The Company OS for founder-led businesses

Your business runs on your head.
We fix that.

Brauto Labs builds the operating system your company runs on: one source of truth you own, one cockpit your team works in, then the automation. Built so founders doing $2M-$25M can own the company instead of operating it every day.

Book a 15-minute callExplore the Company OSFirst working demo in days, not quarters.
40+
production services running businesses today, built and operated by this practice
250k+
records migrated off rented no-code tools onto owned systems, zero rows lost
4 weeks
from empty repository to a live client-facing marketplace, part-time
0
surprise invoices: fixed-scope builds, capacity-banded retainers, everything in writing
Sound familiar?

Revenue is real. The machine behind it is you.

Whether you manufacture seats, book podcasts, run a branding agency, or manage a 20-site content operation - between $2M and $25M, the hidden architecture is the same: the founder's memory, plus 10+ tools that don't talk to each other.

"Only I can quote a job."
The price, the proposal, the pitch - it lives in your head, so every deal waits for you. Slow quotes lose work you never see.
"Any update?" - every client, every week.
Status lives in inboxes and spreadsheets, so your team digs for answers while clients stare at a black box. Retention leaks quietly.
"What's our number? Let me check three spreadsheets."
Who owes you money, which channel is down, what a client is worth - answerable, but only by you, and only after an afternoon.
"We pay for 12 tools and trust none of them."
Airtable here, Zapier there, a CRM nobody updates. When an automation silently dies, a client finds out before you do.
"My team waits on me for everything."
Approvals, answers, and access all route through the founder. Your payroll is idling on your bottleneck.
"We can't afford a real CTO."
Correct - a $250-400K salary makes no sense at your size. Flying blind on technology makes less.
"The last developer left and nobody can touch the code."
Held hostage by a freelancer, an agency, or a tool vendor. Every system you rent is a dependency you don't control.
"If the wrong person quits, we are in real trouble."
Twenty years of how this company works lives in a handful of heads. That is not a technology problem, it is a continuity risk.
"We could not hand this business to anyone."
A buyer, a successor, or a new managing director pays for transferable systems. Founder memory is worth nothing on a balance sheet.
Fit

We are not for everyone, on purpose.

A clean no protects the clients paying for focus. The line holds whether you run a factory floor, an agency book, or a content portfolio - sort yourself before either of us spends a call.

This is for you if

  • Your revenue is real and repeatable, and the constraint is operations, not demand
  • Quoting, approvals, and answers all route through you
  • You run on ten or more tools that don't talk, and a spreadsheet is your real system of record
  • Years of how-this-company-works live in people, not in anything the company owns
  • Someone who knows too much is leaving, or you're planning a step change your operations won't survive
  • You want to own the system, not rent it

This is not for you if

  • You want your product built. We build what runs your company, never what you sell to your customers
  • You already have a CTO. There's no seat for us to sit in
  • You want your marketing, ads, content, or outbound run. Different practice
  • You're shopping for a tool. An AI chatbot is a feature - we replace what the feature was meant to patch
  • You're not ready to let go. A system can't delegate for you
The framework

Three layers. In this order.

Every company we build runs on the same three layers, and the order isn't a preference. Each one is the floor the next one stands on.

321VISIBILITYDATALEVERAGE
3

Leverage

Automations, agents, encoded best practice

Work that runs without a person: automated intake, agents that draft and route, scores that recompute themselves, jobs that watch the other jobs. Powerful, worth real money, and the only layer that cannot be built first.

2

Visibility

The cockpit your team works in

One place where every department sees the same numbers and does its actual work. Sales, delivery, finance, and ops on one surface, instead of five tools, four inboxes, and a spreadsheet only one person can read.

1

Data

One source of truth your company owns

Every order, contact, quote, invoice, and message in one database, with the full history migrated in. Not synced across six tools. One place that is true. Most companies discover they have never had this.

This is where the AI automation industry goes wrong

It sells Layer 3 to companies that never built Layers 1 and 2. Automations running on dirty data, with no cockpit for anyone to see what's happening or catch it when it stops. It looks impressive for about a month. Then the company is worse off than before, because now the mess moves fast and nobody can see inside it.

We will not build you Layer 3 before Layer 1 exists. That's not a preference, it's the reason this works.

The products

The Company OS, sold in the order it gets built.

One ladder, no mystery: map the company, build the asset, then take the seat that runs it. Scope is quoted against a written brief - you know exactly what you're buying, and what you're not, before anything starts.

Step 1 - The front door

The Company OS Blueprint

A full systems audit in 1-2 weeks, fixed price. Credited against your build.
  • Your company mapped across all three layers: data, visibility, leverage
  • Every tool, spreadsheet, and founder-only process on one page
  • Where money and hours actually leak, priced in dollars
  • A build order with ROI per item - executable with us or without us
Start with the Blueprint
Step 2 - The asset

The Company OS Build

Fixed scope against a written brief, 30-90 days. Never paced work.
  • Layer 1 first, always: one source of truth your company owns, full history migrated in
  • Then the cockpit your team actually works in, every day
  • Then automation and AI - exactly where the Blueprint proved it pays
  • You own everything: code, data, accounts, from day one
Scope a build
The core service
Step 3 - The seat

The Operating Seat

Capacity-banded, month to month, 30-day exit.
  • Senior judgment plus the team that builds, ships weekly, and runs it
  • Outside monitoring on every system - silent failures surface in hours, not months
  • The savings ledger: displaced spend and new value, in dollars, monthly
  • Built so you step out of daily operations - and stay out
Talk about the seat
The exception - judgment only

The Advisory Seat

Strategy, vendor calls, architecture and security review - nothing gets built. We gate this one on purpose: it's only for companies that already have engineers to execute. If that's you, it's the right buy. If it isn't, advice alone becomes a roadmap nobody ships - start with the Blueprint instead.

Ask about advisory

Every engagement is scoped individually on the first call and quoted against a written brief - never a rate card, never a meter. The Blueprint sizes everything before you commit to a build.

Wondering what actually gets built? See the systems catalog - 68 of them, grouped by the bottleneck they fix.

How it works

Map. Build. Run.

Map - the Blueprint finds the money

Two weeks inside your operation. Your company mapped across the three layers: what leaks, what it costs, what to build first, and what each fix is worth.

Build - Layer 1 first, always

One source of truth, then the cockpit, then the automation. Fixed price against a written brief, first working demo within days - speed is our margin, and your proof.

Run - the seat keeps you out of it

We run what we build: outside monitoring, weekly ship notes, a monthly savings ledger. The system absorbs the daily operations, so you don't have to.

Proof, not promises

Built. Shipped. Running today.

A marketing agency, a 15-year publishing business, a two-partner marketplace, a leadership team's books - different companies, same three layers underneath. Names withheld out of respect for client confidentiality; every number below is real and documented.

7-figure marketing agency

One operating system replaced the no-code duct tape

Three Airtable bases, 67 automations, and a rented portal became one owned platform: ~140 dashboard pages across clients, sales, finance, and delivery - with the whole migration run loss-free.

~140dashboard pages
100k+records migrated, none lost
~$19k/yrtool spend eliminated at ceiling
15-year-old publishing business

Out of the founder's head, ready for an exit

Eight spreadsheets, four inboxes, and founder memory became one system: 11 years of sales history, a 51,000-message unified inbox, and a 9,300-item inventory that scores its own quality.

27,797sales records unified
9,346inventory items, self-scoring
6 rolesdatabase-enforced access
Two-partner venture

Empty repository to live marketplace in four weeks

A spreadsheet business became a login-gated storefront: ~1,100-site catalog, cart and quote flow, and market-derived pricing that took sellable inventory from 0% priced to 97% priced in one pass.

4 wksto live, part-time
97.2%of sellable supply priced automatically
0payment code needed for first revenue
Agency leadership team

A finance command center on top of QuickBooks

"Can we afford this hire?" went from a spreadsheet afternoon to a 10-second answer: live KPIs, cash-cascade simulations, a 7-step month-end close - and a books cleanup that surfaced 7.6 points of hidden gross margin.

173 → 79accounts, restructured
1,515transactions recoded, to the penny
+7.6ptstrue gross margin revealed

Also in the portfolio: an AI content factory publishing across a 20-site portfolio with human approval gates, a client portal serving 42 accounts with zero data-bleed verified at launch, and the founder's own AI operating system - 46 automated jobs, self-monitoring, running his companies daily.

Where we fit

We don't automate your business.
We rebuild what your business runs on.

Automating a broken process doesn't fix it. It makes you wrong faster. The difference isn't the tooling, it's what sits underneath.

What you get
Most automation and AI shopsA workflow between apps you already pay for
Brauto LabsA system of record you own outright
Where it sits
Most automation and AI shopsOn top of the mess
Brauto LabsUnderneath, replacing the mess
Your data
Most automation and AI shopsPasses through
Brauto LabsMigrates in full, every row, reversibly
Timeline
Most automation and AI shopsA few weeks, then done
Brauto LabsWeeks to the first working system, then years in the seat
After launch
Most automation and AI shopsMaintenance is your problem
Brauto LabsRunning it is the product
When it breaks
Most automation and AI shopsYou hear it from a client
Brauto LabsAn outside probe catches it within the hour
The relationship
Most automation and AI shopsA vendor with a deliverable
Brauto LabsAn executive with a roadmap
Leaving
Most automation and AI shopsLocked to their accounts
Brauto LabsRepos, data, credentials, and docs are yours in 30 days
Success looks like
Most automation and AI shopsMore automations live
Brauto LabsYour team needing us less every quarter
The method

Principles we put in writing

We build, not just advise

Most fractional CTOs manage and recommend. This practice ships working systems - strategy and execution in one seat, with AI-native speed a traditional team can't match.

We run what we build

Custom systems die when the consultant leaves - unless running them is the product. Outside monitoring, weekly notes, and documentation as a standing deliverable.

You could leave any day

Repos, data, credentials, and handover docs are contractually yours, transferable in 30 days. Success means your team needs us less over time. That's why nobody leaves.

The ledger does the talking

Every month: spend we deleted and value we shipped, in dollars, before and after. Renewals argue themselves or they don't happen.

What we don't do (on purpose)

  • Your client-facing delivery work - we build systems FOR your company, never deliverables for your customers
  • Hourly billing - you buy outcomes and a seat, never a meter
  • Big-bang rewrites - staged cutovers with parallel runs, so nothing breaks on faith
  • Engagements with individuals - clients are companies with real revenue
  • Automate a process we haven't fixed first - speed on top of a broken process is just a faster mistake
  • Build on foundations we can't hand you - if you can't export it, it's a rental, not an asset
  • Build and leave - every build ships with the run-it attached from day one
  • Your marketing, ads, content, or outbound - different practice, and you deserve a specialist
Who you're hiring

Rob Brautigam

Rob Brautigam, founder of Brauto Labs

"I help founders own their company instead of operating it every day."

Rob is not a career CTO renting out judgment. He's a founder-operator: he has personally run the sales, the hiring, the delivery, the finance, and the brand inside his own companies - a 7-figure agency among them - and advised on $60M+ in sales. That range is the point. A system that spans every department can only be designed by someone who has actually run every department.

For the last two years he has done exactly one thing at full depth: pulling companies out of their founder's head and into operating systems their teams run - agencies, a 15-year publishing business, a two-partner marketplace, his own ventures - shipping AI-native at a pace traditional teams don't match. Every engagement points at the same outcome: you become the owner again, not the daily operator.

He runs his own companies on the same machine he sells - every call transcribed into a knowledge base, 46 automated jobs with self-monitoring, one dashboard across every venture. You can watch it work during the first call.

systems + AI engineerleads a team of AI engineers7-figure agency operator$60M+ sales advised2,000+ entrepreneurs coached
Founding-client words land here as the first engagements complete - real quotes only, never manufactured.
Founder questions

Asked every time. Answered plainly.

How much of your time do we actually get?

A defined weekly capacity band, in the agreement: on-call (~5 hrs/wk), one-day-a-week (~10 hrs), or embedded (~20 hrs, includes a dedicated engineer). No meters, no surprise invoices - and a guaranteed response time in writing.

What if we want to build an in-house team later?

That's a success case, not a threat. The systems are documented as they ship, your team is trained progressively, and everything transfers. Several engagements are explicitly designed to end in an in-house handoff.

Will this disrupt the business while it's happening?

No big-bang rewrites. New systems run in parallel with the old ones until they prove themselves (soak periods, drift checks), and every risky operation is reversible by design. Your operation never bets on faith.

Are you a fractional CTO?

Not exactly, and the difference is the whole point. A fractional CTO is a senior technology executive on a part-time retainer: they set technology strategy, choose vendors, review architecture and security, and direct an engineering team you already have. It is an advisory seat. They direct work, they don't do it - so if you have no engineering team, you get a roadmap and nobody to execute it. We hold that same seat and bring the team that builds it. We do offer an advisory-only seat for companies that already have engineers.

We're an agency / a manufacturer / a coaching business. Does this actually fit?

Yes - the pattern is identical even when the products aren't. We've built operating systems inside a marketing agency, a 15-year publishing business, a two-partner marketplace, and a 20-site content portfolio, and we hold the technical seat inside a speaker-placement company. Different verticals, same three layers: get the data owned, get the team one cockpit, then automate what pays. If your vertical isn't on that list, the Blueprint takes two weeks and shows exactly how it maps.

Why fractional instead of a full-time CTO?

A full-time CTO is a $250-400K a year commitment most companies this size can't justify - and don't actually need. Fractional buys senior judgment on demand, plus a practice that builds, without a seat warmed 40 hours a week.

What does the AI actually do here?

AI is how we build so fast and run so lean - drafting, coding, monitoring, and analysis under senior human judgment, with human approval on anything that matters. It's the method, not the pitch.

What happens if we stop?

30 days notice, either direction. Repos, data, and credentials transfer, secrets rotate, and every system gets a handover document. It's in the agreement.

The next step

Fifteen minutes. Bring your messiest process.

Tell us the thing only you can do in your company. We'll tell you, on the call, how it becomes a system - and whether we're a fit. No deck, no theater.

Prefer a direct link? cal.com/brautigam/discovery-call