Vikas Erraballi

You run the business. I'll make AI work in it.

I was the first AI leader at a 350-person company, a $5.8B bank with no AI team and no AI policy. Within 15 months a third of the staff used AI every day, under written rules that kept customer data safe. Now I do the same for companies that want real results from AI, built with their own people, at a price they know before we start.

Your business, in good hands.

I start with your work, not the technology. The first days are with your people and how the work really gets done.

I build the first version myself. You see it working in weeks, not described in a report.

You know the cost before we start. Written scope, fixed fee. No open-ended bills.

Your data stays yours. Approved tools only, and customer data never goes into public AI. I held that line inside a regulated bank.

Your people come with you. I train them and leave champions behind, so it keeps working after I leave.

Three gates: validate, pilot, scale. If an idea is not worth the money, I will tell you at the first one.

Start small. Grow only what pays.

EngagementWhat you getTerm and fee

AI Working Session

A day with you and your team. You get a ranked list of where AI pays off in your business, and one small thing built and working before I leave.

$3,5001 day · on site or remote

AI Readiness Assessment

How your work flows today, the risks to manage, the opportunities ranked by payoff, and a plan your leadership (or your board) can act on.

From $12K2–3 weeks · fixed fee

Your first AI leader, without the full-time hire

The First 90 Days of AI. Safe-use rules, a way to pick projects, the first pilots, training, and a rhythm your team keeps after I step back.

From $8K / month1–2 days a week · retainer

Adoption sprint

A Copilot or Claude rollout that sticks: licenses, champions, training, and usage you can measure week by week.

After a first callFixed fee, agreed up front

Governance sprint

For banks, insurers, funds and other regulated firms: an AI policy, risk tiers and controls your examiners can test.

After a first callFixed fee, agreed up front

Advisory

Time with me on one decision: a vendor, a pilot, a policy, a board question.

$350 / hour10-hour minimum

A better website and steady outreach.

If you run a training studio, a clinic, a small professional practice or a nonprofit, you do not need a strategy deck. You need a website that brings people in, outreach that sounds like you, and numbers you can trust. I rebuild your site, write and schedule your campaigns, and set up simple reporting and tools that keep clients coming back.

Each project has one price, agreed before I start.

NonprofitA new donor website for the India Rural Development Fund, which supports five schools in rural Telangana: monthly giving, employer matching and a year-end teacher campaign. Launching soon.

Internal toolsA timesheet app for a small consulting firm, built on the Microsoft 365 it already pays for, so staff log hours in one place.

ReportingFor Fremont Bank: governed reporting and a library of executive dashboards, then training so its own team could run and extend them. The client asked for follow-on work by name.

PublishingMarked to Market, my essay site, and this site.

What I did at a 350-person bank

Pitched the AI strategy to the CEO and the full executive team, then drafted the board-ready AI strategy.

Wrote the company's first ChatGPT guidance in 2023, then its Gen AI policy with permitted, restricted and prohibited uses.

Negotiated a vendor-funded AI discovery at no cash cost, under a hard 127-hour cap.

Put a knowledge base built from past calls into the contact center, which reps search while on a call.

Built contract-clause triage that quoted contracts word for word, because the General Counsel did not trust summaries.

Grew Teams from under 20 to about 285 active users in a year, under rules written with Risk and Compliance.

How I think about this work

From no policy to a third of staff using AI daily. The full case study of standing up AI at a 350-person bank. Coming soon.

How I built a writing system that argues with me. The AI system I run my own research and writing on, and the controls that keep it honest.

More essays on AI, markets and power at Marked to Market.

Vikas Erraballi

Most recently I led digital transformation and AI at a $5.8B bank, through its merger into a larger one.

Before that I ran data and analytics consulting engagements for banks, which I won on my own pitches. Fremont Bank's Chief Credit Officer asked for me by name for follow-on work. Earlier, I ran sales and operations for a granite exporter in India, from quarries and factories to containers for customers in four countries. I started in five years of hedge-fund research and risk at Old Lane/Citi and Meru Capital.

So I have sat on both sides: inside a regulated company, and inside a business that makes and ships real things. I write about AI, markets and power at Marked to Market.

You run the business. I'll make AI work in it.

Your business, in good hands.

Start small. Grow only what pays.

AI Working Session

AI Readiness Assessment

Your first AI leader, without the full-time hire

Adoption sprint

Governance sprint

Advisory

A better website and steady outreach.

What I did at a 350-person bank

How I think about this work

Vikas Erraballi

Start with a 30-minute call.