Business strategist · Systems thinker · Speaker · Educator
Find what’s holding your business back. Build the leverage to move it forward.
I’m Sean Hyde. I help leaders and organizations see the whole picture, find the one move that matters most, and build the systems that make it stick. Sometimes I do that from a stage. Sometimes it’s around a conference table.
For event organizers
Keynotes, workshops, executive briefings and lunch-and-learns on growth, systems and practical AI. Start with a 15-minute conversation about your event and audience.
For leaders and owners
Strategic advisory for when growth has stalled, the tools have piled up, or too much depends on one person.
Understand first. Recommend second. · Founder, Ideation Digital · Charleston
Speaking credentials
A speaker who has done the work he talks about.
My talks come out of real projects with real businesses. I won’t stand on a stage and tell you what AI “will” do. I’ll show you what’s working, what isn’t, and how to tell the difference.
years helping businesses grow, since 2011
businesses and organizations served across my career
Career totals since 2011, including my digital marketing years. Not a count of current clients.
Now: 2026
Recent rooms
Spoke · Oct 13, 2026
WV Entrepreneurship Ecosystem (WVEE) monthly meeting: resource-provider spotlight
Spoke · Oct 15, 2026
Big I WV Annual Convention: “Agency AI That Survives Monday Morning: Practical AI for Real Insurance Operations”
Spoke · Oct 20, 2026
University of Charleston Downtown Innovation Hub: “Practical AI Strategies for Business Growth” (3-hour workshop)
Completed · Sep 16, 2026
University of Charleston Downtown Innovation Hub workshop: “AI Strategies for Small Business Growth”
Rooms: University of Charleston · Big I WV · WV Entrepreneurship Ecosystem (WVEE) · Bridging Innovation Week · WVSAE
See all appearances →
What I help with
Most barriers aren’t what they look like from the inside.
When growth stalls, the first instinct is to add something: a new tool, a new hire, a new campaign. Usually the real constraint is somewhere else. My job is to find it before anyone spends money fixing the wrong thing.
Understand first.
Recommend second.
See the whole picture.
Problems, constraints, assets, people and opportunities on one page, so decisions stop being guesses.
Fix the bottleneck, not the symptom.
Find the one change that frees up everything behind it.
Put AI where it pays.
Use AI where it saves real time, and keep people where judgment matters. AI is one tool among several, not the answer to everything.
Stop depending on one person, tool or vendor.
Build systems that keep running when someone’s out, a price goes up, or a platform changes.
Speaking & workshops
Four conversations I bring to the room.
Every session is tailored to the audience and the industry. Same core ideas; your examples.
Growth & Constraints
Why growth stalls, and how to find the real bottleneck before you buy a fix.
Explore the talk →Practical AI Implementation
Where AI actually saves time, what it shouldn’t touch, and how to roll it out so it survives Monday morning.
Explore the talk →Systems & Leverage
Build a business that doesn’t depend on one person, one tool or one vendor.
Explore the talk →The AI-Ready Business
What leaders should do now, what can wait, and how to tell which is which.
Explore the talk →Formats: Keynote · Workshop · Executive briefing · Lunch-and-learn
Audiences: Conferences · Associations · Chambers · Universities · Executive groups · Training organizations
Schedule a 15-minute conversation to discuss your event, audience, and what would be most useful.
How I work
LIFT: a simple way to find leverage and use it.
List
Get the complete picture: problems, constraints, assets, resources and opportunities. Nothing gets solved until it’s on the table.
Isolate
Find the highest-leverage opportunity, the one change that moves the most.
Fuel
Put the right resources behind it: attention, people, technology or capital. Sometimes that’s AI. Often it isn’t.
Tune
Measure, refine, repeat. A system that isn’t being tuned is already drifting.
LIFT → Leverage → Freedom
The point isn’t more tools or more activity. It’s leverage, and the freedom it buys: time back, better options, and a business that doesn’t need you in every decision.
Selected implementation examples
A few things I’ve helped build. No client names, and no numbers I can’t stand behind.
Live application · Independent restaurants
Plates That Pay
The problemIndependent restaurant owners often price menus from rough estimates and spreadsheets. Ingredient costs move constantly, and it’s hard to see which dishes actually make money.
What it doesA working web app. Owners upload their menu and snap photos of supplier invoices. The app works out what each dish costs to make, shows which dishes are earning their place, and gives pricing guidance where margins are thin.
StatusLive and working at platesthatpay.com.
Good AI removes friction from a decision people already make. It shouldn’t add another tool to babysit.
See the app →Built · Independent insurance agency
Legacy CRM, Modern Layer
The problemAn insurance agency runs on a very old agency management system (AMS) holding about 30 years of records. Moving decades of data out of it would be slow, risky and expensive.
What was builtA connector that bridges the AMS and GoHighLevel, giving the agency modern CRM capabilities (follow-up automation, pipeline visibility, communication tracking) without migrating its data.
ScopeThe AMS stays the system of record. The connector doesn’t replace it or remove every limit of an older system. It lets the two work together.
Sometimes the right answer isn’t replacing the old system. It’s making old and new work together.
Built · Contractor
Contractor Procurement System
The problemThe client estimated that finding and vetting bid opportunities took roughly 8–10 hours a week of manual research.
What it doesA custom procurement intelligence system that automates opportunity discovery, screening and review. The AI model behind it can be swapped as tools and prices change.
Intended outcomeSubstantially less manual research, and more consistent identification of relevant opportunities.
Measured outcomeNot measured yet. I’ll share results once there’s enough data to stand behind.
Automate the searching and sorting, so skilled people spend their time on the calls that need judgment.
About Sean
Strategist by trade. Builder by habit. Teacher by choice.
I’ve spent more than 15 years in the middle of how businesses grow: marketing, operations, technology, and the messy places where they overlap. I founded Ideation Digital in Charleston, and I lead workshops on practical AI and growth at the University of Charleston.
I think in systems, but I’d rather build the thing than describe it. That’s why my talks come with real examples instead of predictions. I’m also co-authoring research with the University of Charleston on the gap between using AI and actually implementing it.
When I’m not working, I’m in Dad Mode.
More about Sean →Let’s find what’s holding things back.
Bring Sean to your event
Schedule a 15-minute conversation to discuss your event, audience, and what would be most useful. If I’m not the right fit, I’ll tell you.
Talk through a challenge
Working through a growth, systems or AI decision? The first conversation is about understanding your situation, not selling you something.
Media or podcast request? Grab the press kit