About ClearForge
We build production AI. Not shelfware.
We build, we ship, we deploy. The same team that diagnoses the problem engineers the solution and trains your people to run it.
What Makes Us Different
We build AND train your team to run it.
Most AI firms sell you a roadmap and leave. Others build something and create a dependency so you cannot operate without them. We do neither. Every ClearForge engagement ends with a working system in production and a team that knows how to maintain and extend it.
Built for mid-market and growth-stage companies who need AI that works — not another vendor relationship that drains budget without delivering results.
Leadership
James Penz
Founder & Managing Partner
Before founding ClearForge, James spent over a decade in management consulting and enterprise technology at Bain, EY, and Capgemini - advising mid-market and Fortune 500 companies on operations, AI strategy, and delivery.
He built ClearForge because he kept seeing the same problem: companies spent millions on AI strategy that never made it to production. The gap was not insight — it was execution. ClearForge exists to close that gap with a team that diagnoses, builds, and operates AI systems end to end.
Bain
Strategy
EY
Delivery
Capgemini
Technology
Principles
What we believe shapes every engagement.
Strategy must end in execution
Every engagement produces a working system, not a report. If we cannot build it, we do not recommend it.
Senior-led teams
The people who scope your engagement are the people who deliver it. You work with senior operators who can make tradeoffs in the room.
Engineering + operating discipline
We combine workflow discipline with production engineering standards. Systems are tested, documented, and built to last.
Build capability, not dependency
Everything we build transfers. We train your people, document the systems, and make ourselves replaceable. That is the goal.
Honest Answer
Why not just buy a platform?
Platforms require a data science team
DataRobot and Dataiku can help if you already have a team to build, validate, and maintain models. Most mid-market companies do not.
Platforms solve the tool problem, not the business problem
Buying a platform is like buying a CNC machine without a machinist. The tool is only as good as the people operating it and the process around it.
We build AND train
We deploy production AI and train your team to run it. When we leave, the system works and your people own it. No ongoing license dependency.
One conversation to find out.
Tell us about your business. We will be honest about whether we can help — and if so, exactly how.