Outsourced "AI Department" for Mid-Size Companies

A small team acts as a company's retained AI department and charges a monthly anchor price.

In plain English

Mid-size companies can hire Certified AI Partners to act as their AI department for a monthly fee. James Larson, Brenden Parker, and Carter, who started this while in college, look for a slow hand-done job such as writing proposals, then use AI so the draft comes together much faster. The people still do most of the work. They find the client, deliver the service, and look after the account, while the AI mainly helps draft the proposals. The first talks often start by asking contacts for advice, then showing how a stuck task could move faster.

Automation40%

Startup costNot disclosed

Time to first $~4 mo

Monthly range*$15,000 /mo

$15,000/mo from one client (guests, self-reported, Oct 2026)

DifficultyMedium

SourceThe Koerner Office Ep. #344 (James Larson, Brenden Parker, Carter) ↗

Operator-Reported

A named, real operator ran this and shared results publicly. The figures are their own.

Episode transcript ↗

Not disclosed in the episode.

The tool stack

ChatGPT ↗

$20/mo

Build automations and demos.

Claude ↗

$20/mo

Build automations and demos.

Prices are the vendors' published list prices as researched in Oct 2026 and change often — always check the vendor's pricing page.

Step-by-step setup

Text every contact asking for advice, not money.
Find a company with a slow manual process (e.g. proposals).
Build an automation (1 hour to ~5 minutes per proposal).
Pitch tiered retainers ($10K / $15K / $25K anchor).

What's automated vs. the human 60%

The machine does

Proposal drafting

You still do

Sales
Delivery
Account management

Overview

College students James Larson, Brenden Parker and Carter run Certified AI Partners, acting as a company’s “AI department.”

What the source reports

Ep. #344 (Oct 16, 2026): a $30M construction company pays them $15,000/month. Their proposal automation cut about 1 hour to about 5 minutes per proposal. Tiers were $10K / $15K / $25K.

Costs

Not disclosed in the episode.

Realistic income

One client means concentration risk. The revenue is split among three people. Overlaps the AI implementation consultant stack.

Risks

Single-client dependence.
Very recent (about 4 months old); verbal claims.

*Income figures are illustrative ranges based on public pricing and typical outcomes reported by practitioners, not guarantees. Most new online businesses earn little or nothing at first. Not financial, legal or tax advice.