Strategy 8 min
Operational AI: Finding the Money Hiding in Your Operations
Operational AI finds the recurring margin hiding in your operations, the money you know is there but can't reach. Here's how it works, and why now.
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Devin Kearns is the co-founder and CEO of CustomAI Studio, where he leads strategy and works directly with enterprise clients on how AI fits into the way they actually operate. He started the studio in 2024, back when most teams were still treating AI as a demo rather than something you put into production.
Since then the studio has shipped 60+ production AI systems across 11+ industries, work that has produced more than $13M in measured ROI for clients. Devin's focus is the part most teams skip: tying every build to a number before any code gets written, and making the system live inside the tools a business already runs on.
He writes and speaks regularly about what AI-native operations look like for mid-market companies. On the CustomAI Studio YouTube channel he hosts long-form breakdowns and interviews on agentic systems and AI implementation, and his field notes here cover the same ground: ROI math, build process, data readiness, and where the AI hype does and doesn't hold up.
Articles by Devin Kearns.
All articles → Industry 7 min
Is AI a bubble? What the IPO wave means for your business
OpenAI spent $22B to make $13B last year and won't be cash-flow positive until 2030. Three giant AI IPOs are coming. Here's what the AI bubble means for your business, and the part that survives it.
Devin Kearns · Jun 10, 2026
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Strategy 9 min
The agentic web era: what it actually means for your business
AI bots went from 1 in 200 website visits to 1 in 31 in a single year. Here's what the agentic web means for your business, and how to prepare for it.
Devin Kearns · Jun 4, 2026
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Practice 10 min
The Million-Dollar Mistake We Made With a $35 Billion Company
Six mistakes we made on a $35B enterprise engagement — and the lessons that now shape every partnership we run.
Devin Kearns · May 8, 2026
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Practice 11 min
How We Build AI Systems, Start to Finish
The process we use to ship production AI systems, refined across 60+ deployments in 18 months.
Devin Kearns · May 1, 2026
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Industry 8 min
The AI Layoff Wave Is Real. Here's What Happens Next.
Q1 2026 brought 80,000 tech layoffs — about half attributed to AI. Here's what comes next.
Devin Kearns · Apr 22, 2026
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Practice 8 min
Your Data Doesn't Need to Be Clean. Here's What Actually Matters.
Stop waiting for clean data. Here's the bar your data actually needs to clear before deploying AI.
Devin Kearns · Apr 15, 2026
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Strategy 9 min
The ROI Math Behind AI Systems — When It Works, When It Doesn't, and Why Most Projects Plateau
When AI projects pay off, when they don't, and why most plateau before the returns compound.
Devin Kearns · Apr 8, 2026
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Case study 14 min
How We Turned a Customer Support Cost Center Into a Revenue Engine — $200K/Month in Recovered Revenue
How we rebuilt a DTC operator's customer support flow into a $200K/month revenue engine.
Devin Kearns · Apr 1, 2026
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Strategy 8 min
What It Actually Means to Be AI Native — A First Principles Approach
Becoming AI native isn't about buying tools. It's about rebuilding how your business works from first principles.
Devin Kearns · Mar 25, 2026
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Strategy 7 min
What Actually Matters in AI Right Now — And What Doesn't
The signal-to-noise problem in AI today — and the few things mid-market operators should actually care about.
Devin Kearns · Mar 18, 2026
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Strategy 10 min
What an AI Native Company Actually Looks Like
75% of SMBs use AI. Only 15% have embedded it into operations. That gap is the whole story of this era.
Devin Kearns · Mar 11, 2026
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Strategy 12 min
Why Mid-Market Companies Are in the Best Position to Win in the AI Era
Why the 'AI is hard' narrative is wrong for $5M-$250M companies — and why you're best positioned to win.
Devin Kearns · Mar 4, 2026
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