We build what others only recommend.
Most AI consultants hand you a strategy document and wish you luck. We hand you a working system and train your team to run it.
There are two kinds of AI help in the world: the kind that costs $500 an hour and produces a PDF, and the kind you find on YouTube at 2am when you're already overwhelmed. Neither one builds anything.
The AI consulting market was built for enterprises. Massive budgets. Eighteen-month timelines. Fifty-slide strategy decks that sit in a drawer.
Meanwhile, the dental office on J Street is still verifying insurance by hand. The law firm downtown is still drafting intake forms from scratch. The restaurant group across the river is still posting to Instagram twice a month and hoping someone notices.
These businesses don't need a strategy deck. They need someone to walk in, understand their workflows, set up the right tools, train the team, and leave behind systems that actually run.
That's what Vanguard AI Group does. That's all we do. And we do it better than anyone.
Meet the founders
Casey Hartwell
Co-Founder
Brand, Strategy & AI Implementation
I spent 15+ years building brands inside the rooms where marketing actually gets made — healthcare, optical, eCommerce, and Fortune 500 consumer brands that reach millions of people every day. I know what moves markets. I also know what moves the budget.
I didn’t wait for AI to become a trend. The moment the technology caught up to what I’d been trying to do for years, I rewired my entire practice around it — starting with my own companies. I built Claude Projects tuned to specific brand voices, content engines that generate ninety days of material in an afternoon, and intake systems that qualify leads while the team sleeps.
Those experiments became repeatable systems. Today I’ve deployed AI infrastructure across nine industries — every workflow measured, every outcome documented, every dollar defensible in a P&L.
At Vanguard, I lead client strategy, brand positioning, and creative direction across every engagement. My job is to translate operational complexity into AI systems that get used, get results, and keep compounding long after we’ve moved on.
Mike Riddle
Co-Founder
Systems, Automation & GEO
I was automating before most people knew what to call it. While running HottKickz.com solo for more than a decade, I taught myself SEO and eCommerce from scratch and drove a sneaker brand built in my bedroom onto the first page of Google against Nike and Eastbay — over a million monthly views, no outside capital, no marketing team.
That obsession with leverage became AI the moment the technology could keep up. I started shipping systems most consultants still only talk about: ReportLab proposal generators, Playwright print automation, and an end-to-end eBay resale pipeline wired through the Photoroom API and the eBay Sell Inventory API. Every system born out of a real problem I had to solve myself.
My other seat is operations in live entertainment, where I run email marketing, conversion, promoter relations, and campaign attribution under live fire. It’s the kind of high-stakes, data-driven work that sharpened how I architect systems for clients.
At Vanguard, I lead audit engagements focused on operational efficiency, automation, GEO (Generative Engine Optimization), and process and revenue optimization for small and mid-sized businesses. If I recommend it, I’ve already built it and run it — on my own operations first.
Six principles. Non-negotiable.
“Ship systems, not slides.”
Every engagement ends with working automations running on your real data. If it doesn't work on Monday morning, we haven't finished.
“Use what you already pay for.”
Before we recommend a single new tool, we find the AI features hiding inside software your business already owns. Most companies are sitting on capabilities they've never touched.
“If we can't prove the ROI, we failed.”
Hours saved. Tasks eliminated. Revenue recovered. Every metric tracked. Every result documented. Gut feelings don't make it into our reports.
“Train every single person.”
The graveyard of failed AI projects is full of great technology that nobody learned to use. Every engagement includes hands-on training for the entire team — not just the owner, not just the “tech person.”
“Know your industry cold.”
We don't generalize. We learn your practice management system. We study your billing codes. We understand your compliance requirements. By the time we walk into your office, we already know where the time is being wasted.
“Stay after the install.”
Most consultants disappear after launch. We don't. Every system we build comes with ongoing support, optimization, and a commitment to proving the value month after month. Your success is our reputation.
Enterprise-grade tools. Small business simplicity.
Every tool in our stack is available today, proven at scale, affordable on any budget, and requires exactly zero coding to operate.
ChatGPT
Conversational AI, content generation, brainstorming
Claude
Document analysis, custom prompts, business intelligence
Gemini
Multimodal AI, Google Workspace integration
Zapier
Workflow automation, system integrations, trigger-based actions
Make
Complex workflow automation, API integrations
Calendly
Scheduling automation, meeting coordination
Canva
Visual content creation, brand templates
ActiveCampaign
Email automation, CRM, lead nurture
Tidio
AI chatbots, live chat, customer communication
Otter.ai
Meeting transcription, note-taking automation
Proof, not promisesThe scoreboard doesn't lie.
Client success rate
Automations deployed
Industries served
Typical annual value per client
Every number earned. Every result documented.
Sacramento roots. Nationwide reach.
We started here because this is where we live, where we work, and where we saw the need most clearly. Sacramento's small business community is our home base — the dental practices on Alhambra, the law firms on Capitol Mall, the restaurants in Midtown, the contractors building out Elk Grove and Folsom. But the gap between enterprise AI and small business reality exists everywhere. So while Sacramento will always be home, we serve businesses nationwide through virtual engagements that work just as well as being in the room.
See how we work
Headquartered in
Sacramento, CA
The next move is yours.
Book a free assessment. We'll show you exactly where AI can save your business the most time and money — and what it would look like to fix it.