We're the AI advisor on call when you need one. We help mid-market leaders make the right calls: what to build, what to buy, what to ignore. Then we stay close while you ship the work. Across Europe and the US.
Track record
Leaders advised across mid-market companies in Europe and the US.
Years building AI in production before the hype cycle made it trendy.
How we think
Four lenses we bring to every call
AI strategy fails when it gets stuck on tech without grounding in business value. We work through these four on every recommendation.
Business Case
Every recommendation gets pressure-tested against the dollar value of the problem. If the ROI math doesn't clear, we don't recommend it.
Buy vs Build
When to use existing tools, when to build custom, when to wait. The honest answer is usually not what vendors are pitching.
Implementation Risk
Most AI projects fail in implementation, not strategy. We flag the risks early so they shape the plan instead of derailing it.
Measurement
What "working" means for your team, your customers, and your P&L. Defined before anything ships, so the ROI claim survives contact with reality.
Companies we work for
Where we advise
The decisions leaders bring us in for
Most engagements start with one of these. We help you decide what to do. You decide who builds it.
STRATEGY
AI Roadmap
Where to start with AI, what to sequence, what to ignore for now. We produce a prioritized 12-month plan with ROI estimates and implementation complexity per item.
Opportunities prioritized
10-20
OPERATIONS
Process Audit
We map where your team's hours go. What's automatable now, what's not yet, and what's not worth it. Output is a ranked opportunity list with effort versus return scored per item.
Hours identified per year
1,000s
TECH
Tool Selection
Anthropic vs OpenAI vs Google. Custom build vs SaaS. n8n vs LangGraph. We make the call you don't have time to make, with reasoning, not vendor pitches.
Time to recommendation
1 day
LEADERSHIP
Executive AI Briefings
Coaching for execs and managers on what AI actually does, what to ask vendors, and where the hype is. Tailored to your industry and team.
AI fluency in
1 session
TRANSFORMATION
Build vs Buy
For each AI opportunity on your roadmap: build custom, buy off-shelf, or wait. With reasoning grounded in what you actually need, not what vendors are selling.
Advice we give
Independent
Bring us your hardest question
Most clients bring questions we didn't predict. That's the point. We meet you where you are.
Most engagements look like this. Three to four weeks of diagnostic to ground the relationship, then we're on call as you execute.
"The team at What's Next have proven to be strong and reliable partners in translating our AI ambitions into tangible results.
Together, we pushed our tender review timelines from weeks to hours."
You own the roadmap and the thinking behind it. Documented, structured, and yours to take to anyone, including our competitors.
What you need to know
How is this different from McKinsey or Accenture?
Big-4 advisors write decks. We've shipped AI into production at clients, and our roadmaps are written by people who know what's actually buildable. You get strategy from builders, not slides from MBAs. Faster, cheaper, and grounded in implementation reality.
What does ongoing advisory look like?
Most start with a 3-4 week diagnostic that produces a 12-month roadmap. From there, we're on call at the cadence you need. Some clients use us as their fractional AI advisor; others bring us in for specific calls like vendor selection, build vs buy, or team training.
What if we don't choose you to build what you recommend?
Fine. The roadmap is yours. We've helped clients pick other vendors when it was the right call, and stayed on as their advisor through the build. Independence matters more to us than upsell. If we can't be honest, the advisory doesn't work.
What does it cost?
Diagnostic engagements are fixed-fee, scoped against your business size and complexity. Ongoing advisory is monthly, sized to the call volume you bring us. Pricing is transparent and discussed in our first call, not buried in a proposal.
Stop guessing where AI fits in your business
Bring us your hardest AI question. The first call is free. The advisory starts only when you're convinced it's worth paying for.