MEET THE FOUNDER

Hi, I'm Eric

I know...another Meet the Founder page. There's a reason that it's not part of the main page - I hate them, too.

For the interested, however, here's a quick run-down of who I am and why I started Forged Cortex. The quick run-down:

  • Experienced (over 20 years) IT professional with experience in a variety of roles and environments
  • Husband
  • Avowed cat guy
  • Proud resident of the biggest small state in the country

I started Forged Cortex because I believe that AI is the biggest thing to happen to technology since the invention of the desktop computer. However, it's also one of the most misunderstood and underutilized things we've put online since the invention of the internet. See the problem?

I want to solve it. If this is enough about me for now (and I hope it is), head back to the main page. If you still want to learn more, however, feel free to keep reading.

Eric Fadden - Founder
ERIC FADDEN
FOUNDER • CONSULTANT
THE JOURNEY

20+ YEARS OF HARD-WON EXPERIENCE

Every era taught me something different. Every failure taught me more than any success.

2004
2004-2010

FOUNDATIONS

Government agencies, non-profits, and my first ventures into the world of user support. This is where I learned the core of how to manage mission-critical systems where failure wasn't an option.

2010
2010-2015

ENTERPRISE

Fortune 500 environments, multi-nationals, and managing systems at 50,000+ user scale. Learned what 'production-ready' actually means....

2015
2015-2020

FRONT LINES

MSPs and consulting - seeing every mistake firsthand but getting really good insights into the way business decisions are made. If something could go wrong, I watched it happen - and was likely on the cleanup crew afterward.

2020
2020-2023

AI INFLECTION STARTS

Watching the hype cycle I'd seen a million times start to repeat with AI. Same promises, different decade. Most implementations failing to ship.

2024+
2024+

FORGED CORTEX

CURRENT

Building what I wish existed: an AI consulting that actually delivers - not on hype but on what the technology can really do.

CREDENTIALS

CERTIFIED IN WHAT MATTERS

Not just credentials for credentials' sake—certifications that translate directly to delivering results.

Claude Code in Action
Anthropic
Prompt Engineering
Certified
Prompt Security
Certified
Automation Expert
Make.com
TECHNOLOGY EXPERTISE

LLM PLATFORMS

ClaudeOpenAI/ChatGPTGeminiLocal LLMs

CLOUD / INFRA

Google CloudAzureDocker

AUTOMATION

Make.comCustom APIs
OUR STORY

FORGED IN THE FIRE OF REAL-WORLD IT

I didn't start as an AI consultant. That would be impossible - AI was still science fiction. I started as an IT professional on the front lines of just making things work. When a system went down at 2 AM, I was the one getting paged. When a project failed, I was the one cleaning up the mess.

That changes how you think about technology as times on.

You stop caring about what's impressive in a demo and you start caring about what survives contact with reality and users. What actually gets adopted by real people and enterprises? What keeps working when you stop babysitting it?

When AI became more than a buzzword, I saw the same patterns repeating: impressive demos, failed implementations, abandoned pilots. We weren't learning from our history, we were just doing the same things we'd done with every other technological leap we'd made. As a huge proponent of AI and the promise it brings, I decided to do something about that.

Forged Cortex was built to be different. Not different because I say it is, but different because I actually know what production-ready means. Because I've lived it. I hate hype cycles. I hate YouTube videos of people talking about how "insane" a particular tech is. We exist in reality, where the rubber meets the road.

HOW WE'RE DIFFERENT

WHAT SETS US APART

HONESTY OVER HYPE

We'll tell you when AI isn't the answer. We'd rather lose a sale than waste your money on something that won't work.

Too many consultants sell solutions before understanding problems. We start with your reality, not our sales pitch.

PRODUCTION OR NOTHING

A demo that never ships is a waste of everyone's time. We build things that actually run, actually scale, and actually get used.

See our process—every engagement is designed to deliver production-ready results.

PEOPLE MATTER MORE THAN TECH

The best AI in the world is worthless if your team won't use it. We focus on adoption, training, and change management—not just code.

Our services include training and enablement because shipping isn't the finish line.

READY TO START?

Let's have a real conversation about what you're trying to accomplish. No pitch decks, no sales scripts—just a straight discussion about your challenges.