk through your situation first.