Trae Nunnink, smiling, in round glasses, a blue plaid jacket, and a navy polka-dot bow tie

Kansas City owner and builder

AI, explained by someone who uses it to run a real business.

I sit down with owners and peel back the layers of AI over one conversation, in person, by phone, or on video. You'll leave knowing where it fits your shop and where the juice isn't worth the squeeze.

Let's talk

Happy to talk, even if nothing comes of it.

About

I founded a national recruitment advertising agency in Kansas City in 2001 and have run it ever since, without outside capital.

Before that I ran a publishing company, owned a restaurant, and started other ventures, including a premium emergency-kit brand featured in Entrepreneur. In 2008 I cut staff by more than half and kept the company alive.

Since 2022 I've personally designed and built a ten-application software portfolio that runs much of my business, with more than 600,000 lines of production code in the most recent nine months. The apps run on React, TypeScript, and Node.js, and I'm rated at Replit's Master Builder tier.

But here's the interesting part: I've never written a line of code in my life.

~$⅓Bin capitalized billings since 2001, with no outside capital
$24M+peak annual billings in 2015, matched in 2021 with half the staff
#17ranking from the Kansas City Business Journal

Three ways I help

Quotes that go out the same day

I built a proposal system that sends each client a custom, interactive proposal at its own private link, with automatic follow-ups. It has produced 1,074 of them so far. If your quoting lives in spreadsheets and email, there's probably a faster path.

Guardrails on the numbers that drift

My ad-posting platform runs an hourly check that shuts spend off before it goes over budget, then emails me. The same idea works for overtime, freight, inventory, or any figure that shouldn't move without someone knowing.

Your own data, answering back

I replaced a legacy reporting server with AI financial reporting, and my internal hub pulls sales, leads, and finance into one place where each person sees only what their role allows. Most owners already have the data. It just needs to talk.

Local

I'm a Kansas City native, and I live at 58th and Ward Parkway. When you call, you get me, right here, and across the table if you'd like.

Let's talk

Coffee, a call, or a video chat. Your pick.

Tell me a little about your business and how it runs. I'll tell you plainly where AI would earn its keep, and I'll reply myself. If the answer is "not yet," that's a fine outcome too.