Most operations-heavy businesses have already paid for the data and systems they need: work orders, transaction records, manufacturer files, customer history. It's just scattered across platforms that were never built to talk to each other. We turn what you already own into something that actually answers the question you're being asked, and build the agents and automation that keep answering it.
Four parts to the same underlying problem: the data exists, it's split across systems, and nobody has built the layer that reconciles it or the agents that act on it.
A fast, structured pass through your existing systems to find out what's actually there, where it disagrees with itself, and what's genuinely missing versus just unreachable.
Pulling structured facts out of documents and records you already have, using OCR, document AI, and source-specific decoding, not a manual re-entry project.
Purpose-built agents and chatbots that handle real operational work, not a chat window bolted onto a website. Built and proven in live production use, not a demo.
A working tool built around your actual data and your actual workflow, not a platform you reshape your operations to fit.
The pattern repeats across almost every operations-heavy business. Direct experience includes:
Product strategy, data platforms, and post-merger integration across enterprise software.
BI platforms, PMS integration, and hotel operations data, including asset and facilities data specifically.
Lean production, distribution, and operational systems from the ground up.
Condition data, maintenance systems, and capital planning for asset-heavy portfolios.
Systems and process design across large, geographically spread teams.
IoT integration and automation for physical, sensor-driven production environments.
A fixed sequence, priced and scoped before each step starts, so nothing turns into an open-ended engagement.
A short, fixed-fee pass through your existing systems and documents, before either of us commits to anything larger. You get an honest read on what's usable, what's missing, and what a real fix would take.
A working build against your real data, not a demo dataset. Scoped and priced up front, delivered on a fixed timeline.
The proven model, hardened, documented, and deployed for ongoing use, with a clear support and update path.
The same approach applied across additional sites, contracts, or business units, at a lower marginal cost each time.
A small, hands-on practice built on 15+ years operating inside the businesses it now advises, not a platform sales team.
Subtraction Works is named after a genuine operating belief, not a slogan. Most operational problems don't get solved by adding another dashboard, another tool, or another headcount. They get solved by removing what's actually in the way: the redundant system nobody trusts, the manual reconciliation step that exists only because two platforms were never connected, the report that takes three days to assemble by hand. Addition by subtraction, real speed and clarity come from taking things away, not piling more on top. That idea is also the subject of an upcoming book.
The pattern behind this work is the same one seen across four post-merger integrations, two company exits, and a Stevie Award-winning product built from scratch: organizations almost always have more usable data than they realize. It's been collected by different vendors, at different times, for different reasons, and never reconciled into one place. The noise isn't a lack of data, it's too much of it, scattered and unreconciled.
That includes leading the operational and data integration of four merged technology companies as Chief Integration Officer, building and launching an award-winning business intelligence platform as Chief Operating Officer of a SaaS company through its own acquisition, and running live, production AI agent systems that have measurably cut administrative overhead by 90 percent, not a pilot, not a proof of concept alone, an operating result.
The approach is the same every time: start from what already exists, remove what's actually causing the friction, and build software and automation around what's left, the real data and the real workflow, not the other way around.
A short set of questions about your current systems and where the friction actually is. No commitment, no sales call required first.
This is a short first touch, not the full intake. Once there's a real conversation, you'll get a structured discovery questionnaire covering your current systems, contract obligations, and data sources in more detail.
hello@subtractionworks.com