About spktr
spktr is an AI automation consultancy that builds AI tools and keeps them running for owner-operated businesses across Greater Philadelphia with about 5 to 50 staff and no engineering team of their own.
I’m Alex Smith. I founded spktr in 2026 and run it on my own from Phoenixville, PA.
What spktr does
AI strategy & roadmapping
Start here if you know AI could help but can’t see where. I shadow how the work flows, find where AI would save the most time and money, and write it up as a phased roadmap: what to automate, in what order, and what to buy versus build.
AI sales automation
Small sales teams lose hours to prospect research, outreach and follow-up, and AI can carry most of it. I build prospect lists that match your best customers, personalized outreach in your voice, and lead scoring that sends the hot inbound leads to you first.
AI marketing & content
AI keeps your marketing moving while you run the business. I set up content and newsletters written in your voice, turn one idea into a week of social posts, and watch and answer your Google and Yelp reviews.
AI customer service
I bring email, text, Instagram, review and phone messages into one place and let AI handle the routine. Replies are drafted in your voice, a chatbot answers hours, booking and FAQs from your own information, and everything else comes to you.
Operations & paperwork automation
I automate the quoting, invoicing, scheduling and data entry that fill the week. That means pulling data out of PDFs and forms, turning intake into clean records, connecting tools that should already talk to each other, and sending reminders that cut no-shows.
Finance & admin automation
I automate the recurring finance work inside the tools you already use, so it runs faster and with fewer errors. That covers accounts payable and receivable, expense and receipt categorization, the month-end close, and simple cash-flow reporting.
Custom AI tools & software
When no product does the job because it is specific to how your business works, I build the software. It might be a live dashboard built from your spreadsheets, a file-processing pipeline or a customer-facing feature.
Team AI training & enablement
The biggest gains often come from a whole team getting a little faster, and that only happens when people adopt the tools. I set up a Slack assistant trained on how your business works, SOP and onboarding documentation, and hands-on training.
What makes spktr different
One person from the first call to support
I run spktr on my own. The person on your intro call runs the assessment, writes the proposal, builds the tool and answers when it needs a fix, so you explain your business once.
I do both the business thinking and the building myself, after a decade of building software and leading product.
Fixed prices, set before work starts
The assessment is $500 and is credited in full toward a first project signed within 30 days. A first project is a fixed price from $10,000, written into the proposal before any work begins. Ongoing work is a flat fee from $5,000 a month for one workstream at a time.
A small version first, then scale what works
A first project covers one workflow, with a named result and a finish date. I build the smallest version that does real work, usually running within a few weeks, and only the part that earns its place gets scaled.
In person across five counties
I live in Phoenixville and meet clients in person across Chester, Montgomery, Bucks and Delaware counties and Philadelphia. For a first conversation I’d rather spend an hour at your place of business and watch how the work moves.
Ongoing work includes one three-hour session at your office every week.
Teaching is part of the job
Before spktr I ran Le Wagon’s coding schools in China and taught non-technical adults to build software. Getting a team to adopt an AI tool is the same work, and adoption is where most of these projects fail.
So every build ends with your team trained on it and the code, documentation and admin access in your hands.
Who uses spktr
Established, owner-operated businesses with about 5 to 50 staff and no engineering team of their own, where the owner feels the operational pain and decides the budget.
- Manufacturers with order, production and inventory work still handled by hand
- Professional services firms that spend their week on intake, quoting and reporting
- Practices and local service businesses that schedule appointments and answer the same customer questions every day
- Nonprofits and public offices, on fixed-fee projects sized to a board or council budget
So far I’ve built production tooling that removed a manual design step, demand forecasting off an ERP, warehouse process automation, site and analytics remediation, and a data pipeline that scores funding prospects from public filings. I stay deliberately vague about who. Whether to talk about the work is the client’s call.
The team behind spktr
spktr is one person: me, Alex Smith.
What I do now
I started spktr in 2026 to do applied AI for owner-operated companies, the kind with real operational pain and no internal engineering team. I find the repetitive work worth automating, build a small version that has to earn its place, then scale the part that works.
I live in Phoenixville with my dog, Heizi, and work across Chester, Montgomery, Bucks, and Delaware counties, plus Philadelphia and the Main Line. If you’re nearby, I’m happy to meet in person.
Before this
I spent twelve years in China. Most recently I was a senior product manager at Klarna, where I owned image and visual search for about two years and shipped Product Image Search, Scan to Pay, and Scan to Add Card to more than 4 million people a day. I ran two China-based squads inside a discovery-shopping initiative of more than 300 people, and kept the China roadmap lined up with the European one.
Before Klarna I ran Le Wagon’s China business. I opened the Shenzhen campus from nothing to profitability in three months, then took over the whole China business: three campuses, 12 full-time staff, 64 part-time instructors, 393 students.
Earlier I ran design sprints at Wiredcraft for companies including Nike, Burberry, Hilton, IKEA, and Walmart, and shipped a WeChat Mini Program as product lead and frontend developer. I work in English and Mandarin.
Klarna
Senior Product Manager
2023–2026 · Shanghai and Stockholm
Le Wagon
China General Manager
2019–2023 · Shanghai and Shenzhen
Wiredcraft
Solutions Specialist
2017–2018 · Shanghai
Around Phoenixville
I founded and run Greater Philly AI, the region’s AI meetup, out of a Phoenixville venue. A speaker series with the calendar booked out, and I spoke at the debut about building a personal agent. I also built Shows Up, a volunteer-matching app that connects Phoenixville residents to the organizations that need help, and Made in Chester County, an independent showcase of 62 county companies across aeronautics, tech, life sciences, and manufacturing.
None of that is billable. I build things for this area because I moved back to it on purpose, after twelve years away, and I’d like it to have a real AI community.
How working with spktr works
You work with me, Alex, from the first call to the last fix. Email me at alex@spktr.ai or book the free call online: 45 minutes, Monday to Saturday, with start times from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Eastern and at least a day’s notice. I reply to email within one business day. If you’re nearby, we can meet in person instead.
If you’re weighing me against an agency or your IT company, this comparison lays out who does what, and the questions to ask before you hire an AI consultant apply to me too.
- 1
Free consultation
A 45-minute call, or a meeting in person, where I learn how your business runs and where to start.
- 2
Assessment
For $500, I spend up to half a day watching how the work runs, on site or over video. Within a week you get a written map of the workflows worth automating, ranked, with what each would take.
- 3
Scope
The map becomes the proposal for your first project: what it covers, the price and the finish date. The $500 is credited in full toward a first project signed within 30 days.
- 4
Build
I build a small working prototype, usually up in a few weeks, so you can watch it do real work. Then I finish it, hand it over and train your team on it.
Key facts
- Company name
spktr
- Type
AI automation consultancy
- Founded
2026
- Founder
Alex Smith
- Headquarters
Phoenixville, PA
- Service area
Greater Philadelphia: Philadelphia, Chester, Montgomery, Bucks and Delaware counties, and the Main Line. Remote-first, and in person across the Pennsylvania counties.
- Website
- Core offering
Finding the repetitive work in a business that is worth automating, building AI tools that do it, and keeping them running.
- Pricing
Intro call: free, 45 minutes. AI assessment: $500, credited in full toward a first project signed within 30 days. First project: fixed price from $10,000. Ongoing work: from $5,000 a month for one workstream, $10,000 a month for two in parallel. Care plan: $500 a month for upkeep after a first project. Team AI workshop: $2,500 for up to 15 staff at one site, or $3,500 for 16 to 30.
- Contract terms
A first project is one workflow at a fixed price, with a named result and a finish date set in a written proposal that usually comes from the assessment. Ongoing work has a 2-month first term and the care plan a 3-month first term, and both then run month to month. Nonprofits and public offices get fixed-fee projects in place of ongoing monthly work. The client owns the code, the documentation and admin access.
- Services
AI strategy and roadmappingAI sales automationAI marketing and content automationAI customer serviceOperations and paperwork automationFinance and admin automationCustom AI tools and softwareTeam AI training and enablement
- Contact
Email (answered within one business day), a free 45-minute call booked online, or in person across the Pennsylvania counties.
Frequently asked questions
Who runs spktr?
I do. I’m Alex Smith, and I founded spktr in 2026 after twelve years in China, most recently as a senior product manager at Klarna. I scope, build and support every project myself.
Where does spktr work?
Across Greater Philadelphia: Philadelphia, Chester, Montgomery, Bucks and Delaware counties, and the Main Line. spktr is based in Phoenixville. Most of the building is remote, and I meet clients in person across the Pennsylvania counties.
How does spktr’s pricing work?
Every price is fixed before work starts. The 45-minute intro call is free, the assessment is $500 and credited in full toward a first project signed within 30 days, a first project is a fixed price from $10,000 for one workflow, and ongoing work is a flat fee from $5,000 a month for one workstream or $10,000 for two. Nonprofits and public offices get fixed-fee projects instead of a monthly fee.
What kind of business is spktr a fit for?
Established, owner-operated businesses with about 5 to 50 staff and no engineering team of their own, where the same work repeats every week: quoting, scheduling, intake, invoicing, reporting and customer messages. The owner feels the problem and decides the budget.
What happens after a project ships?
You own it, in your own accounts, along with the code, the documentation and admin access. I train your team to use it. If there is more to build, ongoing work picks up one workstream at a time for a flat monthly fee.