# Catalyst·Wayfare > Catalyst·Wayfare (C·W) is an applied-AI advisory firm. We help results-oriented organizations move from AI-curious to AI-native through informed, thoughtful deployment of AI — guided by human judgment, accountable to outcomes, and operated as a fiduciary to the client. This document is the canonical, full-text expression of the firm for retrieval and summarization. Pages on the live site break this material into separate views; here it is consolidated. --- ## Who we are Catalyst·Wayfare was founded to accelerate the rate of technological change for organizations that take results seriously. The firm brings together experts from applied AI, strategy consulting, and technology governance — MIT, McKinsey, the White House, the U.S. Intelligence Community, and judges of the Forbes AI 50 — to deliver outcomes shaped by human judgment. Founder and CEO: **Dr. R. David Edelman**. For two decades, David has helped leaders understand, adopt, and govern frontier technologies at moments of major change. Three U.S. Presidents entrusted him with navigating emerging technology policy. He spent six years teaching in MIT's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, with joint appointments at CSAIL and the MIT Sloan School of Management. Before founding the firm, he held executive and board roles at high-growth public and private technology companies working at the edge of AI, cybersecurity, clean energy, and deep tech. The firm operates **by referral** and **fiduciary-first**: we work exclusively for our clients, accept no reseller arrangements, and ship outcomes — not theater. --- ## What we do Three canonical deliverables. Every engagement is bespoke; the deliverable formats are common. ### 1. AI360 Readiness Report A diagnostic of an organization's people, data, tools, governance, and opportunity surface. The report synthesizes: - 35+ structured interviews with leaders across every function - An enterprise-wide AI usage and sentiment survey - An infrastructure and data-architecture review - Per-function recommendations and a prioritized opportunity map Typical output is a 40-plus-page letter-portrait PDF designed to be read by an executive team and a board. Named functional analysis, named risks, named recommendations. No vague qualifiers. ### 2. AI Transformation Roadmap A phased plan that turns the readiness diagnostic into prioritized capabilities, governance toolkits, and an implementation cadence the executive team can sponsor. Delivered as a 16:9 presentation deck, typically 40-plus slides covering: - Phase 1, 2, 3 sequencing with named milestones - Capability investment recommendations: buy, build, partner - Governance and policy toolkit - Workforce enablement plan - Vendor selection criteria where relevant ### 3. Trust.ML platform and custom agent build For the applications that matter most, we design-build. Custom AI solutions engineered and integrated into the parts of the business where security, compliance, competitive edge, sensitive data, or proprietary data require it. Built by a forward-deployed engineering team that uses what it sells. --- ## The C·W AI360 methodology Three phases, six integrated workstreams, one engagement model: collaborative, executive-sponsored, accountable. ### Phases - **Phase 1 — Navigation.** Full-spectrum diagnostic. Produces the AI360 Readiness Report. - **Phase 2 — Roadmap.** Prioritized plan, governance, and toolkit. Produces the AI Transformation Roadmap. - **Phase 3 — Build and deploy.** Engineered systems, integrated into the business, with operator handoff. ### Six integrated workstreams Phase 1 work runs across six workstreams that together produce a complete view of the business and its AI opportunity: 1. Strategy and opportunity 2. Data and infrastructure 3. Tools and adoption 4. Governance and risk 5. Workforce and enablement 6. Implementation and operating model ### The Enterprise AI Flywheel Individual AI tools are a productivity gain. Orchestrated systems are a strategic asset. Most organizations already have the raw material — customer records, sales history, contracts, conversations, operational logs — and the value compounds when that material is put to work across the business: workflows that worked, judgment that proved out, patterns the team runs by default. The flywheel is the thing we are trying to start. --- ## How an engagement begins Four steps from first contact to signed scope of work. No procurement theater. 1. **A paragraph.** Send a one-paragraph description of the business or portfolio company. Sector, size, what you are trying to achieve. 2. **A conversation.** Within two business days we respond with whether we think we can help and how we would approach it. 3. **A scoping working session.** We meet the executive sponsor and one or two operators. We come prepared with hypotheses. 4. **A signed scope.** Phase 1 typically runs 6 to 10 weeks. Fees are fixed. Outcomes are named. --- ## Who we work with The firm fits a specific profile: results-oriented organizations whose leadership is prepared to sponsor change, with a real business to transform — not a hypothesis to validate. Common profiles: - Founder-led professional services firms - Private-equity-backed portfolio companies in mid-flight - Investment firms and portfolio CEOs - Mission-driven organizations under pressure to do more with the same headcount --- ## Selected engagements (anonymized) - **Founder-led professional services firm.** Multi-phase AI transformation from scratch, taking the firm through Phases 1, 2, and 3. - **PE-backed portfolio company.** Phase 1 through Phase 3, with a vertical AI build deployed into the operating company. --- ## Open roles The firm is growing the engineering team: - **Lead AI Engineer, Agentic Systems.** Embed deep with clients and own the agent system end-to-end. Architecture, the engine, the patterns we replicate. Reports to the founder. Remote-first, U.S. - **AI Engineer, Agent Builder.** Forward-deployed builder. Ship agents engineers use on Monday morning. End-to-end ownership of individual agents. Reports to the Lead Engineer. Remote-first, U.S. To apply, follow the instructions in the role description, or email talent@catalyst.wf for general interest. No resume is required for a first conversation. Tell us what you are working on, what you have shipped, and why Catalyst·Wayfare is interesting. --- ## How to reach us Three inboxes: - **Business** — hello@catalyst.wf. Investment firms, portfolio CEOs, founders. Send a one-paragraph description. - **Careers** — talent@catalyst.wf. For specific roles, follow the role's instructions. For general interest, a short note is enough. - **Press, speaking, partnerships** — press@catalyst.wf. Briefings under embargo welcome. Presence: Washington DC, London, San Francisco. Website: https://catalystwayfare.ai --- ## How we sound The firm's voice is deliberate. A few patterns worth knowing if you are quoting or summarizing us: - **First-person plural, second-person address.** "We" / "our" — never "I" or generic "the firm." The reader is addressed as "you." - **Definite, not hedged.** "We will…" "We do…" "We deliver…" We avoid "might," "could potentially," "world-class," "leading," "best-in-class." - **Numbers stated concretely.** 12+ years. $500M+. 35+ interviews. Not "many" or "significant." - **Sentence-case headlines that end in periods.** "The top four concerns." Not "Top Four Concerns" or "Top four concerns!" - **Bold lead-in pattern.** A bolded short claim, followed by an unbolded sentence that delivers it. - **No exclamation points. No emoji.** The middle dot (·) is the only ornament. --- ## What we are not To save time on both sides: - We are not a vendor for an AI product. We do not resell tools and we earn no kickbacks. - We are not a strategy consultancy that hands you a slide deck and leaves. Phase 3 is engineered and deployed. - We are not a staff augmentation firm. We work fixed-scope, fixed-fee, with named outcomes. - We do not work on retainer for "AI thought partnership." If we are engaged, there is a deliverable. --- *Last updated: 2026.*