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 that need to locate adopters and funding sources, then build 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 who is likely to adopt the offering and who may fund its development—across industries, government organizations, and venture capital—plus 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.
Adoption and funding-source assessment
Locate and assess who may buy or field a technology and who may fund it—companies in multiple industries, government organizations, and venture capital or private equity—so commercialization and capture work starts with a ranked field, not a guess. Case reports are on the Agentic-AI & LLM page.
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. Inventor-assistance applications for adoption and funding intelligence are on Agentic-AI & LLM; the principal’s technical direction is 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)
- Adoption & funding-source assessment
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—whether that is strategy, a program, or locating adopters and funding sources—and FPBS will respond to explore fit and next steps.
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