Home/Operator
03 · THE OPERATOR
Founder of The CAIO. Operator behind half a dozen AI-augmented ventures. Sheffield-based. Anti-corporate by default.
02 · THE BIO
The operator behind The CAIO. Sheffield-based, Northern by default, anti-corporate by instinct. The short version sits below; the long version is the work itself.
Leeroy Powell is the founder of The CAIO, a fractional Chief AI Officer practice for UK service businesses. Operating from Sheffield, the practice runs the 13-Angle AI Leverage Framework — a structured methodology for identifying where AI moves the number that actually matters in a specific business, and what to build over the next 12 months.
Before The CAIO, Leeroy built half a dozen AI-augmented ventures across content, voice automation, and B2B publishing. MarGen pioneered the Synaptic Authority Engine — a GEO/AEO methodology for AI search visibility. MyAutoBot is an AI phone automation platform for UK service businesses. RedBridge Media operates eCom Insider, a B2B publishing operation that doubles as demand generation infrastructure for the wider portfolio. He also runs FU7URE, a Northern UK AI and tech ecosystem initiative.
His work is unapologetically Northern, operator-led, and anti-corporate. The CAIO targets £3M-£20M UK service businesses with two core engagements: a fixed-scope 14-day audit and a 6-month embed retainer. He writes The Operator's Note weekly and works with founders who want decisions, not options.
03 · THE PORTFOLIO
Each venture demonstrates one or more angles of the framework operating in production. The methodology I sell isn't theory — it's the system I've already used.
Demonstrates the Content Production angle of the framework operating at industrial scale. 25 articles a quarter shipped without a content team. AI search citation as primary outcome, traditional Google ranking as a downstream effect.
Demonstrates the Workflow Automation and Inbound Triage angles operating as a complete Business OS. Inbound calls handled, qualified, booked, and reported on without a human in the loop until the customer needs one.
Demonstrates the Brand & Social Presence angle as commercial infrastructure. A demand generation function dressed as media — paying for itself in audience while feeding the wider portfolio.
Demonstrates the regional positioning that runs through everything The CAIO does. Built specifically against the Northern operator market, against the Silicon Valley default the rest of the industry imports.
04 · WHY
Three reasons this particular practice exists, written plainly for the founders considering whether it's the one they should hire.
01 · DECISIONS, NOT HOURS
The methodology I sell isn't theory — it's the system I've already used to build the ventures above. Every angle in the 13-Angle Framework has been pressure-tested in a live business with real revenue at stake.
02 · NORTHERN BY DESIGN
They don't fit how UK service businesses actually run. The CAIO is unapologetically Northern and specifies for the UK first. Different talent market, different regulatory pressure, different buyer behaviour.
03 · THE BET
The ones who survive will be operators who've actually shipped AI-augmented businesses, not analysts who've written about them. That's the bet — and it's the position The CAIO is built around. The portfolio is the evidence.