# Matthew Carlson Consulting

> Matthew Carlson is an AI Solutions Engineer and Forward Deployed Engineer in Madison, Wisconsin who designs, builds and runs production AI systems for marketing teams, agencies and professional-services firms across the U.S.: AI agents, voice and chat assistants, CRM automation and reporting pipelines. Before AI he spent 11 years at Duluth Trading running a $40M+ digital marketing budget that drove $200M+ in annual revenue.

Key facts: AI Solutions Engineer and Forward Deployed Engineer (he embeds with the client's team and builds inside their systems and data; deliverables are working systems the team owns); Madison, Wisconsin; works nationally by video; solo practice (Matthew Carlson Consulting, founded 2024); currently AI Lead Consultant for a marketing agency (fractional-CTO scope, since March 2026). Client names are confidential. Every project is labeled Live, Pilot, Tested, Delivered or Shipped.

## Contact

- Website: https://matthewcarlsonconsulting.com
- Book a call: https://matthewcarlsonconsulting.com/contact.html
- Email: contact@matthewcarlsonconsulting.com
- Phone: (608) 284-7333
- Location: Madison, Wisconsin, USA (works nationally)

## Solutions

- [AI agents & workflow engineering](https://matthewcarlsonconsulting.com/services.html#ai-agents): multi-agent platforms, MCP servers, skill libraries, orchestration pipelines with QA gates and cost telemetry, coding agents building inside SaaS from written specs.
- [Voice & conversational AI](https://matthewcarlsonconsulting.com/services.html#voice-chat-ai): inbound voice agents and chat assistants that answer, qualify, book and hand off, tested with 50+ case suites before launch.
- [CRM & marketing automation](https://matthewcarlsonconsulting.com/services.html#crm-automation): GoHighLevel and HubSpot-class systems, speed-to-lead engines, AI-researched client onboarding.
- [Reporting, analytics & ad-ops automation](https://matthewcarlsonconsulting.com/services.html#reporting-automation): Google Ads scripts at manager-account level, nightly CRM account-health monitoring, automated client report packets, attribution architecture.
- [AI readiness, roadmaps & fractional AI lead](https://matthewcarlsonconsulting.com/services.html#ai-strategy): scored readiness audits, automation roadmaps, build-vs-buy evaluations.
- [AI-ready websites & search visibility](https://matthewcarlsonconsulting.com/services.html#ai-ready-web): accessible hand-coded sites with SEO, answer-engine and generative-engine optimization; LLM visibility audits.

## Engagement models

- AI Readiness Sprint (2 weeks): scored audit, opportunity map, build-vs-buy calls and a 90-day roadmap.
- Build Sprint (2-6 weeks): one system specified, built, tested and handed off with documentation.
- Fractional AI Lead (monthly): ongoing builds, operations and team enablement.
- Managed AI Operations (monthly): monitoring, maintenance and iteration of systems he built.
- Pricing: sprints and builds are fixed-scope and fixed-price after discovery; launch, build and maintenance are priced separately; AI usage is billed at cost. No public price list.

## How he builds

- Spec first: a written specification defines every object; the spec and the gap report are deliverables.
- Test before demo: client-facing agents pass a written test suite (50+ cases for a voice agent) and a safety regression first.
- Read-only by default: reporting systems change nothing; agents that write run in test environments first.
- Stop and notify: a bad input halts the run and tells a person, instead of guessing.
- Meter every run: per-run model and data costs are tracked, e.g. about $4-8 per AI research pull on a new client.
- Buy the commodity, own the interpretation: buy tools that already do the job; build where the business's data or judgment is the advantage.

## Selected work

Client names are confidential. Status words: Live (in daily use), Pilot (first clients), Tested (passed a written test plan), Delivered, Shipped.

- [Multi-agent client intelligence platform](https://matthewcarlsonconsulting.com/projects.html#client-mind) (Live): 33 AI agents sharing a sourced client memory, 8-tool MCP server, 39 client profiles, about $32-42 per month to operate.
- [Agents that build inside the CRM](https://matthewcarlsonconsulting.com/projects.html#agents-that-build) (Tested): Claude and OpenAI Codex constructing GoHighLevel workflows, pipelines and knowledge bases from written specs; 3.5-hour unattended run; 351 custom values in a two-day build.
- [Inbound voice AI agent family](https://matthewcarlsonconsulting.com/projects.html#voice-ai) (Tested): 11 of 11 first-block checks, 50+ case test suite, 6 service branches, live booking verified.
- [Account health dashboard & alert bridge](https://matthewcarlsonconsulting.com/projects.html#account-health) (Live): every client CRM account checked nightly against 18 flags; alerts written back as CRM tasks.
- [Google Ads automation suite](https://matthewcarlsonconsulting.com/projects.html#google-ads-suite) (Live): 15 scripts, about 12,666 lines, about 12-15 hours of manual reporting saved per week.
- [Research-then-verify client onboarding](https://matthewcarlsonconsulting.com/projects.html#onboarding) (Pilot): webhook-triggered AI research of each new client; clients correct a pre-filled profile.
- [104-skill AI library & orchestration pipeline](https://matthewcarlsonconsulting.com/projects.html#skill-library) (Live): gated 9-skill pipeline, 17 deliverables per run, about $4-8 per run.
- [30-day website launch for a healthcare IT consultancy](https://matthewcarlsonconsulting.com/projects.html#website-launch) (Shipped): 20+ pages, WCAG AA, 1,000+ organic clicks per 28 days within four weeks of launch.
- [SkillEngine](https://aicareerskills.netlify.app/) (Shipped): AI productivity platform with 277 skills, built in 31 days.

## Career

- AI Lead Consultant, marketing agency (Mar 2026-present)
- Website & AI Consultant, healthcare IT consultancy (Jun 2026-present)
- Founder, Matthew Carlson Consulting (2024-present)
- Senior Marketing & Business Intelligence Analyst, Duluth Trading (2014-2025): $40M+ digital budget across 15+ channels, $200M+ annual revenue; holdout test proving 25% incremental lift; grew Facebook revenue from $3.5M to $7M+ while cutting ad ratio from 60% to 35%; affiliate program to $33M (2023)
- Technical Services, Epic Systems (2006-2009)
- University of Wisconsin-Madison

## Common questions

- [What is a Forward Deployed Engineer?](https://matthewcarlsonconsulting.com/faq.html#forward-deployed): works inside the client's business, in their systems and data, building and iterating with their team instead of delivering recommendations from outside.
- [What does an AI Solutions Engineer do?](https://matthewcarlsonconsulting.com/faq.html): designs, builds and runs AI systems that do real work inside a business, from the business problem to a tested system in production.
- [How are AI agents kept safe?](https://matthewcarlsonconsulting.com/faq.html): test environments, read-only defaults, written test suites before launch, and stop-and-notify on bad inputs.
- [What does an AI system cost to run?](https://matthewcarlsonconsulting.com/faq.html): measured per run; a 33-agent platform serving an entire agency runs for about $32-42 a month.
- [Can AI agents build inside a CRM like GoHighLevel?](https://matthewcarlsonconsulting.com/faq.html): yes, from a written spec, with API readback and a gap report after each phase.

- [Who owns the system when the engagement ends?](https://matthewcarlsonconsulting.com/faq.html): the client does; code, prompts, workflows, data and documentation stay in the client's accounts with no platform fee.
- [Will AI replace my team?](https://matthewcarlsonconsulting.com/faq.html): no; the systems take repetitive, time-bound work and keep a person in control of anything customer-facing.

## Insights (articles)

- [How do you keep an AI voice agent from quoting prices?](https://matthewcarlsonconsulting.com/insights/voice-agent-guardrails.html): a written list of what the agent must never do, a safe action for each, and a 50+ case test suite before any client hears it.
- [What does an AI client research pull cost, and why meter it?](https://matthewcarlsonconsulting.com/insights/cost-per-research-pull.html): about $4-8 and 0.8-1.4M tokens per client, measured per step; metering is what makes AI priceable.
- [Why gate before you fan out](https://matthewcarlsonconsulting.com/insights/gate-before-fan-out.html): validate the source and grade one sample before many agents read it; one ungated run meant regenerating 22 of 43 outputs.
- [AI Readiness Checklist](https://matthewcarlsonconsulting.com/ai-readiness-checklist.html): 20 yes-or-no questions across process, data, systems, people and risk, scored out of 100.

## Pages

- [Home](https://matthewcarlsonconsulting.com/)
- [Solutions](https://matthewcarlsonconsulting.com/services.html)
- [Work](https://matthewcarlsonconsulting.com/projects.html)
- [About](https://matthewcarlsonconsulting.com/about.html)
- [FAQ](https://matthewcarlsonconsulting.com/faq.html)
- [AI Assistant](https://matthewcarlsonconsulting.com/ai-bot.html)
- [Insights](https://matthewcarlsonconsulting.com/insights/)
- [AI Readiness Checklist](https://matthewcarlsonconsulting.com/ai-readiness-checklist.html)

## Optional

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- [Privacy policy](https://matthewcarlsonconsulting.com/privacy.html)
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