AI STRATEGY & IMPLEMENTATION
AI advice from an operator, not an observer.
I'm Chris Horne. I've founded, run and sold businesses, and rebuilt them around AI. Cora Works helps SMEs and startups work out what to actually do with AI, then ships it.
THE PROBLEM
Most AI projects fail for boring reasons.
The strategy gets written by people who won't be there to build it, so the roadmap ignores what's actually possible.
The build gets done by people who don't understand the commercial model, so it ships something nobody needed.
Nobody kills the projects that aren't working, because someone's reputation is attached to them.
Cora Works does all three jobs: the strategy, the build, and the honest call on what to stop — with one person accountable for the outcome.
WHAT I DO
Three ways in.
01 / DIAGNOSE
AI strategy sprint
Two to three weeks. I go through your business the way I'd go through my own: where the margin is, where the time goes, and which of those an AI system can actually change.
YOU GET
- · a prioritised roadmap with costs attached
- · a build-versus-buy call on each item
- · a clear list of what not to do
02 / BUILD
Implementation
The part most consultants hand off. Agents, integrations, internal tools, built and running in your business, with your team able to operate them.
YOU GET
- · working software, not a specification
- · your data staying where it should
- · handover documentation your team will be able to work with
03 / EMBED
Fractional AI leadership
A retained arrangement for businesses that need senior judgement in the room every month, without hiring for it.
YOU GET
- · a standing seat at your leadership meetings
- · vendor and tooling decisions made quickly
- · a brake on projects that have stopped earning
TRACK RECORD
Built, not advised on.
Three things I've built with my own money and my own risk.
MARKETPLACE
Rebuilt a marketplace on an AI-first strategy.
The platform was re-architected around a conversational agent that qualifies buyers and matches them to the right supplier without exposing anyone's availability. The agent does the work a sales team used to do by hand.
£20M TURNOVER BUSINESS
Built the portal that became the customer communication layer.
One system reaching into nearly every process in the business, replacing scattered manual handoffs with a single place customers and staff meet.
PRODUCT
Built the first fully conversational AI ghostwriter.
Voice-led interviews with an on-screen avatar, turning a series of spoken sessions into a finished printed book.
PROCESS
How an engagement starts.
A call, free, 45 minutes.
You describe the business. I tell you honestly whether I think there's anything worth the money, or whether you can do it yourself.
A written proposal with a fixed price.
Scope, deliverables, dates, cost.
We start, or we don't.
I don't do procurement theatre.
STRAIGHT ANSWERS
What Cora Works isn't.
- We're not a reseller. I don't have vendor incentives or kickbacks on tools.
- This is not a training course. We'll teach your team to run what we build, but that's the by-product, not the product.
- We're not going to drown you in big strategy decks. If an engagement ends in a document, it will fail.
- We're not interested in a project that can't show a commercial return inside twelve months, but don't let that stop you sharing big visions; we love those.
WHO YOU'D BE WORKING WITH
Chris Horne
FOUNDER — CORA WORKS
I started my first business in my teens, and have spent the two decades since founding, running and eventually selling companies. Along the way I learned what it means to carry payroll, kill a product that isn't working, and make the call on where money and time should actually go.
When AI became something you could build with rather than just talk about, I rebuilt the businesses I was involved in around it. Cora Works exists because most owners I speak to don't need another deck; they need someone who's done the work and can help them do it.
I lead every engagement. When a build needs more hands, I bring in people I've worked with before. You'll always know who's on it.
AI owns process. People own relationships.
GET IN TOUCH
Tell me what's going on.
PHONE
+44 203 981 5812RESPONSE
I answer everything myself, usually the same day.