Are you a software vendor?

No. We are vendor agnostic. We help you deploy the right mix of tools, governance, and workflows so AI produces measurable outcomes. We have built production systems ourselves, which is why we can evaluate your stack honestly.

How is this different from AI training?

We don't teach prompts. We deploy systems. Our founder has personally architected AI operations platforms and deployed computer vision on manufacturing floors. We bring operator credibility and deployment discipline, not slide decks.

Will AI create layoffs?

Our goal is productivity and capacity, not chaos. You decide workforce strategy. We build the operating system that gives you options and visibility into where AI creates the most value.

What about data security and risk?

We design risk posture up front: what data can be used, where, and how. Governance is part of deployment, not an afterthought. Our founder has direct experience with systems architecture, ERP implementation, and enterprise data infrastructure.

What size company is this for?

We work with CEOs and Operating Partners of $20M to $500M companies, primarily in manufacturing, energy, industrial services, pharma, professional services, construction, and distribution. PE backed companies are a strong fit.

Founder-Led AI Transformation

The team that runs your future AI company already works for you.

Do you know how to augment them, equip them, and lead the change at the pace of AI? I help CEOs of $20M to $500M companies evolve to AI-driven operations in one to three years, by identifying and augmenting the natural orchestrators and integrators already inside the business.

Book an Executive AI Readiness Call See How We Work

Scaled $10M to $40M+ as CEO, a 4x revenue build over 10 years

$1B+ M&A integrations delivered to 100% of IRR and EBITDA targets

Lean cell redesign cut contract cycle time 66%

AI computer vision on the production floor in 2025, identifying 20 to 30% waste

Technology was never the transformation. The transformation is the thing you already know how to run.

Most AI advisors sell tools. Most CEOs treat AI as a technology decision. Both miss the actual unlock. The same Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control discipline you have run for years still runs underneath.

What changed is the clock. The phases that used to take months now take days.

It was never about the tool. It is about execution, and about the orchestrators and integrators already inside your business who will carry the change. AI gives them the leverage. The method is the one you already trust.

If AI isn't showing up in your weekly operating cadence, it isn't real.

The value was never the AI. It is the transformed company, delivered faster.

Founder-led advisory firm. You work directly with the founder. No junior analysts. Hands on.

Ivan Madrigal

Founder & Managing Principal

• As a CEO, scaled a struggling $10M business into a $40M+ vertically integrated manufacturer (4x revenue, 10x production volume)
• Authored the Lean Six Sigma program at a Fortune 200 utility; coached Black Belts to $1.15M average per project, 4.6x the industry benchmark
• Co-led $20M to $1B M&A integrations to 100% of IRR and EBITDA targets
• Deployed AI computer vision on the fabrication floor in 2025, identifying a 20 to 30% value-added-time improvement
• Recovered $800K in unbilled revenue by building the analytics system internal IT could not ship in three years
• Cut contract cycle time about 66% with a Lean cell redesign
• SBTI Certified Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt; P&L ownership, turnarounds, and financial leadership

Ivan founded Synaptic Systems to deliver practical operational transformation through a founder-led advisory model.

Why now

Are you ready for what is coming?

Within three to five years, your workforce reorganizes around AI. About 10% of your people, the visionaries who can plan the integration, become your AI orchestrators. They drive so much change that executing it, the change management, the customer transitions, everything that comes with it, takes another 20 to 30% of your workforce as integrators. The rest are your support staff, and your job is to identify the top 10% of them.

If you are not operating at that level of efficiency within three to five years, you are out of business. The leaders who win already know who their orchestrators are and have started building the structure.

Work with the operator

Executive AI Coaching, by the hour

The fastest way in. A free 30-minute call, then hourly, one-on-one with an operator who has run the transformations, not a vendor selling them. Strictly confidential: every engagement comes with a simple one-page mutual NDA, and your name is never shared.

Book the free 30-minute call Read the one-pager

The Thinking

Technology Is Not Transformation

How CEOs win with AI: by running the transformation method they already trust, at the pace of AI. The full white paper, free to read. No form, no email required.

Download the White Paper

When you are ready to go deeper

Beyond the hour: install the operating system.

Start with a coaching hour. When it is time to build, these are the engagements that put AI into the operation. You leave with a plan, not a pitch.

Executive AI Intensive

Two days

Full strategy and execution planning. Day 1: executive alignment, AI readiness, competitive urgency. Day 2: strategy-to-execution tree, opportunity scans, a 90-day roadmap with ROI targets.

AI Readiness Assessment

Scoped on a call

A structured 8-dimension diagnostic: executive interviews, operational walkthroughs, an opportunity pipeline with an ROI model, and strategic recommendations.

Fractional Chief AI Officer

Scoped on a call

Ongoing operating-system leadership: the whole AI-transformation program run by an operator, not a vendor. Monthly cadence, on-call for the decisions that matter.

Ready to find out who inside your company is already built to run it on AI? Let's talk.

A 30 minute conversation about your operation, where AI creates value, and whether we can help. Direct, no pitch, no fluff.

Book a Call

Or review the engagement formats above.