Expert-led AI consulting
AI consulting that pays for itself.
We audit the organization, surface the use cases with real return, and hand you a 30-day roadmap a CFO can defend. No guesswork. No vendor pitch. Results you can put on a P&L.
End-to-end, on purpose.
Six engagements, sized to organizational maturity rather than to a product catalog. Every one of them is priced in public.
The brief
Most AI programs fail for unfashionable reasons.
No owner. No data. No change plan. A vendor in the room who gets paid either way. The models are not the scarce resource. Judgment is.
Agentive was built as the opposite of that: operational leadership from outside the software business, a scored framework, and a hard rule. We do not sell software, and we do not take kickbacks. If we are not the right partner, we will say so in the first half hour.
The work is simple to describe and demanding to do: find where AI returns cash or time, sequence it, and stay until the number moves.
Three steps to working AI.
Audit
We score the organization across the six AIDA dimensions — strategy, data, talent, technology, governance, and change readiness.
30 days · scored roadmap
Roadmap
A 12-month plan in business language: which use cases ship first, what they cost, and the ROI case for each.
Prioritized by return
Integration
We lead implementation with vetted build partners, train the team, and stay accountable to the numbers — not the buzzwords.
Measured at every milestone
AIDA Framework
Six dimensions. One score. A 12-month plan.
The proprietary AIDA Framework scores the organization where AI actually fails: strategy, data, talent, technology, governance, and change. You get a number you can defend, and a sequence you can fund.
Strategy & Vision
Is there a board-aligned AI strategy with owners, dates, and numbers — or a slide with aspirations?
Data Infrastructure
Can the data you already have actually support production AI, or only a demo?
Talent & Capabilities
Does the organization have the literacy, time, and permission to use AI — not just buy it?
Technology Stack
Will current systems, identity, and integrations carry an AI workload in production?
Governance & Ethics
Who is accountable when a model is wrong, biased, or leaks — and is that written down?
Change Readiness
Have past technology programs actually changed how people work, or just how decks look?
Sample profile · Capable band
Illustrative profile. Your radar is drawn from your eighteen answers, in the page, with no email required.
Numbers, not narratives.
Financial services85%Workflows automatedFinEdge Capital
Compliance that used to take a week now takes an afternoon.
85% of document review automated. 30+ hours returned to the desk every week.
Healthcare11d → 36hMedian turnaroundCoastal Health Network
Prior authorization, without the 14-day stall.
Median turnaround cut from 11 days to 36 hours. Appeal win-rate up 18 points.
Manufacturing−41%Unplanned downtimeAegis Industrial
Maintenance that predicts, instead of explaining the outage.
Unplanned downtime down 41% on the pilot line. First-year payback in month seven.
Instruments
Tools you can use before you hire us.
Free · directional
AIDA assessment
18 statements. A 0–100 score. No email. Five minutes.
Open
Free · directional
Value calculator
A conservative model of repetitive-work drag versus a sequenced year.
Open
Print / PDF
Capabilities brief
One page for the board packet. Print it. Put it in the folder.
Open
Standards
Letter from the principal
What we will and will not do. Written once. Held to on the call.
Open
Accountable to results, not buzzwords.
Independent by design
We do not sell software or take vendor kickbacks. Every recommendation, including which build partner to use, is based on fit.
Radical accountability
Two decades of operational leadership. We own the recommendation, show the work, and tell the hard truth, including when we are not the right firm.
Hands-on, not theatrical
We have integrated AI into real organizations. We know where things break because we have been in the room when they did.
| Capability | Agentive | Big 4 | AI vendors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Military & government depth | Native | Partial | Rare |
| Implementation, not just slides | Full-cycle | Partial | Tech only |
| Time to first value | Weeks | 6–18 months | Variable |
| Vendor independence | 100% | Alliances | Product-led |
Full comparison lives on the services page. The Big 4 and AI vendor columns describe the general shape of those engagement models as we meet them in competitive situations: our characterization, not a statement about any named firm.
Principal
Cory Maffeo
Founder & Principal · AI strategist · Active-duty U.S. Air Force officer
Twenty years leading, teaching, and operating in the U.S. Air Force. One hundred fifty-plus AI implementations across healthcare, defense, finance, and enterprise. Creator of the AIDA Framework and the ACAS credential. The work is practitioner-grade because it is still being done, not recalled from a prior life.
Cory Maffeo is an active-duty U.S. Air Force officer. Consulting is performed off-duty, in a personal capacity, and does not constitute an official endorsement by the Department of the Air Force, the Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government.
Before you book
Direct answers.
The questions we are asked on the first call, answered before it.
We're not technical. Is AI realistic for us?
Yes — that is exactly who we work with. You do not need a data-science bench. The audit finds use cases that fit current people, data, and budget. We bring vetted build partners for anything that needs engineering. Your job is knowing the business. Ours is mapping AI to it.
What does an engagement cost?
The assessment is free and takes about five minutes. The AI Readiness Audit is a fixed fee from $2,500 (Growth) to $7,500 (Enterprise), quoted on the discovery call. Advisory retainers start at $7,500/month. Fractional CAIO starts at $12,000/month. You will know the number before you commit, and the roadmap from an audit is yours either way.
How fast will we see results?
The audit delivers a scored, prioritized roadmap in 30 days. Most clients ship a first use case in the following quarter. We sequence by ROI and time-to-value, so the quick wins come first — not the science projects.
Do you sell software or push vendors?
No. We are independent by design: no reseller agreements, no kickbacks. When implementation needs a platform or a build partner, we recommend from a vetted network based on fit. We will also tell you when an off-the-shelf tool is better than a custom build — and the reverse.
Do you work with government and defense?
Yes. Federal, state, and DoD missions are a core practice. We work to NIST AI RMF, FedRAMP/FISMA posture, Section 508, and the current executive and OMB AI policy. The founder is an active-duty U.S. Air Force officer.
Next step
A 30-minute call. No pitch.
An honest view of where AI fits, and whether we are the right partner. If we are not, we will say so.