Just so you know I know what I'm talking about
My name's Ritesh Verma. A few years ago I was exactly where a lot of you are right now: a full-time job in corporate America. Badge in, sit in meetings, badge out. The plan was to do that for the next 40 years.
So in my free time I started consulting for AI founders. I'd tell them what to build, who to sell it to, and what to charge. Doing that on the side of my 9-to-5, I was making over $30,000 a month. I got featured in Business Insider.
Then I left the 9-to-5. Today I consult full-time and make anywhere from $60,000 to $100,000 a month, fully remote, from wherever I want to be. No boss, no commute, no PTO requests.
Consulting is also what let me see the world. I've advised founders from Spain, Portugal, Morocco, and plenty of other countries. On a bachelor trip in Spain, I ran my whole business from there, and that's when it clicked how powerful consulting really is. My income wasn't tied to a desk or a city anymore.
Since then I've explored most of the Seven Wonders of the World. I've been to Formula One races, which I love, and to sporting events like the FIFA World Cup final, where I got to watch Messi play. All of it paid for by consulting.
But don't take my word for it. The founders I've consulted are the proof.
- Founders in my portfolio
- 260
- In client revenue
- $4.1M+
- Per enterprise build at my agency, Slyte
- $10k–$60k
- Founder applications to Agent Rise
- 2,000+
One of my first-ever consulting clients, Vega AI, went from $50k ARR to over $300k ARR at a multi-million-dollar valuation. I was paid, and I got equity on top. I've helped companies reach multiple six and seven figures in ARR, and helped businesses reach $500k and $1M+ valuations.
Here are a few of the founders I've advised:
Tayyib, 21, college student
$1k → $20k/month
His AI agency went from $1,000 a month to $20,000 a month in 90 days.
Ty, 17
$5k → $30k/month
Took his one-person AI business from $5,000 a month to $30,000 a month.
Darien, non-technical
$31k deal
Closed a $31,000 voice AI build for an HVAC company, his biggest AI deal ever.
Neymar, MIT grad
6-figure valuation
His food-scanning app Tazzi did $5,000 in month one, gained 70,000 Instagram followers, and hit a six-figure valuation in 45 days.
Hear it from the founders themselves
Yannick, AI agency founder
$102k consulting deal
Tayyib, 21, college student
$1k → $20k/month in 90 days
Ty, 17, one-person business owner
$30k/month as a dropout
Tessa, 9-to-5 worker
2 AI businesses on the side
The advice everyone gives you is three full-time jobs
Everybody knows AI is the biggest opportunity of our lifetime. And the advice is always the same: start an AI agency, build AI agents, sell AI solutions.
Think about what that actually means. You become the developer, building the solution. You become the salesperson, closing the deal. And you become the outreach machine, sending hundreds of DMs and cold emails just to get someone on a call. That's three full-time jobs, and you probably already have one.
It's a great business model. Founders I consult run it as one-person businesses at $20,000–$30,000 a month. But here's what happens to most people who try it on the side: they watch the videos, get excited, spend a weekend learning Claude Code, and then the 9-to-5 eats their week. Six months later they're in the exact same seat.
And staying in that seat costs more than you think.
Is it too late? Is it saturated?
I run a seven-figure consulting company called Agent Rise. I've had over 2,000 founders apply to work with me, and at least 10 new ones apply every week: AI agencies, AI website agencies, AI solution agencies, AI SaaS.
They have the drive, and a lot of them have the money. What they don't have is someone next to them telling them what to do next. Which niche. Which offer. What to build. What to charge. How to close.
That person is the AI consultant. Demand for them is at an all-time high, and supply is close to zero.
Builders execute
Write the code, ship the agent, send the DMs, chase the deal.
Consultants decide
Pick the niche, shape the offer, set the price, call which deal to walk away from.
What if you didn't have to be the builder, the salesperson, and the outreach machine? What if you got paid for the part that's actually worth the most, which is the thinking?
What if the clients were already waiting for you, so you never sent a single cold DM? And what if, on top of a monthly fee, you got a cut of the revenue every founder you advise brings in, so your income grows as their business grows, without adding hours?
That's what an AI consultant does. The decisions are where the money is. You can do it on the side in under 10 hours a week, or go full-time. I've done both.
What the consultant seat looks like
Yannick lives in Madagascar. He started as a paid AI consultant to an energy-company founder who wanted to scale with AI. Because he was the one in the room telling that founder what to do, the trust was already there, and the consulting relationship turned into a $102,000 deal.
That's the consultant seat: access, trust, and upside. Every founder I showed you above needed someone in that seat helping them make the calls.
Why I'm doing this
Because I need more Yannicks. Agent Rise gets more founders applying than my team and I can personally consult. Every founder who comes in needs a consultant, and there aren't enough good ones. Believe me, I've looked. So I'm building the talent pool myself.
This isn't about the money. I don't need another course to sell. I need consultants, and some of you will end up advising my founders long-term.
Go find another AI consultant who's done this on the side of a 9-to-5 and full-time, with 260 founders in their portfolio, getting these results. Honestly, I encourage you to look.
10 seats per cohort
Who this is for
- You work a 9-to-5 in tech, as an engineer, PM, or analyst, and want serious income on the side without starting a second full-time job.
- You're a student or career-switcher who wants into AI without building an agency from scratch.
- You already build with AI, as a developer or automation builder, and want to move up from executing to deciding.
- You've done some consulting and want a steady pipeline of clients and a proven playbook.
If you want to be the person a founder calls before every big decision, keep reading.
Who this is not for
- You want passive income. Founders pay consultants for judgment and attention, every week.
- You can't commit 10 focused hours a week for the 90 days.
- You don't take feedback well. I'm going to review your work, and some of it will hurt.
- You want to run your own AI agency end to end. That's a different path, and it's what Agent Rise is for.