Why Fractional AI Leadership Might Be The Smartest Move Your Business Can Make
By Steve Hennegan, Partner & CGO at Seven Hills Technology
After spending the week deep in the buzz of Cincy AI Week and talking shop, seeing demos, and hearing pitches, I walked away with one very clear takeaway:
There’s an enormous and growing need for real AI leadership inside companies... and almost nobody fit to fill it.
We’re not just talking about knowing which LLM to use. I mean actual leadership, people who can align AI investments to business strategy, clean up messy data environments, and steer a company clear of flashy tools that’s basically just expensive tech debt in disguise.
The issue? There’s a massive talent gap. The truly elite AI leaders are getting scooped up by the Google, Microsoft and OpenAIs of the world, folks with $300-400k+ base salaries and free sushi on Fridays. That leaves the rest of us (you know, the other 99.9% of companies) scrambling to find someone who’s not just GPTing “Create an AI strategy” five minutes before the meeting.
This isn’t a knock on internal teams, there are plenty of smart, capable folks out there. But AI leadership requires a very specific blend of technical literacy, business savvy, and experience that’s hard to find. And harder to afford. Especially if you’re a small to mid-sized business trying to stay competitive without lighting money on fire.
So what’s the move? It's pretty clear, and its fractional AI leadership.
It’s a pragmatic, cost-effective, and frankly smarter way to approach this challenge. Seven Hills is stepping into this space intentionally, offering the same kind of strategic leadership you’d get from a Head of AI, but without the $400k salary and the confused looks when confronted with anything built before 2020.
At the end of the day you likely don’t need to hire some self proclaimed AI “guru” full-time who parachutes in, talks about quantum computing, and leaves you with a Kahnban board and no tangible results. What you do need is a sharp, grounded partner who can guide you through this AI evolution, step by step, sprint by sprint, product by product.
I know what you’re thinking... Why trust Seven Hills with something this critical for my business?
I get it. Handing over something this important takes trust. At Seven Hills, we’re not here to sell you hype. We’d rather sit down, learn about your business, hear what you're trying to accomplish with AI, and share how we’d approach it. If it clicks, great. If not, no pressure. Our hope is that the conversation alone is worth your time.
We’ve spent the last decade building software and advising companies through big digital shifts. AI’s just the next wave, and we’re already paddling.
So if you’re feeling the pressure to do something with AI but have no idea where to start (or who to trust), let’s talk.
We’re not here to throw code at the problem. We’re here to help you move with purpose, and build what’s right for your business.
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