Live pilot
Persona Lobby
Pressure-tests marketing propositions against synthetic persona panels before spend. In testing with an Irish energy utility's marketing team.
Why Richie
I help 10–100 person businesses turn everyday work into AI that actually runs.
Richard Foley, based in Dublin. Twenty years shipping software that operational teams depend on. Since 2023, pointed squarely at AI for SMEs who can't afford a hype cycle.
How I work
Five things every engagement gets, before we talk about tools.
01
Start with the pain, not the tech.
We find the moment in your week that quietly costs money, then aim AI at exactly that. No platform tours, no framework debates.
02
Ship something small in week one.
You see a working thing running against your real data before you sign for anything bigger. If it doesn't earn its keep, we stop.
03
Human review, always.
Every output is decision-support. Your team stays in charge, with a clear approval step baked into the workflow, not bolted on.
04
Documentation on day one.
You get the runbook, the prompts, the guardrails and the failure modes, written down. So the next person can run it without me.
05
Priced for SMEs.
Enterprise rigour, sized to a 10–100 person business. Fixed-scope engagements from €3,500. You always know what you're buying.
Operational credibility
Built by someone who understands what happens after go-live.
For nearly two decades, Richard Foley has implemented, supported and scaled software used by real operational teams. Artellis brings that experience to AI: practical, commercially aware, tested with users and designed for your team to own.
19+ years in business software
Across software, support, implementation, sales and leadership.
What I actually do
Find the intelligent fix for the pain point
Sit with your team, spot where AI, automation or a small custom build will actually move the needle, then ship it. Not a platform. A solution to the specific thing costing you time or money.
AI builder since 2023
Hands-on with AI tools, agents, automations, prototypes and product builds.
Enterprise rigour. SME practicality.
Documentation, governance and human review from day one, delivered at a price a 10–100 person business can actually sign off.
Independently verified
Replit Certified Builder, Level 3 (Proficient). Top 1% of assessed builders.
An independent assessment of hands-on build capability, not advisory credentials.
Things I've actually built
Not slides. Working software you can point at.
In production
B2B procurement platform
Procurement and bill-validation platform for SMEs: supplier comparison, decision support, structured intake and operational follow-up. Multi-tenant and brandable.
Live pilot
Artellis Workhub
Governed multi-agent workhub for SMEs: specialised agents, document intelligence, human-in-the-loop approvals, retrieval and procurement support.
Plus twenty years shipping workforce-management software used every day by operational teams across manufacturing, healthcare and the public sector, now aimed at AI.
After it goes live
Someone is responsible. It is me.
The fair question about a one-person firm is who keeps this running once the build is finished. The answer is that I do, for as long as you want me to. And separately, because it is built to be owned, your team can run and change it without me. You get both. You are not choosing between support and independence.
- A care plan, month to month
One optional monthly arrangement: I keep an eye on it, fix what breaks and make the small changes your team asks for. Scoped to your build and quoted openly. Cancel when you no longer need it.
- One named person, and it is me
No ticket queue, no account manager, no handover to someone you have never met. You message me and you get me.
- No lock-in either way
The care plan is optional, not a condition of the build. Plenty of clients run it themselves after a few months and stop paying me. That is a good outcome, not a lost customer.
- It lives in your accounts
Every part of it is on your side from day one. Nothing is locked behind me.
- Changes without a developer
Wording, rules and steps are written in plain language, so a person on your team can change them by typing what they want, the same way I built it.
- A one-page runbook
What it does, what to check, what to do if it goes odd. Written in plain English for the next person on your team, not for an engineer.
- Two sessions, recorded
I walk your team through running it and changing it, on your real work. You keep the recordings for the next person who joins.
Continuity is covered in the contract, and it does not depend on you finding a developer. You will not need one. Everything sits in your accounts, and the rules and steps are written the way you would say them out loud, so changing something means describing the change, not editing code. That is how I build it, and it is what I show your team to do. If a job ever genuinely needs another head, a legal sign-off on how personal data is handled, or a designer when the screens carry the weight, I say so and bring in someone by name. It is rare, it is quoted openly, and you still deal with me.
What clients say
“His work helped move our team forward with greater confidence in this new era of AI.”
Working with Richard Foley was a game changer for our energy utility company. Richard delivered specialised AI solutions that demonstrated the value of using AI to support process documentation and customer-facing materials.
This included exploring how AI could assist with documenting […] helping to turn screenshots and system information into clearer, more structured guidance for the team.
The practical training he provided, together with his wider consultancy on AI integration, was particularly valuable. His work helped move our team forward with greater confidence in this new era of AI. Highly recommend.
Jon, Energy Utility Company
AI training and advisory, 2024.
What peers say
“Richard's leadership, creativity, and determination were pivotal in expanding our business from a small team of 8 to over 70 employees.”
“He was a key member of the senior management team and played a crucial role in growing the business both domestically and in the US.”
“Richard is a strategic thinker, an excellent communicator, and a problem-solver who consistently delivers results.”
The short version
I started in workforce-management software in 1999. Nearly nineteen years at Advance Systems Ireland, installing time & attendance and scheduling systems, leading national sales, sitting on the board as the team grew from eight people to more than seventy.
What I learned there wasn't code. It was the difference between software that looks good in a demo and software an operations manager actually opens on a wet Monday morning. That gap is where most enterprise tech quietly dies.
I stepped out in 2018 and retrained at Trinity College Dublin, Dublin Business School and Lund University. In February 2023 I went full-time into AI. Since then I've shipped production AI tools across energy, education and healthcare research, and built the products above.
What I won’t do: sell you a platform you don’t need, hide behind jargon, or leave you with something only I can operate. If I recommend it, I can build it. If I can’t, I’ll tell you.
If something in your week feels like it should be automatic,
let’s look at it together.