The work starts
with your problem
Most teams don't need a strategy deck. They need someone who can look at how the work gets done, help figure out what's worth building, and build it. I join your team and ship things. Sometimes alongside your engineers. Sometimes as the whole technical operation. And the biggest win isn't always new software — often it's a process change.
A lot of the work is the thinking — what to build, what to skip, what to do first. The thinking lands because the same person also writes the code.
20 years building software. A decade of ML and AI. I build for your team as it is, and I document everything so it doesn't fall apart when I'm not around.
How it works
Most clients work with me on retainer. Some start with a scoped project.
Understand
Sit with your team. Interview the people doing the work. Map how things actually get done. Find the problems worth solving — and the processes worth changing.
Build & Iterate
Working prototypes fast. Iterate on real feedback until it works in your actual environment.
Ship & Transfer
Deploy to production. Document. Make sure the work can be maintained and extended.
Recent domains: investment research, healthcare regulatory, logistics, AI-assisted development
Services
Embedded AI Engineering
We figure out what to build, then I build it. If you have engineers, I work with them and make sure they can carry it forward. If you don't, I handle the technical side: strategy, architecture, code.
- Agentic workflows and multi-step AI pipelines
- Data infrastructure and ML model deployment
- Testing and evaluation infrastructure
- Custom dashboards and internal tools
- Connecting AI to your existing tools and workflows
- Team coaching on AI-assisted development
Discovery & AI Assessment
Adopting AI usually means changing the work, not just bolting AI onto it. I sit with your team, interview the people doing the work, and map how things actually get done. Then I tell you what's worth building, what processes should change before any AI gets touched, and what doesn't need AI at all. Because I'm building production AI systems for other clients right now, I won't recommend things I know won't ship. Can be a one-off or the start of ongoing work.
- Interviews with the people actually doing the work
- What to build, what processes to change, what to leave alone
- Clear next steps, not a slide deck
AI Development Coaching
I work with your engineering team over weeks to set up the docs, workflows, and conventions that make AI coding tools useful.
- Get your team using AI tools consistently
- Project docs and conventions that give AI real context
- Ongoing coaching until the team doesn't need me
What I'm learning as I build
The Biggest AI Opportunity Isn't Better Models
Most people are waiting for the next model. The real opportunity is in your data, your evaluation, and your process.
Read →Why GenAI Pilots Actually Fail
The "95% of AI pilots fail" headline went everywhere. I dug into what's actually behind it.
Read →Why AI Adoption is Really About Organizational Learning
I updated my workshop materials for a 50-person training and realized the hard part isn't the technology.
Read →Four Building Blocks for Document Generation Agents
The patterns I use when building agents that generate documents from messy source material.
Read →How I Prototype Agentic Workflows Before Writing Agent Code
Most people start by picking a framework. I start by prototyping the whole workflow in a chat window.
Read →
Matt Stockton
20+ years building software. I've built trading algorithms at hedge funds, ML platforms at startups, and high-volume data pipelines. Finance, healthcare, logistics.
Now I run PragmaNexus. I help teams see where AI fits, then I build it — strategy, systems, coaching engineers, sometimes all three in the same week. I spend most of my time inside AI tools and write about what I learn.
I write about the work at mattstockton.com.
Common Questions
How is this different from hiring a consulting firm?
I work inside your team, not outside it. I learn your domain, attend your meetings, and ship production systems. For some clients I work alongside their engineers. For others, I am the engineering. I stay until the work is done.
What kinds of systems do you build?
Agentic workflows, research tools, ML models, dashboards, document generation systems, testing infrastructure.
What if AI isn't the right solution?
I'll tell you. Sometimes the answer is changing how the work gets done — a spreadsheet and a process change can beat any AI you'd build for it. I've talked people out of building when that was the case. Not every problem needs AI, and I'll say so.
What if I just need help thinking through AI?
Yes — some clients hire me just for the thinking. A couple of conversations is usually enough to figure out whether AI fits and where I'd start. I'm building these kinds of systems for other clients while we talk.
What does the engagement look like?
Usually a retainer, but not always — some projects are scoped differently. I work in your tools, join your meetings when it makes sense, and ship production code. We land on the right structure in the first few conversations.
Tell me what you're working on
I'll be direct about whether I can help.
Prefer email? Reach out directly:
[email protected]A few sentences about what you're dealing with is plenty.