Technology & innovation strategy
Strategy, innovation, and investment—for organizations that depend on technology
First Place Business Solutions provides consulting and facilitated planning so teams can develop, integrate, and manage strategy, innovation, and internal investment in complex technical environments.
The firm is based in Stillwater, Oklahoma, and works with clients across the United States and with international partners where engagements and agreements warrant.
Who we work with
FPBS supports organizations where technical risk, long horizons, and multiple stakeholders are the norm—not the exception.
Defense & aerospace ecosystems
Programs and enterprises maturing advanced technologies, aligning roadmaps, and connecting customer needs to science and technology investment.
Federal & multi-party R&D
Planning, decision support, and review-style engagements where transparency, risk, and prioritization must hold up across organizations.
Technology-led businesses
Firms commercializing or scaling technical offerings—especially those building strategy, business development, and execution discipline as they grow.
How we help
Engagements are tailored; the firm brings an integrated lens—strategy, innovation, and investment—rather than isolated silos.
Integrated strategy & innovation
Clarify direction, identity, and competitive context so innovation efforts and corporate entrepreneurship align with what the market and mission demand.
Technology commercialization & maturation
Structure pathways from concept toward implementation, including product and business development where technology uncertainty is high.
Portfolio & decision support
Frameworks and practical tools to prioritize, track, and govern many parallel technologies or initiatives under uncertainty—including, where appropriate, AI-assisted workflows to keep tools current and analysis consistent.
Program & systems perspective
Program management and systems thinking for large technology efforts—dependencies, risk, and execution across the lifecycle.
Independent reviews & mentoring
Assessments of strategy and innovation implementation; mentoring for leadership and smaller teams on growth, risk, and winning work.
AI engineering (where it earns its place)
FPBS is integrating modern AI engineering—such as retrieval-grounded assistants, agent-style automation, and production-minded LLM deployment—into engagements when they strengthen planning, portfolio management, or domain-specific insight. The principal’s technical direction and examples are outlined on steven-griggs.com.
Ways of working
FPBS meets clients where they are—advisory, facilitated sessions, tool adoption, reviews, or ongoing mentoring.
- Advisory & expert counsel
- Facilitated planning & workshops
- Training & implementation support
- Independent review & assessment
- Mentoring for executives & teams
- AI-assisted decision support (when fitting)
Depth of experience
The firm’s principal draws on long experience in advanced aircraft and R&D program leadership, federal and industry consulting, and academic work in strategy, entrepreneurship, and commercialization—including growing depth in AI engineering applied to decision support and intelligent workflows (see Experience and steven-griggs.com). Representative patterns of work are summarized on the Experience page—often without naming clients, given the sensitivity of programs.
Discuss your context
Share your organization, challenge, and timing—FPBS will respond to explore fit and next steps.
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