About
AI is real. Most companies just need a foundation to build on.
The largest companies have AI teams. The smallest have ChatGPT. Portico exists for everyone in between — small and mid-sized businesses that can see what this technology makes possible but don't have a team of engineers to figure it out. I'm the engineer they hire instead.
FOUNDER
Sam Isenhart
The thesis
AI is the most useful technology I've worked with.
After years of building AI systems for enterprise and defense, I've watched the same gap widen: large companies have the engineering depth to apply this technology, and smaller ones increasingly don't. That's the gap I'm here to close. Not with hype. Not with frameworks. With working systems, plain explanations, and the patience to start where you actually are.
Background
I've sat in every seat in the design process.
Most AI consultants are either engineers or strategists. I've done both — research, strategy, design, implementation, and the customer-facing work of explaining it all to the people who actually have to use it. That range is the point. Small businesses can't afford a separate person for each phase, and they shouldn't have to.
TECHNICAL FOUNDATION
Agentic AI engineering at Lockheed Martin.
Before Portico, I built agentic AI systems at Lockheed Martin — multi-step reasoning, tool use, and autonomous decision-making for environments where reliability isn't a feature, it's the contract. The discipline of building AI that has to work, every time, is what I bring to every engagement now.
First Principles
What I believe works.
Build what lasts.
Most AI work today will be embarrassing in two years. I write code, roadmaps, and recommendations that will still make sense when the models change — because the models will change. Foundations, not fashions.
Clarity over cleverness.
I explain things plainly, even when it costs me the mystique. If I can't articulate why a system works, I haven't finished designing it. The best AI strategy is one your CFO can repeat back correctly.
The work speaks.
I don't pitch. I don't oversell. I show clients running systems on real data and let the work make the case. If the work isn't good, no deck will save it.
Let's talk about what's possible.
I take a small number of engagements each quarter so I can give each one real attention. The first conversation is free, low-pressure, and useful even if we don't end up working together — I'll tell you honestly whether AI is the right answer for what you're trying to do.
Book an introductory call