First Post - Who We Are

Who we are

The two of us first met back at Chatham Financial. Patrick was the Founding CTO at Chatham and Chris overlapped with Patrick for a couple of years on the Quantitative Finance team. We both ended up moving on from there to pursue other interests in the world of AI and robotics, but this was the beginning.

We both have strong technical backgrounds: Chris holds a PhD in Physics from Johns Hopkins, and Patrick earned a Master's in Explosive Cutting, by research, from the University of Manchester in the UK. Throughout our careers, we've complemented our technical expertise with a focus on growing successful businesses around emerging technologies.

This combination of technical depth and business acumen proved particularly valuable at Chatham, where we met. There, we helped lead the company's growth from a small startup to the largest independent advisory firm in its space, generating significant revenue. We led the creation of the technology and valuation infrastructure that continues to underpin Chatham's market operations today.

After Patrick left Chatham, he got back into the startup arena, either starting or working with companies that were pioneering the commercialization of machine learning, computer vision, autonomous systems and AI technologies. There was even some blockchain in the mix.

Chris, meanwhile, continued to rise in seniority at Chatham and eventually exited to work with Indico, a pioneer in the AI space, where he became their Chief Data Scientist.

Our careers have been defined by consistently identifying and mastering emerging technologies at their inflection points. From complex derivatives modeling at Chatham to early machine learning applications, computer vision, and now Generative AI, we've maintained our position at the forefront of technological innovation. This journey has taught us how to separate genuine technological breakthroughs from hype, while our extensive network keeps us connected to the latest developments in AI research and application.

And if you ever detect the influence of others “behind the curtain”, you would be correct. Chris and Patrick both benefit from a large social graph of friends in the broader AI space who continue to be sources of ideas, solutions and encouragement as this new frontier develops.

What we are doing

The concise answers lie in two areas:

1. Truth.

Recent breakthroughs in Generative AI have created unprecedented opportunities - and unprecedented hype. The critical question is determining what's real and what's not.

The idea that truth should be a central concept to a business that deals in complex problems was ingrained in both of us while at Chatham, and then further refined as we explored sophisticated technologies after that. Originally, it was unpicking super complex financial derivatives for clients. Later it was helping clients understand where ML and AI could be realistically used for their benefit, without stretching any promises.

This has been solidified recently as more and more of our network have contacted us to talk about how to tackle this new horizon of Gen AI. We are both entrepreneurs; it did not take long for the opportunity to become clear.

2. Agency

So why now and why this particular how? Perhaps the largest reason is agency; the ability for us to act freely and independently as we work with our clients.

The agency of consulting under our own logo gives us more freedom to help answer the questions that friends in our networks are already asking us, such as:

• Is this real, or is it hype?

• What are our opportunities?

• What are the possible structural impacts to our organization?

The answers to each of these questions inevitably tend to get mired in the positive aspirations of some, the fears of others and potential competition from teams elsewhere in our clients’ companies as the new space is defined.

As independent consultants, with experience in these technologies, we can provide an outside perspective to help guide the discussions. We believe that these changes are, without hype, epochal. fluidmind is the platform we have chosen to use as we navigate the fascinating times that lie ahead.

What’s next?

Our current engagements demonstrate the practical value we bring to organizations:

• Strategy development for use of AI co-pilots in a large software development project

  • Assessment of technical productivity gain

  • Cost offsets from decommissioning replaced software

• Discovery and value proposition creation for Gen AI on a specific project

  • Identification of use cases

  • Product roadmapping and goal setting

• Integration of Gen AI capabilities into existing workflows

  • Verification of functionality / reliability of new capabilities

• Assistance for a PMO on AI-related Change Management initiatives

  • Impact assessments, both for technology and people

The discussions outside of these projects also continue to inform and educate, know-how that we are happy to share and bring to the table in our discussions.

Are you ready to cut through the AI hype and develop a practical strategy for your projects? Contact us via the website, or LinkedIn, to schedule a discussion. We’d love to hear from you.