Questions and answers

What is Next Pillar?

Next Pillar is an AI implementation firm for established, owner-led companies: we install a private company brain and a simple app your team actually uses, built with you in person over a few weeks. Then we stay. It is led by Will Taubenheim, an AI engineer with four NASA awards, and partner Joe Staiber.

What is a company brain?

Your company’s knowledge in one private system: your documents, your meetings and the tools you already pay for, connected, so someone can ask a question and get an answer from your own records. Your team uses it through a simple app, not a developer tool.

How is it different from ChatGPT, Claude or Microsoft Copilot?

Those are general assistants. They know the internet well, and your company only as far as someone connects it to them. A company brain is built around your own records and the way your business runs, with an app made for your team and people who keep it working.

Underneath, it uses frontier models such as Claude and GPT, and each job uses the model that is best at it. As the models change, so does the assignment.

What does “private” mean here?

Your company gets its own brain on its own infrastructure, built on your records for your people. One client’s information never goes into another client’s system. Before anything is connected, we go through with you where your data will live and which AI providers will process it.

Who is Next Pillar for?

Established, owner-led companies with real operations: a team, customers, documents, meetings and several systems that do not talk to each other, and knowledge that lives in a few people’s heads. Owners who want AI built into the business with them, in person, rather than another course or tool.

Who is it not for?

Companies that want AI without a specific problem for it to solve, very large enterprises with long procurement, and owners who would rather learn to do it themselves. For them, Next Pillar Academy is a better place to start.

Is there a minimum company size?

There is no fixed cutoff. It fits companies big enough to have a team, customers and several systems, and owner-led enough that a decision does not take a committee. The discovery call is where we work out whether it fits.

What kinds of companies does it fit?

Companies where the same things keep getting looked up, rewritten or lost: professional-services firms, agencies, contractors and other businesses with a book of customers and a paper trail. The industry matters less than having a team, customers, documents and a few systems that do not talk to each other.

How does an install work?

1. Discovery call. A conversation, not a pitch. We ask how the business runs, where time and money leak, and whether this is even the right fit. If it is not, we will say so.
2. Scope. If it is a fit, the next conversation is scope: what we connect, what we build first, how long it takes and what it costs.
3. The install, in person. Over a few weeks we work with you and your team at your business, connect your documents, meetings and tools, and build the app with the people who will use it.
4. Then we stay. We keep it working and keep building on it with you, and you decide what comes next.

How it works

How long does it take?

A few weeks for the install, working with you in person. The exact length depends on how many systems we connect and the state of your documents, and we agree it in the scope before we start.

What happens during the in-person weeks?

We work with you and your team at your business: we learn how it really runs, connect your documents, meetings and tools, and build the app with the people who will use it.

What do you need from us?

• Time with you at the start, to learn how the business really runs.
• Access to the systems and documents we are connecting.
• One person on your team who will own it day to day. Not a developer.
• Your meetings recorded, or a willingness to start, so what is decided in them can be found later.
• One real problem to start with.

What can it connect to?

The tools you already pay for: email and calendars, shared drives and documents, your CRM, accounting and project tools, and your meeting recordings. Some systems are easy to connect and some are not, so we look at yours before promising anything.

Do we need an IT team?

No. You need one person who will own it day to day, not a developer. We do the building.

What happens after the install?

We stay. We keep it working and keep building on it with you, and you decide what comes next.

Will it replace my people?

It is built to take the searching, the looking things up and the first drafts off your team, so the people you have spend their time on the work that needs them. A person still approves anything that goes out to a customer.

How much does it cost?

It depends on the size of the company, how many systems we connect, how much we build during the install, and what you want from us afterwards. We do not publish a price: we scope it with you and quote it after the discovery call.

Who owns the data?

Your company’s data stays your company’s. What we build on it, and what happens to both if you ever stop working with us, is written into the agreement before the install starts.

How do you handle security?

Each company gets its own brain on its own infrastructure. Access follows the roles you set, so leadership-only information stays with leadership. A person approves anything that goes out to a customer. And we go through the setup with whoever looks after IT or compliance for you before anything is connected.

Who does the work?

Will Taubenheim, our CEO, plans it and builds it. He is an AI engineer with four NASA awards, won on the Terasynth team, and AI work for the U.S. Navy and Air Force. Joe Staiber, our partner, leads marketing and sales. The person who plans your install is the person who builds it. The team

How many companies do you take on?

A small number of clients a year, because the work is done in person.

Where are you based? Do you work outside Tampa Bay?

We are based in Tampa Bay, Florida, and we take on companies elsewhere in the U.S. too. How the in-person weeks work outside Tampa Bay is something we settle on the discovery call. Tampa Bay

Do you have case studies or reviews?

Not yet. Next Pillar opened in October 2026, and we do not publish a client’s name or results without their written permission. When there are results we are allowed to share, they will be here.

What is the difference between Next Pillar and Next Pillar Academy?

Next Pillar installs it for your company. Next Pillar Academy is where business owners learn to put AI to work: a paid online AI community and school, taught by Will with co-host Joe Staiber.

How do we start?

Book a discovery call. A conversation, not a pitch: bring one thing you wish took less time.