AI consulting for Australian SMBs
Leverage.Automate.Level Up.
Most SMBs are still pretending AI isn’t happening. The few that move now will compound advantages their competitors can’t catch. We’re the implementation team that gets you there.
We install AI properly across your business - setting up Claude for your whole team, building custom AI tools, automating the manual work that eats your day, and running hands-on strategy workshops. One operator-led team, end to end.
AI rollout · Custom AI software · Workflow automation · AI strategy
Run by an AI-native operator. Every system we ship has been pressure-tested inside our own 80-staff SMB first.
Sydney HQ · Working with SMBs Australia-wide
Built by an operator who ships
Tom Downie runs Better Tuition Academy (5 campuses, 80 staff) and co-founded Northern Beaches Coworking — and builds the same AI systems XLev installs for clients, in the open, every week.
Why XLev
Why owners and advisors bring us in.
We install AI properly. Not just a few licences.
Most businesses hand out a few AI accounts and call it done. We set Claude up properly across your whole team - with the right structure, training and governance so people actually use it every day.
Run by an AI-native operator.
Tom runs an 80-staff SMB on AI today. Every workflow, automation and AI rollout we ship for clients has been pressure-tested inside our own business first. We understand SMBs because we are one.
Strategy. Build. Automate. Train.
One team takes you from AI strategy workshop through custom software, automated workflows, AI rollouts and team training. Not a deck-and-leave consultancy - we install the systems and stay through adoption.
How AI-ready is your business today?
14 questions. No email. Get an honest 0–100 readiness score, your top 3 gaps and an AI maturity tier — instantly, on screen.
~4 minutes · No email required · 100% anonymous
The cost of waiting
Legacy SMBs are falling behind. Quietly. Then suddenly.
Your competitors aren’t going to wait for you to figure this out. The owners rolling AI out properly across their businesses now will compound advantages over the next 24 months that the rest can’t catch later. The only question is which side of the gap you sit on.
78%
of SMBs say AI is critical to staying competitive
But fewer than 1 in 5 have rolled it out across their team.
5-10x
productivity uplift on the right workflows
Once AI and automation are properly installed across your team - not just handed out and forgotten.
0
deck-and-leave consultants on the XLev team
We install the systems, train your people and stay through adoption.
What we do
One team. End-to-end AI implementation.
Strategy, builds, automations, Claude rollouts and training - delivered by the same operator-led team. Pick one service, or have us run them together as a single engagement.
Flagship
Claude Implementation
We install Claude (Anthropic's AI) properly across your whole team - your operations, sales, marketing and finance staff on Claude.ai, your engineering team using Claude to code faster, and custom AI software for everything else. Set up the right way, first time.
Explore Claude implementation →
Service
Custom AI Builds
Bespoke web apps, internal tools and AI products built to fit your workflows - not a generic off-the-shelf product. Owned by you, no lock-in.
See custom builds →
Service
Custom Automations
We replace the manual, repetitive tasks eating your team's time with reliable automated workflows - connected to the tools you already use.
See automations →
Service
AI Strategy Workshops
Half-day or full-day workshops to map where AI compounds value in your business. Walk out with a 12-month implementation plan, not a slide deck.
See workshops →
Service
Training
1-day AI intensives for up to 8 people from $5,000. Claude, n8n and agents - tailored to your tools after a free discovery call.
See training →
Service
Consulting
$599/hr operator advisory or monthly retainer. For a single decision, an unblocking session, or ongoing AI orbit across the business.
See consulting →
Optional add-on
XLevLab dashboard - on any engagement.
Add the XLevLab live dashboard to any engagement so you and your team can see everything we build - how often it runs, hours saved, and your return on investment compounding in real time. Clear proof your AI investment is working.
See XLevLab →Latest insights
Operator notes, written from inside the engagements.
Long-form pieces on the operational moves that actually change a multiple. No fluff — what we install for clients and why buyers pay for it.
- AI Strategy·7 min read
AI governance for Australian SMBs: a one-page policy you'll actually follow
What goes into a working AI policy for a 5-200 staff Australian business - data handling, IP, allowed tools, breach reporting - and the policies that look good on paper but quietly get ignored.
Read article - Custom Builds·8 min read
Voice agents for SMBs: when they pay back (and when they're a vanity project)
AI voice agents on the phone are getting genuinely good. Here's the honest read on where they save real money for an Australian SMB - and where they're a six-figure project that should be a chatbot instead.
Read article - AI Strategy·8 min read
Hiring an AI lead: in-house, fractional, or agency?
Every serious SMB AI rollout needs a single accountable owner. Whether that's a full-time hire, a fractional CAIO, or an external agency depends on stage, budget and how strategic AI is to the business. Here's the honest decision tree.
Read article - Claude Implementation·6 min read
Claude Projects that survive a year (and ones that don't)
What separates a Claude Project that's still useful 12 months in from one the team quietly stops opening after week six - and the maintenance habits that keep them sharp.
Read article
Built in production
Real systems, already shipped.
What XLev installs for clients is the same operator practice that has shipped these — none of it is theory.
Live · Public
Liftwize
Consumer fitness platform with personalised programs, AI coaching and gamification — shipped solo, live in 3 months.
Live · Internal
BTA Call Centre
Outbound call platform with AI voice agents staff practice against before talking to real parents.
Live · 6+ months
BTA Lead Gen
Embedded quote engine driving real-time personalised packages straight into the CRM with full conversion tracking.
Live · Internal
Operating System
Full management platform running 5 campuses and 80 staff every day — ops, comms, dashboards, multi-site.
Live · Multi-tenant
XLev Client Portal
Modular client OS — 18 modules across automation, analytics, finance, knowledge, forms and infrastructure.
Introducing XLev Lab
Your business. In one place.
XLevLab is the client portal that comes with every XLev engagement. One login. Everything in one place.
Your AI systems running in real time. Workflow stats, success rates, and operational metrics.
Acme Manufacturing
Industrial fabrication · 84 staff · $18–25M revenue · Target sale Q4 2027
- TCTom CaitensXLevEngagement Lead
- SCSarah ColeOperations Director
- MWMarcus WebbFounder / CEO
- PNPriya NairXLevAutomation Engineer
Built by an operator who ships
Stop falling behind. Start compounding.
Book a free 30-minute discovery call. Tell us where you’re at, what you want AI to do in the business, and we’ll come back within one business day with an honest read on whether we’re the right fit.
team@xlev.ai · xlev.ai · Sydney HQ · Australia-wide