Lean SME audit pitch
Michael Kove described a lean SME advisory model—two calls per month, a 35‑page report, and one to two emails a week—using audits like AI‑integration readiness as concise, repeatable offerings. The post frames boutique work as focused and execution‑oriented rather than drawn‑out. (x.com)
A consultant’s pitch for a “lean” small-business advisory model is really a pitch to turn expertise into a repeatable product, not an open-ended engagement. (michaelkove.com) Michael Kove, a technical strategy consultant, says he works on the client’s side of the table when buying or building software and keeps strategy separate from implementation so he can audit vendors independently. On his site, he says he does not write code and has spent two decades in software as a developer, technical lead, and agency owner. (michaelkove.com) That framing matches a broader consulting playbook: standardize a narrow service, package it, and deliver it repeatedly. Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan wrote in August 2024 that productized services are “standardized and delivered repeatedly” and can improve scalability and consistency for service firms. (sloanreview.mit.edu) The specific audit Kove highlighted, artificial intelligence readiness, has become an easy entry point because many smaller companies are still sorting out where artificial intelligence fits and who should lead it. A 2025 WSI survey of more than 600 business leaders, mostly at firms with 500 employees or fewer, found confidence in artificial intelligence rising while training, budgets, and cross-department adoption lagged. (wsiworld.com) Larger surveys show the same gap between enthusiasm and execution. Kyndryl said in its 2025 Artificial Intelligence Readiness Report that 86% of leaders called their artificial intelligence implementation best-in-class, but only 29% said it was ready to manage future risks, and 42% reported positive return on investment. (kyndryl.com) That gap creates room for short, fixed-scope assessments that promise a diagnosis before a company commits to a bigger build. Kove’s own marketing uses that language, describing his work as “technical insurance” for non-technical business owners and promising to help them avoid overpaying vendors. (michaelkove.com) Small firms in other professions have been moving the same way, from one-off projects to recurring advisory work with clearer processes and narrower niches. The Journal of Accountancy reported in August 2024 that many small accounting firms were shifting away from once-a-year audit and tax work toward year-round advisory services supported by dashboards, automation, and specialized tools. (journalofaccountancy.com) The appeal for clients is predictability: a defined cadence, a set deliverable, and less chance that an “audit” turns into a sprawling implementation contract. The appeal for solo consultants is the same one MIT Sloan described for productized services: better margins, easier marketing, and less dependence on selling custom hours every month. (sloanreview.mit.edu) Kove’s post lands in that moment, when small-business owners want help with software and artificial intelligence decisions but are wary of long, expensive consulting cycles. His pitch is that the boutique version should look more like a bounded audit than a never-ending retainer. (michaelkove.com; michaelkove.com)
