Next cohort: October 2025 · Max 10 members (4 seats remain)
AI Advisory for business leaders
Hands-on accelerator program with expert guidance and peer support
Unlike free communities or generic courses, the AI Leaders Accelerator provides dedicated expert advisors, custom demos, and hands-on support to accelerate your AI implementation.
Why an Accelerator?
You're not imagining it. The AI landscape is evolving faster than any leader can track alone. New models every month. Vendor promises that sound too good to be true. And underneath it all, the nagging worry: What if we're falling behind?
Most AI education treats this like a technical problem—here's how to prompt, here's how to fine-tune. But your real questions are strategic: How do I shift my go-to-market? How do I preserve institutional knowledge while training junior staff? How do I augment critical thinking without losing it?
These aren't problems you solve with a course. They're challenges you navigate with people who've been there.
The AI Leaders Accelerator brings together leaders facing the same strategic uncertainty you are. When you're evaluating that $2M AI platform, you get input from the CRO who just ran that process. When you're worried about data security, you talk to the CISO who built governance that actually works.
- Reframe: Learn models that reflect the true economics of AI.
- Practice: Apply them directly to your workflows and decisions.
- Enable: Equip your team to see opportunities others miss.
Choose Your Path
Start with our free Club to explore AI with peers, or join the Accelerator for hands-on implementation support.
AI Leaders Club
FreeNo-cost weekly peer roundtables with operator-led discussions and real-world examples. Perfect for exploring AI with peers and getting familiar with our approach.
Join AI Leaders ClubAI Leaders Accelerator
PremiumHands-on accelerator program with expert guidance, custom demos, and decision-ready artifacts. For leaders ready to implement systematic AI solutions.
Apply for AcceleratorDetailed Comparison
| AI Leaders Club | AI Leaders Accelerator | |
|---|---|---|
| Time Commitment | 1 hour/week | Monthly sessions + ongoing support |
| Schedule | Wednesdays 10am Pacific | Flexible monthly + between-session work |
| Format | Peer learning & networking | Working accelerator with structured sprints |
| Support Level | Peer discussions only | Expert advisors + 1:1 programming sessions |
| Communication | Session-only | Private WhatsApp with facilitators |
| Individual Attention | Group discussion | Custom demos + personalized guidance |
| Deliverables | Learning & networking | Board-ready artifacts & decision briefs |
| Commitment | No commitment required | Minimum 1 month |
| Investment | Free | $2,000/month |
The Accelerator Model
The AI Leaders Accelerator is not a training course or a vendor roadshow. It's a working group for leaders who want clarity and leverage on AI.
Members get access to three things that matter:
1. A peer group you can trust
Leaders facing similar decisions, in a private WhatsApp channel with Accelerator facilitators and drop-in guests. We bring in the right people when you need them: from MIT researchers to F50 executives, to share what's working, what's failing, and what's next.
2. Between-session operator support
Accelerator advisors and technical experts who partner with you between sessions to produce decision-ready artifacts, like:
- Design low-effort investment validators (signals/tests) to de-risk spend.
- Pressure-test vendor proposals and board narratives for defensibility.
- Frame and scope PoCs with clear exit criteria and owners.
- Join focused 1:1 or small-group working sessions; leave with owners, artifacts, and next steps.
3. Structured working sessions
Monthly facilitated sessions that apply the models to your active initiatives—peer review, decision briefs, and governance that will pass review.
How the Accelerator works for you
The AI Leaders Accelerator is a working group where your real problems get real support. Each cohort is paired with facilitators and technical advisors who work alongside you between sessions to produce analysis and decision-ready artifacts you can actually use.
Finding where AI actually fits
"Our board keeps asking about AI, but all we see are chatbot demos and vendor hype. The AI Leaders Accelerator helped us separate real opportunities from noise, and map the few workflows where automation creates leverage."
Starting small, without stalling
"We knew we should automate part of our sales funnel, but didn't know how to start. The Accelerator guided us toward a low-risk pilot that showed value in weeks, not months."
Turning hype into board-ready clarity
"Instead of generic 'AI strategy,' we left with a clear plan, governance that passed review, and a narrative our board could support."
How the Accelerator helps its members
AI decisions move fast and carry real dollar and time consequences. The AI Leaders Accelerator helps leaders avoid wasted spend, shorten the path to first value, and walk into boardrooms with confidence.
Sales pipeline intelligence
A CEO wanted AI to write better proposals. The room pushed back: "Use your project data to predict which deals will actually close."
Expertise amplification
"How do I train junior staff to use AI safely?" became a governance framework that preserves critical thinking while enabling AI adoption.
New revenue streams
What started as "AI for internal efficiency" became a new business line when peers spotted the commercial value of operational insights.
Who's in the room
Confidentiality is strict. Nothing leaves the room.
Facilitators & Advisors
Strategists, founders, and technologists who've built and sold products, run AI incubators at hyperscalers, and advised Fortune 100 execs on real bets. They're also available between sessions for quick gut checks, vendor reviews, and board-prep support.
Peer Cohort
Leaders from non-competing $50M–$2B organizations. People facing the same strategic AI decisions you are: sharing what's actually working, not just the polished wins.
Guest Experts
Rotating specialists matched to your challenges: the VP who ran Nike's AI program, the MD of the Allen Institute's AI incubator, the CISO who put governance into production. When the group needs a perspective, we bring it in.
Members who get the most value
- Own budget or P&L, where AI calls move dollars and risk.
- Have real decisions on the table this quarter, not someday.
- Want to spar with peers and operators who've shipped, not pundits who talk.
- Value decision briefs, playbooks, and prototypes over decks of "inspiration."
Meet the Facilitators
Founded Substantial in 2006 and built it into a long-running digital innovation studio. Pioneered "Software Thinking"—the organizational mindset behind the world's most valuable companies. Helps leaders see beyond tools to the business model shifts AI enables.
Designed and ran the Think Big innovation incubator for AWS. A polyglot operator and product/UX lead who's shipped from whiteboard to revenue across consulting, design thinking, and zero-to-one programs. He helps leadership teams make defensible billion-dollar AI calls.
PhD physicist turned product strategist. Alex bridges technical complexity and commercial success. Expert in scaling AI products from prototype to market—and the organizational changes that make it work.
Apply for the October cohort
Schedule a conversation to confirm mutual fit. If it's not right, we'll help you find what you're looking for.
Format: 3 months · 1–2 hrs/week (1:1 + group) · $2,000/month · Max 10 orgs
AI Leaders Accelerator is run by Substantial, a digital product consultancy founded in 2006.