AI advice for economic developers, from someone who has run the RFI process
Your staff is already using AI. Your board hasn’t adopted a policy on it. Site selectors are running searches your community may not appear in. And every week another vendor emails you a demo.
We help economic development organizations sort the real opportunities from the noise — then tell you honestly what to do about each one.
Two practice areas
The AI challenge for economic developers has two distinct faces — internal and external. The engagements below address each one separately.
AI Readiness
How your team works. Where AI actually saves time on RFI response, prospect research, BR&E synthesis, and grant drafting — and where it introduces risk your board should know about.
Workflow audits, governance policy, vendor specification, and ongoing enablement. Four modular engagements. Start with the audit. Stop anywhere.
Explore AI Readiness →Digital Visibility
Whether your sites, incentives, and workforce data can be read by the AI tools now shaping early-stage location searches — and what to do if they can’t.
Live AI response testing against competitor communities, content format inventory, schema and markup review, and a machine-readable presence strategy.
Explore Digital Visibility →Why it matters that we don’t have a product to sell
We don't build it, so we don't oversell it
No vendor partnerships. No referral fees. No product to steer you toward. Our only interest is whether the recommendation holds up a year from now.
When you need a builder, we help you hire local
Your mission is growing employers in your region. We write specifications a competent local firm can bid on credibly — not requirements engineered so that only a national vendor qualifies. Where no local firm fits, we introduce you to ones we trust.
We speak economic development
This isn't a general AI consultancy learning what a BR&E visit is. We've sat on both sides of the site selection table and know which workflows matter, which deadlines are brutal, and what a board needs to hear before it approves anything.
Structured for the way EDOs actually operate
Fixed fees, never hourly
You know the number before we start. No ambiguous overruns, no surprise invoices when scope clarifies.
À la carte — start anywhere, stop anywhere
Every engagement stands alone. Buy the piece you need. Nothing is held back to force you into the next phase.
Built for your approval process
Entry engagements are priced to fit most executive directors' signature authority. When board approval is required, we'll help you build the packet.
Economic development organizations, regional partnerships, chambers with economic development functions, and state associations — typically 3 to 25 staff. Based in Indiana, working nationally.
More on AI and economic development
Ep. 106 — The Impact of AI
A direct conversation about what AI is actually changing in site selection and economic development — and what it isn’t.
The RFI Is No Longer the Starting Line
Why the machine-assisted shortlisting stage — the one that happens before your phone rings — is now where communities win or lose.
The Unmanaged Advantage of AI
Why AI governance — not AI tools — is the decision in front of every economic development organization. Includes a twelve-question vendor diligence framework and a machine-readability playbook.
Start with a conversation
No pitch deck required. We’ll tell you honestly whether what you need is a full engagement or a single targeted fix.
We’ll also run a free visibility check on your community before you commit to anything.
Book an Intro CallOr email [email protected]