AI strategy · build · adoption — for mid-market & PE
AI that actually ships.
We find your highest-value workflows, build production AI, and get your teams to actually use it — in 10–14 weeks, with pricing you can see.
The AI adoption gap
AI doesn't fail in the build. It fails at adoption.
Most firms can stand up a pilot. Almost nobody staffs the last mile — so we productized it. The Adoption Mile™ runs inside every engagement: a named operator, weekly cadence, and an adoption scoreboard until your team runs it without us. The industry’s own planning math calls for $3 of change work per $1 of model build. We budget for it; most vendors hope.
companies claiming AI adoption vs. running agents in production
of transformations fail on people, not technology
of ClearForge projects reach production — adoption is staffed, not hoped for
FAILURE-01
Pilot purgatory
POCs launch without production criteria, so nothing ever counts as "live."
We define "live" up front and build to it — go/no-go criteria in week one.
FAILURE-02
The adoption gap
Builders leave; teams quietly revert to the old way within a quarter.
A named operator runs your training, playbooks, and weekly cadence until the numbers move — the way we ran SightForge for a $4B industrial sales org.
FAILURE-03
The benefits void
Nobody baselines KPIs, so nobody can prove the system paid for itself.
We baseline on day one and track every dollar through launch and beyond.
70% weekly-active usage — the adoption bar we build to by day 90, tracked in the open on your scoreboard.
01 — The Forge System
Not a methodology. Working AI systems.
Agents, automations, and dashboards your team actually works in — actions with a human in the loop, models that retrain and improve every month, results measured in the open. Two of them you can try right now, free.
01 · FORGE-INTEL
Forge Intelligence™
A live diagnostic agent. Paste a URL — it reads the business and drafts a readiness band plus the top three AI plays in about a minute.
02 · FORGE-SCORE
Forge Scorecard™
A 20-question production-readiness score across five pillars. Benchmarked against operators at your scale — realistic, not flattering.
Deployment-ready system designs from real engagements — architecture, agents, integrations, and the KPIs each one moves.
Diagnostic → Sprint → Scale. Fixed scope, published prices, production criteria defined up front, benefits tracked from day one.
02 — Forge Method™
A transparent ladder, priced in public.
Three engagements. Every one ships an artifact you own and credits forward into the next. No platform lock-in, no pyramid of juniors.
Forge Diagnostic™
4 weeks
A senior-led assessment that selects the right workflow, checks data readiness, sets a baseline, and gives leadership a build plan they can approve.
- Stakeholder interviews across leadership and operations
- Workflow mapping with value, effort, and risk scoring
- Data readiness and infrastructure audit
- Adoption readiness read — who will run the system, and what changes for them
Forge Sprint™
10–14 weeks
An intensive build engagement. We diagnose the problem, engineer the solution, deploy it into production — then run The Adoption Mile™ until your team actually works in it.
- Working production system, not a prototype
- Integration with your existing tech stack
- Named workflow owner and handoff plan
- The Adoption Mile™ — named operator, weekly working cadence, live adoption scoreboard
Forge Scale™
Ongoing
Ongoing AI operations for live systems. We review usage, tune workflows, scope the next build, and keep owners aligned on measured value.
- Senior AI operators on demand
- New workflow scopes and agent updates as needed
- Monthly review of live-system performance and retraining
- Weekly or biweekly working sessions with leadership
03 — Evidence
What changed, and for whom.
Every engagement is measured against revenue, cost, or throughput. These are the receipts.
From Customer Attrition to Repeatable Pipeline
Home & Commercial Services Firm Rebuilds Commercial Pipeline from Zero
Read the caseIndustrial Manufacturing & DistributionQualified Opportunities Identified in 6 Months
$4B Industrial Conglomerate Deploys AI Sales Intelligence Across 16 Divisions
Read the casePrivate Equity Portfolio OperationsDiagnostic to Portfolio Execution Plan
PE Operating Team Runs Portfolio Diagnostic and Builds Execution Plan
Read the caseBefore You Book
The questions buyers ask first.
What does ClearForge actually cost?
Pricing is published on our pricing page: the Forge Diagnostic is $15K fixed, a Forge Sprint runs $75K to $200K depending on scope, and Forge Scale is $5K to $15K per month. Scope is fixed before we start, with no surprise fees.
How fast will we see something working?
The Diagnostic delivers a build plan leadership can approve in 4 weeks. A Sprint puts a working system into production in 10 to 14 weeks, with baseline metrics tracked from day one.
Do you advise, or do you actually build?
We build. The senior person who scopes your engagement engineers the system, ships it into production, and stays through adoption until your team runs it without us.
Will our team actually use it?
Adoption is scoped into every Sprint through The Adoption Mile: a named operator on your team, a weekly working cadence, and a live adoption scoreboard. The bar we build to is 70% weekly-active usage by day 90.
Is our data safe with AI in production?
Systems are built in your environment wherever possible, with least-privilege access and human approval gates on consequential actions. Our AI providers operate under enterprise API terms that exclude your data from model training. Full details are on our Security page.
Who will we actually work with?
ClearForge is founder-led. James Penz, formerly of the Bain AI and Automation practice, scopes every engagement and delivers it with senior operators only. You can meet him before you sign anything.
What if we are not sure we are ready?
Start with the free tools. The scorecard gives you a readiness readout in ten questions, and Forge Intelligence drafts a diagnostic from your website in about a minute. No signup, no sales call required.
The firm
Built by operators who ship.
ClearForge was founded by James Penz — 15 years across Bain, EY, and Capgemini, including Bain’s AI Automation practice. The person who scopes your engagement builds it — and stays through adoption until your team runs it without us. Senior operators only, named on every proposal.
projects reach production — industry median is 16%
kickoff to live production system
engagement tiers, prices published