One operator · 14+ brands · Gold Coast

Buy vs hire · AI for founders

An in-house AI lead costs $150k+ a year. The system runs from $3,000/mo.

Sprints from $2,500 · retainers from $3,000/mo—every number's published.

You're weighing up hiring someone to build your AI in-house against buying a system that already runs across 14+ brands. I'd build it with you myself, start to finish, and you'd own the build outright, so it keeps earning long after a hire might've moved on.

See how I actually work ›
Michael Cameron, strivefortone

Get my buy-vs-hire AI read

Tell me what you'd hire the AI lead to do, and I'll send back which modules already cover it, what it costs to buy against hiring, and where I'd start. Free, straight from me, in your inbox within a day.

That's it—no brief to write. It lands in your inbox within a day.

Prefer to talk? Book a 20-min call ›

Goes straight to me, Michael. One operator, not a sales team. No spam, no follow-up sequence.

I read and answer these myself, so I take a handful a week.

Prefer to skip the form? michael@strivefortone.com

How it works

  1. 1
    Today—send the form. Your free read lands in your inbox within a day. No call needed.
  2. 2
    Week one—if it’s useful, you get a scoped plan with a fixed price. Sprints from $2,500.
  3. 3
    Weeks two to three—I build it. You deal with me start to finish, no handover.
  • A $150k+ salary against $3,000/mo for the system—same result at a fraction of the cost, and none of the six-month hunt to find the right person.
  • 24+ AI modules are already live across 14+ brands, so everything I'd build for you has been proven in the real world first.
  • You'd own the build outright, so it stays put and keeps working long after a hire might've handed in their notice.
Real resultOne build wrote 4,134 product descriptions in a single run, and organic sessions climbed 37.5% off the back of it.

A real example

Here's what you'd get back.

A short, specific buy-vs-hire plan in your inbox within a day, no call to sit through. Here's a real one; yours would be about your store, not a homewares brand.

Samplea homewares brand

Here are the first three things I'd build for them instead of a hire—

  1. 1
    Product descriptions. You'd hand a new AI lead 900 SKUs to rewrite and wait months for the backlog to clear. I'd build you a small agent that drafts them all in your brand voice, so you just skim and approve.
    Roadmap sprint · from $2,500
  2. 2
    Your Monday numbers. A hire would still be pulling the weekly report by hand every morning. I'd wire one to read Shopify, Meta and GA4 overnight, so the summary's already sitting in your inbox by 6am.
    Core build · $5,000
  3. 3
    Those where's-my-order emails. Forty a week land in support, and a person would answer each one by hand. I'd set something up to draft the reply from your own order data, so your team just glances over it and hits send.
    Core build · from $5,000

We'd start with just one, you'd own every bit of it, and nothing goes live until you're happy with it.—Michael

The maths on buying instead of hiring

$150k+
A year for an in-house AI lead—before you've shipped a thing
24+
AI modules already in production, not on a roadmap
14+
Brands running on the system right now

An in-house AI lead costs $150k+ a year. The system runs from $3,000/mo. Bespoke builds from $2,500. Every price is public—no quote you have to chase.

See every price ›

Get my buy-vs-hire AI read ›

One of the sharpest people in the ecommerce growth space. His knowledge runs deep, and he knows how to apply it—paid media, email, analytics, creative strategy, and now AI systems that actually move the needle. If you want someone who'll give you a straight answer and do the work, Michael is exactly that person.
— Alex Wilson, Founder & CEO, FutureCPG
Michael Cameron, strivefortone

Michael Cameron — 20+ yrs operating, 14+ brands live, one long-running computer habit.

Runs on Claude · Shopify · Klaviyo · Meta · Google Ads—built and operated daily.

Get my buy-vs-hire readHow I work