---
title: Consulting
headline: New tools, tried on real work first.
template: front
order: 1
kicker: Consulting
description: Strategy and operations for small and mid-size companies and startups, with the new tools tried on real work first. The first conversation is free.
deck: I try the new tools on my own work first, and bring you the ones that held up.
teaser: Strategy and operations for small and mid-size companies and startups.
service: Strategy and operations
updated: 2026-10-29
art: trowel 0 0 220 220
cta: Ask for a first conversation
llms: what Ben does and how it starts: write to him, a free first conversation, then what good looks like, written down before any paid hour.
---

I help small and mid-size companies and startups with strategy and operations. Call me first when something new (an AI model, an agent, a question your data could answer) might change how you run. Product management is one way I get the work done: find the real problem, map the world it lives in, and write down what good looks like before anyone builds.

A lot of what I need to know is usually sitting in a spreadsheet somebody rebuilds every Sunday night. I'd rather read it with the person who keeps it than interview the whole company, because every hour your people spend explaining their work is an hour they aren't doing it. Then we name what the spreadsheet is for: the decision someone makes with it on Monday. Sometimes a new model can build it instead. Sometimes nobody reads it anymore, and the fix is to stop making it.

## Where I tried them

- **AbiertoClaw:** A plugin I wrote that tests the free AI models every day with a real tool call, and keeps the Hermes agent on the one that passes. [On GitHub](https://github.com/be-ns/AbiertoClaw)
- **Brava:** The parent checkout on Stripe, built from scratch with AI coding agents. [bravamade.com](https://bravamade.com)
- **This site:** Six free tools that someone's AI agent can run, not just click. [How they run](/llms.txt)

## How it starts

1. **Write to me.** The "Ask for a first conversation" button at the top of this page copies my email address. [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/be-ns/) works too.
2. **A free first conversation.** Up to an hour, by video. We talk through what's stuck, and if I'm not the right person, I'll say so.
3. **What good looks like, in writing.** Before any paid hour, we write down the result we're after and agree on it.