# AI strategy vs AI implementation

Source: https://getstartedwithai.net/articles/ai-strategy-vs-implementation
Site: Get Started With AI
Tagline: Build AI automations that actually run your business.
Audience: solo professionals, freelancers, consultants and AI implementers in training
Contact: hello@getstartedwithai.co.uk

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# AI strategy vs AI implementation

Most AI consultants sell strategy. Strategy is a slide deck that explains what to do. Implementation is the working system that actually does it. Most businesses have too much strategy and too little implementation. Knowing the difference is how to avoid spending six figures on the wrong one.

## What AI strategy looks like

- Capability assessments.
- Technology roadmaps.
- Vendor comparisons.
- Strategic recommendations.
- A 60-page document that ends with "next steps" and rarely produces them.

## What AI implementation looks like

- A working automation that ships in 3 weeks.
- A named owner inside the team.
- Output samples reviewed weekly for the first month.
- A handover document that lets a new hire run it.

## Where strategy belongs

Strategy is useful when the business is committing significant capital (over £100,000) over 12 months and needs to align stakeholders. Below that scale, strategy is usually a delay tactic that absorbs budget without producing working systems.

## How to avoid the strategy trap

Insist on a working build inside the first 30 days of any engagement. If the consultant cannot ship a working automation in a month, they are selling slides. Pay for outcomes that exist; do not pay for descriptions of outcomes that might.

## Build your first AI system live with Richard

A 60-minute live build with Richard Batt. Bring one repeatable task. Leave with a mapped automation, success metrics and a deploy plan you can test the next morning. Free seat, no upsell.

### Live build session

The next live session covers the WIRE Method end to end on a real audience build.

[Join the next session](/webinar)

## Questions people ask before they start

### Do I need to code?

No. Most builds run on ChatGPT, Claude, Zapier, Make, Notion or Canva. Code tools are only used when they are the fastest route to a working outcome.

### How much time does each build take?

Most starter builds ship in 30 to 90 minutes. Each one states the outcome, the time to ship, the tool cost and the running system you should have when you finish.

### Is this for beginners or consultants?

Both. The site is calibrated for solo professionals who want the working system for themselves first, then repackage the same build as paid client work.

### Where should I start?

Start with the free Starter Kit, then ship the first ChatGPT project and the first Zapier flow. That gives you one assistant and one live automation by the end of the week.