No agency, but agency-level capacity: my partner network

Why not a traditional AI agency?

A traditional AI agency ultimately sells capacity, and whoever earns from the build has an interest in a larger scope, while Dave Willemstein works alone as an independent AI advisor who advises and guides execution without building or selling anything himself. When more capacity is needed for development, data and BI, or training, he suggests parties he knows that the client contracts directly, with no margin or commission. For comparing several parties there is the Vendor Review, which takes 3-6 weeks.

A traditional AI agency ultimately sells capacity: a team that builds, implements and manages. That’s valuable if you already know what you want to build. But whoever earns from the build has an interest in a larger scope. That’s why I’ve deliberately chosen a different role: I advise, help make decisions decidable, and guide execution, but I don’t build or sell anything myself. My income comes from the advisory work you pay for; you can see what that work looks like in my offering as an independent advisor.

That also means I’m not an AI company with developers, and I don’t claim to be. Whether an agency, a Big Four firm or a freelancer is the better fit depends on your situation, not on which one I happen to be.

What types of expertise does the partner network of an advisor who is not an AI agency cover?

Usually it comes down to one of three types of expertise: development, data and BI, and training and change management. Which party fits depends on the question, and first it is determined whether building it yourself, buying, or partnering is the right choice. The advisor is not an AI agency himself and only suggests parties he knows.

Does the advisor hold partner status with Microsoft, OpenAI or other vendors?

No. The advisor, who is not an AI agency himself, holds no partner status, reseller agreement or commission arrangement with Microsoft, OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Amazon Web Services, Mistral AI or Meta. That means he can compare the platforms honestly and say when a cheaper or simpler option is enough.

Can the guidance during execution also be ongoing?

Yes, for ongoing engagements the guidance can take the form of a Fractional AI Lead, for 2, 4 or 8 days per month. The client keeps one point of contact for advice and direction, while the partner delivers the capacity.

Source: Dave Willemstein's rates and typical timelines. Updated: October 2026.

My vetted partner network

For work that needs more hands, I suggest parties I know. Which party fits depends on your question. Usually it comes down to one of three types of expertise, and underneath all three sit the platforms of the major AI and tech vendors.

Development

Partners who build AI applications, integrate them with your existing systems and bring them into production. Think of connections to language models, document processing or an internal assistant.

Data and BI

Specialists in data quality, data models, dashboards, and the link between reporting and AI. This is often the work that needs to happen before an AI application can deliver value.

Training and change management

Trainers and change guides who help teams actually use new ways of working. I deliver workshops and training myself. If an adoption program needs more capacity than one advisor can provide, I suggest partners.

Platforms and technology

What a partner builds or trains almost always runs on technology from one of the major players. I know these platforms from the inside: their business plans, the terms around data, and where they fall short. These are the platforms I work with most often (as of September 2026):

Vendor	Platforms	What it’s usually about
Microsoft	Microsoft Copilot, Azure AI services	Organizations already working on Microsoft 365.
OpenAI	ChatGPT Business and Enterprise, OpenAI API	Broad use of an AI assistant and custom work through the API.
Anthropic	Claude, Claude API	Long documents, analysis and writing work.
Google	Gemini in Google Workspace, Google Cloud	Organizations working on Google Workspace.
Amazon Web Services	Amazon Bedrock	Access to several language models within an existing AWS environment.
Mistral AI and Meta	Mistral models, Llama	Open models you can host yourself, for example when data needs to stay within the EU or your own environment.

To be clear: these are not partnerships. I hold no partner status, reseller agreement or commission arrangement with any of these companies. That means I can compare them honestly and tell you when a cheaper or simpler option is enough.

How I select partners

Suggesting a partner is advice too, and the same rules apply to it as to the rest of my work. My approach:

• No financial interest. I receive no commission, fee or margin from partners, and I hold no partner status with vendors.
• Relationships disclosed upfront. If I know a party, you’ll hear the nature and duration of that relationship before the introduction.
• Fit the question, not the network. First we determine whether building it yourself, buying, or partnering is the right choice. Only after that comes the question of who does it.
• Only parties I actually know. I don’t suggest parties I have no real picture of.
• You choose. I suggest, you decide and contract. If you want to compare several parties side by side, we can do that with a Vendor Review.

One point of contact, scalable capacity

For advice and direction, you have one point of contact: me. The capacity around it scales with the stage of your project, without me reselling that capacity.

1. Question and goalWe determine what you want to achieve and what it takes
2. Build, buy or partnerA substantiated choice per topic
3. ProposalSuitable parties, with any relationships disclosed upfront
4. Direct contractYou contract the partner, with no margin for me
5. GuidanceI stay on your side of the table during execution

In practice that means: I help sharpen the brief, review proposals and planning, and check whether what’s being built still matches the goal. For ongoing engagements, that can take the form of a Fractional AI Lead. How I work step by step, from diagnosis to follow-through, is on the approach page.

Want to know whether you need a partner, and if so what type? Book a thirty-minute conversation. At the end you’ll hear what I’d do, even if the answer is that your internal team can handle it fine on its own.