№ 01
The room goes quiet
Someone asks “so, what’s our AI position?” and everyone looks at the youngest person in the room. That’s not a strategy.
Fractional Chief AI Officer · Startups · boards · Independent
Everyone’s talking about AI.But where to start?
I'm Mark Caulfield. I've worked with AI since 2019, for everyone from startups to the UK's largest financial institutions. Up to two days a month, I'm at your table to help you decide, then make it happen.
From £2,750 a month · two seats open this quarter
Why this seat
Everyone agrees AI matters. So who, in your company, owns it?
№ 02
Suppliers can smell budget
Everyone selling AI right now sounds confident. Few are right. You need someone at the table who can tell judgement from sales talk, with no commission riding on the answer.
№ 03
A full-time hire is the wrong size
A Chief AI Officer costs £120k+ and takes six months to find. Most businesses need two days a month of the right person, not a department.
The seat
What you get. In plain terms.
Built, not just advised
I’m hands-on. I build with AI myself, not just point at what to do, so you can see a working demo before you invest in the full thing.
Straight advice
The call I’d make if it were my money. Judgement, not decks.
AI in your product
Not just AI for the back office. AI in the thing you actually sell, designed AI-first from the ground up.
The right tech, no waste
The best tools for the job, and only those. I kill the spend that isn’t earning its place.
Guardrails that hold
A data policy that stands up to UK GDPR, and clear rules for how AI touches your customers. Move fast without the mess.
In it with you
I stay hands-on, not a one-off report you file and forget.
Want a deeper map before you commit? There’s a fixed-fee, two-week audit for that. Ask about it on the call.
Month one
No warm-up phase. Here’s the first month.
The first day
I listen
A working session with the people who run the place. I learn how the work actually moves and where the money leaks, and you get my honest first read on where AI pays in your business.
Between sessions
The plan
A short, ranked AI plan you can sign off: strategy for the year, tactics for the quarter. Priced, and in plain English.
The second day
First moves
We pick the quickest win and it gets started, with an owner and a date. Next time someone asks “what’s our AI position?”, there’s an answer.
The person in the seat
My obsession is finding better ways to do things, and AI is the most powerful tool for that I've ever seen. You'll get plain English from me, and an honest 'I don't know' when that's the truth.
Mark Caulfield has built products and companies for over two decades. He has worked in sectors from banking to government all over the world, and partnered with universities on applied AI research. More than once he has stepped into a business in real trouble and helped walk it back to solid ground. He does his best thinking up a Highland hill with two dogs, and he answers his own email.
AI since 2019Banking · Retail · GovernmentUniversity research partnerNo supplier commissions
The record
Companies Mark has co-founded or rescued have raised more than £50m in the past three years.
AI platforms Mark built are used by some of the UK’s largest financial institutions.
Questions
Asked, answered, honestly.
The same job a full-time one does, in a smaller dose, minus the salary. I set the AI strategy, keep the guardrails sound, and, unlike most, I actually build: hands-on with AI myself, getting it into your product and proving it with a real demo, not just a plan. Up to two days a month, pitched at whoever’s in the room, whether that’s two founders or a full board.
Clients range from a single founder moving fast to large established companies. The common thread is that AI clearly matters to the business and nobody in-house owns it. If that sounds like you, you’re the right size.
Both, and most of the value is in the judgement. But I’m not just a talker: I’ll build a working demo myself, or get AI into your product where it earns its place. Anything bigger, I scope it and either build it or hand your team a proper spec to run with. No black boxes, no lock-in. You own what gets made.
None. Nobody pays me margins or commissions, and I have no favourite supplier. I recommend whatever pays back fastest for you. Sometimes that’s unglamorous software, and occasionally it’s no AI at all.
Taken seriously from day one. I work UK-GDPR-first and prefer private-by-default setups, and I’ll happily talk to your lawyer or IT provider. Nothing of yours is used to train anyone’s models.
You’d get a beautiful 80-page deck and a junior team learning on your time. With me you get one senior person who has built these systems, at your table every month, for less than their scoping phase.
Start here
Tell me where AI sits on your agenda.
Fill this in and I reply personally, usually within one working day. No sales team and no mailing list, just a reply from me.
Or email info@ginger.land