Applied AI & Strategy

Dohmen

Working AI software and the strategy behind it, for founders and small teams.

See the workGet in touch

Capabilities

Two ways to engage

Some clients need software built. Some need thinking done first. Most engagements end up using a bit of both.

01

Build

Working software, scoped small and shipped quickly, using the same AI tooling client engagements get.

  • Custom internal tools & web apps

    Purpose-built software for the thing your team does all day.

  • Websites & web design

    Marketing sites and landing pages with real design behind them. This site is the working sample.

  • Document search & retrieval

    Ask questions across your contracts, docs, and notes. Answers come back with the source cited.

  • Workflow automations & agents

    The repetitive work runs itself: intake, follow-ups, reporting, handoffs.

  • Data pipelines & dashboards

    Numbers from scattered systems, pulled into one place you can actually read.

  • Content systems & integrations

    One piece of source material becomes every format you publish.

02

Advise

Strategy work from a corporate development background. Useful when the question is bigger than the build.

  • Market & competitive analysis

    Who's winning, why, and where the opening is. A memo you can act on.

  • Growth & operating plans

    Quarters, numbers, hires, and the order to do them in.

  • Diligence-style research

    The look-before-you-leap workup on a deal, market, or big bet.

  • Where AI fits, and where it doesn't

    An honest map of what to automate, what to buy, and what to leave alone.

Work

Built here

A product, a game engine, an investment pipeline, a research tool, and this site. Different problems, same approach.

01

Productivity app

Pulse

  • A daily planning system: commit to a short plan, run focus blocks, close the day with a recap
  • Focus blocks record the work as it happens, and the evening recap reads that record
  • Designed against published behavioral science on planning, habits, and follow-through
  • Syncs both ways with Google Calendar; AI breaks big tasks into steps
Next.jsReactSupabaseGoogle Calendar API
02

Board game & game engine

Elemental Ascent

  • An original board game for four to six players, playable on a 3D board in the browser
  • A Python engine playtests it: thousands of full games against itself to balance the rules
  • Twelve design decisions on record, from combat math to the shape of the map
PythonPyTestThree.jsWebGL
03

Investing operations

Collectibles System

  • The machinery behind a live collectibles portfolio
  • Prices items per grade from eBay sold data, and watches new listings around the clock
  • Scans upcoming auctions across three houses and sends reminders before bidding closes
  • A local console rolls it all up, with returns tracked like a fund
PythoneBay APIGoogle Sheets API
04

Research tool

Research Engine

  • A search engine over a private library of sources, built for a research paper
  • Six scanned books went in, through OCR and embeddings, into one searchable index
  • Ask it a theme; it returns exact passages, cited to the page
PythonSQLiteVoyage AITesseract
05

Web & content system

This Site

  • Everything here is custom: the particle field, the scroll choreography, the wireframe cards
  • A private studio behind it turns one rough note into a LinkedIn post, a thread, and a blog draft
  • You're looking at it
Next.js 16Three.jsSupabaseClaude API

About

Most AI work starts
in the wrong place.

Teams reach for the technology before they've properly understood the problem. The gap between good and exceptional is almost never capability. It's clarity.

My background is in strategy and corporate development. I spent several years on acquisition strategy and new ventures at a multi-generational healthcare company, then moved into consulting and advisory work with early-stage companies. I got my MBA at Chicago Booth, focused on strategic management and entrepreneurship.

These days I spend most of my time building: the five projects above, plus whatever problem is currently bothering me. That combination, someone who can frame the question and then build the thing, is what I offer.

Reed Dohmen
01

Scope before code

The cheapest version of an idea that proves itself wins. I'd rather ship something small this week than something impressive next quarter.

02

You can read everything

Plain-language write-ups, code you own, decisions on paper. If I can't explain it simply, I don't ship it.

03

Honest about limits

I'm one person with a specific toolkit. If your problem needs a team or a different specialist, I'll say so early.

Contact

What are you working on?

A few sentences is enough. If it looks like a fit, the next step is a short call.

Or email directly at reed@dohmen.ai

Typical response within 24 hours