Applied AI for the world's most demanding brands.

We help leaders & teams quickly figure out what to build, why to build it, and what good looks like. And then we build it.

Bi-Annual Machine & Folk AI Summit
Event

Bi-Annual Machine & Folk AI Summit

Important: Dates are tentative based on availability. The Bi-Annual AI Summit is a small, invitation-only working session for senior leaders navigating real AI challenges inside their organizations. T

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Executives Think Their AI Strategy Is Working. The Workforce Doesn’t Agree.
Article

Executives Think Their AI Strategy Is Working. The Workforce Doesn’t Agree.

The most uncomfortable finding in Section’s January 2026 AI Proficiency Report is about perception; Leaders overwhelmingly believe their AI deployments are succeeding. The rest of the organisation, particularly individual contributors, do not share that view.

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The one thing users want most
Article

The one thing users want most

Enterprise users don’t want more features—they want less interruption. Tools fail when they break context and steal attention. The best systems stay invisible, carry context forward, and let users remain in flow while the work moves naturally around them.

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The most misunderstood word in product
Article

The most misunderstood word in product

“Platform” is one of the most overused words in product — and one of the most misunderstood. A true platform isn’t just shared infrastructure; it’s reusable capability built to help teams move faster. Get it right, and you unlock scale. Get it wrong, and complexity quietly slows everything down.

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Creating a Non-Terrible AI Strategy
Event

Creating a Non-Terrible AI Strategy

Most companies don’t actually have an AI strategy—they have ideas, tools, pilots, and a growing sense that they should be doing something. This session is designed to help boards and senior leaders st

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NOT TO BRAG, BUT WE HAVE THE COOLEST CLIENTS

American Express
British Airways
BT
Chanel
Cisco
Grammarly
Gucci
IFS
Koch Industries
L'Oréal
TerraPay
Unilever

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OUR SERVICES

What can we do for with you?

Find High Value Opportunities

For many, AI is a solution looking for a problem. There are lots of things you can do, but only a handful that will deliver meaningful ROI for your business. We have a process to rapidly discover and evaluate projects that are high-value, high-velocity, and high-feasability.

Rapidly Define AI Products

Once you've identified an opportunity, it's time to dig in to quickly imagine and validate how it would work in practice. This up-front work is fast and pays dividends later by ensuring your team is aligned and clear about both the value and challenges that lie ahead.

Build Production Products

Don't believe the hype that proofs-of-concept and prototypes are a waste of time. In fact, they are the best way to quickly understand how difficult a problem really is. The trick is to go fast, learn, and yes, even fail quickly if your ideas don't pan out as expected.

OUR OPERATING PRINCIPLES

01 / Go Fast

It's better to move quickly and get imperfect things built than to deliberate endlessly over the perfect plan. We're good at helping big companies align and decide tout suite.

02 / Work as One

We're not the kind that work in a black box and return later with the big reveal. Your participation in the process isn't optional—it's critical to its overall success.

03 / Obsess on Value

It's not enough to build something. You have to build something good. For the enterprise, that means being constantly focused on delivering value to the business.

HOWDY PARTNERS

Sarah McKenna

Sarah McKenna

Managing Director

LinkedIn
Steve McKenna

Steve McKenna

Head of Strategy & Design

LinkedIn
Edmundo Ortega

Edmundo Ortega

Head of Technology

LinkedIn

LOCATIONS

We’re in your neighborhood

LONDON

Serving clients in Europe

LISBON

Serving clients in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and the Pacific

SAN FRANCISCO

Serving clients in North and South America

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LISBON location
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