About

Hi, I'm Jim. I build AI that does real work — and I teach your team to use it.

Setup Your AI is small and stays small on purpose. You work with the engineer who builds your system, never an account manager. I review every AI draft, make the calls AI can't make, and ship every page that goes live.

Jim Shepherd, founder and engineer of Setup Your AI
Jim Shepherd · founder, engineerLoveland, Colorado
15+ years
in software and big tech
Amazon
Alexa, Last Mile, delivery systems
Reality Labs
Facebook displays and Ray-Ban glasses
Colorado
native, born and raised

Proof from the work

I get dropped into messy systems and find the real blocker.

That big-picture instinct is uncommon for an engineer, and it's why this work transfers so well to small businesses.

Facebook / Reality Labs

Trusted when work needed to move.

Recognized by a VP with the Better Engineering / AI Award three months running. Used AI to cut a team backlog by 40% and eliminate over 120 engineering days through automation, while still delivering a full engineer's workload.

−40% backlog120+ days saved

Platform ownership

Platform systems with real users.

Worked directly with executive leadership as a messaging platform lead and owned products such as text messaging on Reality Labs displays. New products shipped, old ones maintained, on projects where reliability mattered.

Amazon

Engineering tied to dollars and logistics.

Helped unify disconnected GPS systems into one scalable platform with multi-million-dollar quarterly impact. Worked across Alexa and Last Mile, turning complicated platform problems into shippable plans.

Health & research

Smaller teams, serious impact.

Helped MobileAssay with an application used by the CDC and universities, and helped the National Renewable Energy Laboratory test new ideas. The impact is clearest when the problem is real.

Teaching

AI adoption is a skill.

I led weekly AI workshops at Reality Labs and ran multi-day trainings to help entire teams use AI well. I was the AI person at one of the most advanced AI companies in the world — now I bring that to companies that need practical help, not jargon.

  • Process & blockers

    I come into teams that are off track, find the process-level blocker, and reset around the true goal.

  • Real business use

    I use AI to run several businesses every day: websites, operations, customer work, software.

  • High output

    I build at a pace that used to take a much larger team.

  • Hard-to-find experience

    Practical AI plus real engineering, rare outside Silicon Valley and rarer in consulting.

What I believe.

  • Provide value first.
  • AI doesn't replace people, but the old way of doing work is gone.
  • AI should eliminate busywork, not create new busywork.
  • Knowing what doesn't need AI is as valuable as knowing what does.

What I don't do.

  • Hand you the same template I hand everyone else.
  • Give you a slide deck and disappear.
  • Use jargon to make simple things sound complicated.
  • Build something your team can't maintain.

Work with me

Three ways to start.

Ready when you are

Have a real problem worth solving?

Tell me what's getting in the way. I'll tell you honestly whether AI is the answer.