I Spent Decades in Environments Where Forgetting Wasn't an Option.
That's not a line. That's a career. I personally created systems that earned awards.
The Military Foundation
The United States Navy doesn't forgive systems failures. When you're responsible for people, equipment, and operations at sea — at the O-6 level, across decades of service — you learn very quickly that good intentions don't substitute for good systems.
Checklists exist because memory fails. Doctrine exists because improvisation under pressure kills people. Documentation exists so that the next person in the seat can perform as well as the last one — without a two-week shadow period and a lot of tribal storytelling.
I didn't learn systems thinking from a business book. I learned it in environments where the cost of a broken process wasn't a bad quarter. That discipline is what I bring to every engagement.
The Technical Depth
I've been following artificial intelligence since before most of today's AI tools existed.
My graduate-level AI course at NC State was in 1973. My BS in Computer Science came the same year. My MSEE in Digital Systems followed in 1980. I've watched this field develop from punch cards to neural networks to large language models running locally on a Mac Studio sitting on a desk in Santa Fe.
What that long view gives me isn't nostalgia — it's pattern recognition. I've seen enough technology cycles to know the difference between a tool that changes everything and one that changes the pitch deck. The current wave of practical, local, privacy-first AI is the real thing. I've been waiting for it for fifty years.
Operator Experience
Between the Navy and now, I spent more than fifteen years running small businesses and healthcare organizations — with real payroll, real clients, real consequences, and real computer systems that were supposed to make everything easier and sometimes made everything harder.
I know what it feels like when the system your consultant sold you doesn't survive contact with Monday morning. I know what it costs — in time, money, and morale — when a good employee leaves and takes half the operation's institutional knowledge with them. I know the particular exhaustion of being the person everyone comes to because no one else has the full picture.
I've been the bottleneck. I've also been the one who finally built the system that ended it. Both experiences matter.
The Philosophy
I've failed. Twice, by my honest count, in ways that cost real money and real sleep. I'm not embarrassed by that — I consider it the most useful part of my education. You learn things in failure that success never teaches you: where the real fragility is, which assumptions were wrong from the start, and how quickly a business unravels when its systems can't carry the weight of its growth.
I succeeded more times than I failed. But the failures are why I’m reasonably pretty of what I'm doing. And, how.
What I don't do is hype. I won't tell you AI will transform your business overnight. I won't sell you a platform you don't need or an automation that breaks the first time a client does something unexpected. I build systems that work in the real world — especially when things get messy, people get busy, and the unexpected happens on a Tuesday.
No jargon. No magic. Just discipline, clarity, and technology that earns its place. Your business with be stronger forever.
The Santa Fe Anchor
I live and work in Santa Fe and intend to be here a long time. When I say I serve Santa Fe businesses, I mean the businesses I see at the farmers market, the ones my neighbors own, the ones that make this city worth living in.
Local also means something specific about AI: your data stays here. I work exclusively with privacy-first, locally-run AI tools — nothing that ships your client information to a server farm in another state. For a small business, that's not a minor detail. That's your clients' trust.
If any of this sounds like the kind of operator you've been looking for,
the best next step is a conversation, so fill out the form below and lets get started.
Or if you'd like to know more about the man behind the practice: LifeOfCAPTCurtHess.com
I’m building LifeOfCAPTCurtHess.com — a personal legacy project for my children, documenting my full career in AI, military service, and life. It’s not about me; it’s about leaving a record of lessons learned over 54 years. If you’re curious, feel free to take a look.
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