Introducing Operating Engine
After 15 years of building software with founders at Yeti, we saw service business owners getting left behind on AI. Here's why we built Operating Engine, and how we think AI should be an opportunity to grow your business.
Fifteen years ago, Rudy and I started building software out of a college dorm room. We wanted to build a top software design and development agency that gave founders a technical partner that truly understands what it's like to build something exciting from scratch.
That belief became Yeti, and over the past decade and a half, we’ve partnered with everyone from scrappy startups to global brands, building hundreds of products alongside founders who reminded us, again and again, why we love this work.
But somewhere along the way, we noticed that many times the founders who needed the most help weren't always the ones knocking on our door.
Service business owners — general contractors, plumbing companies, HVAC companies — who'd spent years building something real and profitable, often lacked the help of venture capital or significant outside funding that’s typically needed to secure serious technical work.
Then more recently, with the advent of AI, they realized this new technology could help them reach new opportunities, but they didn't have the dedicated time, the technical team, or the roadmap to figure out where to start. That's why we built Operating Engine.
What Operating Engine Does
Operating Engine is an AI transformation platform built specifically for service businesses. We start by cleaning up your financial reporting, delivering AI-optimized bookkeeping with a live dashboard that gives you a clear overview of your financial picture. From there, we build custom AI workflows around your specific bottlenecks and train your team to use everything we build.
It's a platform built to streamline routine back-office operations and unlock new growth opportunities for you and your team.
Why We Built This
We don't think AI should be a tool for cutting your team. Instead, we think it should be a tool for growing it.
Too many AI companies or vendors are selling the wrong story: "do more with less," "reduce headcount," etc. We think that's a short-sighted "win", and it's not the business we want to be in. We believe the AI era should be a net job creator for SMBs. Our hope for Operating Engine is that it frees you and your team from the busywork so you can take on the bigger projects, the bigger bids, the work you've been turning down because there just wasn't time before.
How This Connects to Yeti
For those of you who've followed our work at Yeti, this might feel like a new direction, but it's really the next chapter of the same story.
Yeti started as a software development agency, and building market-ready products for founders will always be in our DNA. But over the years, building alongside hundreds of companies taught us that great technology alone isn't enough. Founders also need capital that doesn't cost them their equity, and a go-to-market strategy that turns new capability into new revenue.
That's why Yeti has evolved into an AI transformation and consulting partner, combining the platform-building we've always done with business operations and go-to-market support, all in one partnership model.
Operating Engine is the natural extension of that evolution: a focused, productized version of everything we've learned, built specifically for small-to-medium-sized service businesses ready to grow.
Where We're Headed
We want Operating Engine to help prove that AI can be a force for growth, not just efficiency. We want the founders who've spent years building something real and profitable to benefit from this next wave of technology.
Now, we're working with a small group of founder-owned service businesses to refine the platform, and every conversation is teaching us something new. If you're running a service business and you've ever thought, "I know AI could help us, I just don't know where to start," let’s talk.
We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch.
