AI Advisor for CEOs in Orange County: On Site Discovery, California AI Rules in Plain Language, and Who It Is For

By Andreas Pettersson, Founder, Leaders ADAPT

Most AI advisors work over Zoom from somewhere else. Leaders ADAPT runs from Cypress, on the county line, and for a company within an hour of here the first phase of the work happens in your building. This page is for owners of $5M to $50M non tech companies from Anaheim to Irvine who want someone to sit in the room, not on a video call, and decide what AI gets to touch.

Who this is for

You run a company in Orange County or the surrounding counties. Manufacturing in Anaheim, Santa Ana or Garden Grove. Construction and the trades. Professional services in Irvine and Newport Beach. Healthcare services with several sites, property operations, logistics near the ports. Your board, your bank or your own calendar is asking the AI question, and you do not want to become technical to answer it.

I live here and run Leaders ADAPT from Cypress. I grew Arcules from three people to 150, sold it to Canon and became the youngest CEO in the Canon group. I built and sold an AI company before ChatGPT existed.

The on site discovery: the difference between here and everywhere else

For a company within an hour of Cypress we do the first phase in your building.

• Day one. Two hours with you. The business, what you want to be true in a year, the thing you would fix with a magic wand. Recorded and written up.
• Days two to four. Sixty to ninety minute interviews with each leader, typically six to ten people, in your conference room. Recorded with consent; you get the transcripts.
• Shadowing. One or two people show us how a repeating task is actually done. We sit next to them. You cannot see a bottleneck on a video call.
• Systems review. Where the data lives, which tools talk to each other, which do not.
• Readout. Two hours with you to go through the written assessment: a ranked list of opportunities, what not to automate yet, and a scoped plan for the next phase.

Four weeks. At the end you can stop. If there is no clear path to return, we part ways with nothing owed beyond month one.

For companies that continue, the on site rhythm stays: a weekly day in your office, or a one hour open AI workshop every Friday that anyone on the team can join. You choose. The full engagement is described on the Fractional AI Executive page and in what a fractional chief AI officer does.

California AI rules, in plain language

California has moved faster than Washington on AI rules, and most of them land on employers, not on AI companies. Three to know. This is a summary, not legal advice; have counsel read the originals.

1. Automated decision systems in employment. Regulations from the California Civil Rights Council took effect on October 1, 2025, for employers with five or more employees. Using an automated decision system that produces a discriminatory outcome against a protected class is unlawful even without intent, and employers must keep records of selection criteria, outputs and audits for four years.
2. Automated decision making technology under the CCPA. The California Privacy Protection Agency's regulations took effect January 1, 2026, with compliance required by January 1, 2027. They cover pre use notices, opt outs with human appeal, access rights and risk assessments when automated technology makes significant decisions about consumers, including employees and applicants: hiring, pay, promotion, termination.
3. SB 53, the Transparency in Frontier Artificial Intelligence Act. In effect January 1, 2026. It targets large AI developers, and for employers its practical effect is new whistleblower protections for employees who raise safety concerns about AI.

A readable summary of all three is at Inside Privacy.

What this means for a $5M to $50M company in Orange County: the AI tools you use for hiring, scheduling, performance reviews and pay need a human decision on record and a written policy behind them. That policy is part of what we write with you in the first sixty days, and the one page version is free in the AI policy template.

Local industries we work in

Generalised from current and recent engagements. We do not name clients without written permission.

• Manufacturing and building products. Quoting, estimating, contract review, quality control. The leadership team is trained first, in eight two hour sessions, before any large build.
• Professional services for public agencies. Proposal and bid preparation, project documentation, the go or no go decision on each RFP.
• Healthcare services with several sites. Regulatory readiness, staff education, multi entity finance, inbox and scheduling load.
• Property and real estate operations. Income certification, due diligence packages, scanned document extraction, per entity reporting.
• Leadership and consulting firms. A live personal brain for the founder so the firm is not limited to the hours the founder is in the room.

Twelve clients speak on video on the testimonials pages.

Three ways to work with us

The Executive AI Program builds the systems in your company: eight weeks, one two hour session a week, for CEOs and owners who want to run their own AI. The AI Leadership Mastermind builds the strategy your board signs: five to seven CEOs, one four hour session a month for six months. The Fractional AI Executive means I run the AI function inside your company for six months, on site where geography allows. Not sure which? The six question self check takes two minutes.

Where we are

Leaders ADAPT, 6711 Katella Ave., Cypress, CA 90630. (949) 678-4894.

Serving Orange County and Los Angeles County in person. Remote for the rest of California and the US.

Nearby: Anaheim, Buena Park, Cerritos, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, Irvine, La Palma, Long Beach, Los Alamitos, Newport Beach, Santa Ana, Seal Beach, Westminster.

Orange County FAQ

Do you actually come on site?

Yes, within about an hour of Cypress. The first phase of a fractional engagement is built around it: the interviews, the shadowing and the readout happen in your building. Further away, the interviews run on Zoom and we come for the kickoff and the readout.

We are under $5M in revenue. Is there anything for us?

The Executive AI Program, eight weeks, one two hour session a week, with its price published on its page. The fractional engagement starts at about $10M in revenue because it needs a leadership team to work with.

Do you work with companies in Los Angeles or the Inland Empire?

Yes. Cypress sits on the county line, so Long Beach, the South Bay and the Inland Empire are all within reach for on site work. The rest of California and the US is served remotely with an in person kickoff where it makes sense.

What California AI rules does a $5M to $50M employer need to know?

Three. The Civil Rights Council regulations on automated decision systems in employment, in effect since October 2025 for employers with five or more employees. The CPPA regulations on automated decision making technology, in effect January 2026 with compliance required by January 2027. And SB 53, whose practical effect for employers is whistleblower protection for staff who raise AI safety concerns. This is a summary, not legal advice.

Who else have you worked with locally?

Current and recent engagements include manufacturing, professional services for public agencies, multi site healthcare services, property operations and consulting firms in Orange County and Los Angeles County. Anonymised case stories are on the site and twelve clients speak on video on the testimonials pages. We do not name clients without written permission.

One thing to do this week

List every place in your company where software already makes or shapes a decision about a person: applicant screening, scheduling, performance scores, pay bands. That list is the first page of your AI policy, and under the California rules above it is the list a regulator would ask for first.

Which of those decisions has a human signature on record today?

Under $5M? Start with the eight week program.