Six months ago, Dr. Alan Kadish and I made a decision that would change everything. We stopped talking about the problem and started building the solution.

Not because we had unlimited time or resources. Not because the market was screaming for it (though it was). But because we’d both spent decades watching brilliant people drown in their own success—and we finally had the pieces to do something about it.

Today, I want to share why we built Expert Scale and our APEX REPLICANT platform, what we learned building it, and what this means for anyone who’s ever hit the ceiling of “only 24 hours in a day.”

The Pattern I Couldn’t Unsee

Thirty years. Air Force. Startups. Enterprise companies. Scaling SaaS teams to $100M+ ARR. Experiencing an IPO. Fractional CTO work with dozens of companies.

Everywhere I looked, the same pattern:

Brilliant experts drowning in their own expertise.

The CEO who can’t take vacation because critical decisions wait for him.

The consultant billing $400/hour who still can’t break through her revenue ceiling.

The retiring VP whose 25 years of institutional knowledge walks out the door with him.

The startup advisor who has to choose which three companies get his limited time this week—leaving five others making critical decisions alone.

I’d solved scaling problems for software, for teams, for products. But I couldn’t solve this one. The math was cruel: expertise × hours = finite impact.

Until about a year ago, when I started tinkering with a prototype. Just for myself, really. Combining everything I’d learned about instructional design and curriculum development (post-Air Force), software engineering (30 years), and how people actually learn and make decisions.

Through prayer and meditation, the opportunity crystallized: I could keep adding my impact one client at a time… or I could multiply it.

Addition vs. multiplication.

When Vision Meets Partnership

Meeting Alan changed the equation. Within days, we both knew: this wasn’t just a product opportunity. This was an inflection point.

We started Expert Scale together. Not as a side project. Not as a “let’s see where this goes.” We went all-in.

Here’s what happened:

• Two months: Proof of concept for APEX REPLICANT
• Two months later: MVP—and Alan and I became our own first expert users
• One month after that: Other experts saw what we were building and asked to join
• Last month: Enterprise-ready

We didn’t just build APEX REPLICANT for others. We use it every day. I have my Digital Protégé. Alan has his. Then more experts joined the platform.

The wave wasn’t theoretical anymore. It was real.

The Business Model That Actually Works

Here’s what we figured out: The expert services market isn’t broken because people don’t value expertise. It’s broken because the delivery model hasn’t evolved since the 1950s.

Trading time for money works—until it doesn’t.

For Experts (The People Like Us)

The platform lets you:

• Scale revenue beyond hours: Your expertise works 24/7, not just when you’re available
• Monetize what you’ve built: Years of experience generating value while you sleep
• Reclaim your premium time: Handle the high-value work only you can do
• Build something that lasts: Your knowledge doesn’t retire when you do

Real talk: I forgot how much I love building products until we built this. The ownership. The satisfaction. The sense of building something bigger than yourself.

But this time? I built it for other experts. To help them scale their impact.

For Organizations (The Leaders Making Hard Calls)

Companies get:

• On-demand expertise: No waiting for scheduling, no timezone constraints
• Business continuity: Knowledge that doesn’t depend on one person’s availability
• Risk mitigation: Institutional knowledge that survives transitions
• Scalable access: Expertise that grows with your needs

Explore Sentinel for your organization →

For Professionals (The 2 AM Decision Makers)

You get:

• Immediate access: Expert-level guidance when you need it, not when calendars align
• Lower barriers: First session free, then pay only for what you use
• Consistent quality: Same expert thinking every time, without the scheduling lottery
• Growing value: Each conversation builds on the last

What Building This Taught Me

There was a month where I worked 60-hour weeks. Two weeks where sleep was optional. My family saw less of me. The blog went silent.

Was it worth it?

Look—sacrifice is part of building something worthwhile. But here’s what surprised me: the sense of satisfaction is different when you’re building the platform versus helping others build theirs.

As a fractional CTO/CPTO, I help several companies be their best. It’s meaningful work.

But building this? Building a platform that helps all kinds of experts scale their impact?

That’s multiplication, not addition. And the math finally works.

Why This Isn’t Just Another AI Tool

I get asked this: “What about ChatGPT? Why do I need this?”

Here’s the thing: ChatGPT is brilliant at information. Expert Scale is about expertise.

The difference?

• Context matters: My Digital Protégé knows my frameworks, my methodology, my way of thinking through problems
• Consistency counts: Every session reflects proven approaches, not algorithmic averages
• Trust is everything: You’re talking to my thinking, refined over 30 years—not a statistical model
• Accountability is real: I stand behind what my protégé guides you through

Generic AI gives you information. Digital protégés give you a specific expert’s judgment, available 24/7.

What’s Next

We’re not just running a platform—we’re enabling a transformation. And we’re just getting started.

Experts can finally break the time-money ceiling.

Organizations can preserve knowledge that used to walk out the door.

Professionals can access guidance that was previously out of reach.

The implications? They’re bigger than our current platform. We’re catalyzing something that will create markets we haven’t imagined yet.

Join Us

If you’re an expert who’s hit the ceiling of hours-in-a-day, explore becoming a partner. We’ll help you build and monetize your digital protégé.

If you’re running an organization facing knowledge retention challenges, check out Sentinel for enterprise solutions.

If you’re just curious, try a digital protégé yourself. Browse our experts. First session’s free.

The Wave Is Here

Six months ago, Alan and I committed to building something that would fundamentally change how expertise works.

Today, experts are scaling their impact beyond their available hours. Organizations are preserving critical knowledge. Professionals are accessing guidance at 2 AM when critical decisions can’t wait.

I haven’t stopped being a fractional CTO/CPTO. I haven’t stopped Exploring, Guiding, and Coaching.

I’ve just built a better way to do it—for me and for every expert ready to multiply their impact instead of just adding to it.

The wave we’ve been building? It’s here. And it’s big enough for all of us.

Drew Harris, CEO & Co-Founder Expert Scale, Inc.

Drew brings 30 years of software engineering experience—from the Air Force to scaling SaaS teams to $100M+ ARR and experiencing an IPO. At Expert Scale, he’s combining his expertise in instructional design, engineering, and scaling operations to help experts multiply their impact, not just add to it.