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AETHER AI
Aether AI · Mats Ponte

You know your business.I know AI.

Together we look at where your business gets stuck, and whether a solution can be built for it. You bring the knowledge of your business, I bring the AI expertise. Without the hype.

Process automation, knowledge bases, websites and MVPs for SMEs. In days to weeks, not months.

Available for new projects

In the cloud or entirely on your own servers.

Independent AI specialistThe Netherlands

You do not have to take my word for it.

This site

Designed and built myself

What you are looking at is my work: design, code and infrastructure. No template, no agency.

Eight working demos

Technology you operate yourself

Customer email, meeting notes, receipts, documents and more: working demos of what runs at our place, not a screenshot.

See the work

n8n · Next.js · React · Supabase · PostgreSQL · Python · Pinecone · OpenAI · Anthropic · Resend · TypeScript · Tailwind

01 · In your business

Every business owner knows it: the day is full of work that is not running the business. Email, handovers, quotes, the same questions. That is working in your business, while the gain is in working on it.

Extra staff does not solve that, and neither does working longer hours. It is in the set-up: processes that look right on paper but keep landing on your desk in practice. Knowledge that only lives in your head. Follow-up that waits until you have time.

That is exactly where the value is, and nobody sees those spots more sharply than you. What is usually missing is someone who can judge which of them AI can solve. That is what I bring.

02 · Together

The best analysis is one we make together.

What you bring

  • How your business really runs
  • The places where hours leak away
  • The judgement whether a solution holds up in practice

What I bring

  • AI expertise, from university to shop floor
  • The building capacity to actually make it
  • The option to run everything on your own servers
  • An honest answer, even when that answer is 'no'

That overlap is where the value lies.

03 · Working principle
I will also say so when AI is not the answer.

No sales call: an honest answer, even if it is 'no'.

04 · Why different

No agency, no packages. One craftsman.

One point of contact

You talk to the person who also designs and builds it. No account manager between you and the technology, no noise in the handover.

No packages

I do not sell a subscription or a standard solution. What I build is what your situation asks for, not what happens to be on the shelf.

Honest, even when it is 'no'

If there is no opportunity, I say so. No sales funnel, no pressure: an honest judgement is worth more than a solution sold.

Science to shop floor

AI knowledge from the university, translated into what your business can use tomorrow. And, if you prefer, entirely on your own servers.

05 · What runs at our place

If there is an opportunity, I build the solution.

Everything below runs every day at Aether AI itself. We built it because we ran into the problem ourselves, not the other way round. Click a row for what it does and how it would work for you.

Click a row for detail

Every morning you see who is waiting for a reply from you, in order of priority, and for every email there is a draft in your own mail program. Checked, without duplicates, in your tone. Sending is up to you.

What we build in practice

  • A daily list in order of priority: who is waiting for you, since when and about what, with what needs doing first at the top
  • Every email picked up straight away, with a draft in your own mail program (Outlook, Gmail, Zoho), never sent automatically
  • A reply in the writing style of your own sent mail that does what you would normally do: attach a quote, propose a meeting, refer onwards
  • A check on sent and trash, so a duplicate draft never appears
  • A second review round on text and attachments before the draft is ready

Tooling

IMAP/Graph · Python · Anthropic · Outlook · Gmail · Zoho

Lead time: one to three weeks for a working first version.

Record the conversation on your phone or laptop. Within a few minutes you have a written transcript, the agreements listed and a draft email to your client. The recording never leaves your own computer or server.

What we build in practice

  • A recording app for your phone and laptop, connected to your own AI system, no new device needed
  • Fully local transcription (Whisper large-v3), in Dutch, with your clients' names as hints
  • Notes with decisions, open questions and action points per person
  • A draft email with the agreements, ready to send
  • Storage per conversation in a fixed folder, searchable

Tooling

Whisper large-v3 · whisper.cpp · Own recording app · Python · Local or shielded AI

Lead time: one to three weeks for a working first version.

Take a photo of the receipt and email it. Amount, VAT, date and supplier land in your bookkeeping by themselves, and you log your trips with one sentence. When the VAT return is due, everything is ready.

What we build in practice

  • A fixed email address or keyword: send the photo there and it is processed
  • Text recognition on the receipt, on your own device where possible
  • Logging trips in plain language ('Breda to Tilburg and back, client X')
  • A connection to your bookkeeping (Moneybird, e-Boekhouden, Exact)
  • A quarterly overview ready for the VAT return

Tooling

On-device text recognition · Python · Mail · Moneybird · e-Boekhouden · Exact

Lead time: one to three weeks for a working first version.

Certificates, quotes, work orders or reports you now fill in by hand in Word or InDesign. We connect them to the system where the data already lives and let them appear by themselves every day, in your house style. With a check against the source, so you know nobody is missing.

What we build in practice

  • A template that looks exactly like your current document
  • A daily connection to your existing system that only reads data: nothing in your system is changed
  • A check against the source: expected and made must be equal
  • No duplicates, even when the flow runs again
  • A draft email with the document attached, sending is up to you

Tooling

n8n · Gotenberg · HTML templates · REST/Webhooks · Python

Lead time: one to three weeks for a working first version.

An AI assistant on the phone with access to your own systems. It keeps your appointments, makes new ones and schedules them, reminds you at the right moment and calls you at a fixed time with a briefing. You pass on tasks while you drive, and it asks for hours and kilometres so you never have to fill them in afterwards.

What we build in practice

  • A phone number of its own for your assistant, with an access code before it tells you anything
  • Keeping appointments, making and scheduling new ones, and reminders at the right moment
  • A daily call with a briefing from your own systems
  • Passing on tasks, notes, hours and kilometres in plain speech
  • A call report that lands in your file or CRM automatically
  • Fixed boundaries: which systems it may read, what it must never do
  • Honest advice on where to use it: in our experience voice AI is not yet good enough for conversations with customers, for internal use it already comes in handy today
  • More uses than these: which conversations a digital secretary could take over at your place, we explore together

Tooling

ElevenLabs · Telephony · Custom tools on your systems · Python · Anthropic

Lead time: one to three weeks for a working first version.

You want AI to read along in your email and files, but not in everything. We build a boundary that does not depend on a good instruction: confidential clients, files or folders are technically shielded, and every attempt is logged.

What we build in practice

  • A list of shielded clients, domains or folders that you manage yourself
  • Email and documents from that source are unreadable to AI, not merely 'do not use'
  • A block before writing, not a check afterwards
  • A log of what was blocked
  • For confidential work a separate, secured AI environment with contractual guarantees on data security, or a model on your own server

Tooling

Shield list · Block before writing · Log · Business AI environment · Open models on your own server

Lead time: one to three weeks for a working first version.

Commercial websites and MVPs: fast, built to convert, connected to your CRM. No months-long projects.

What we build in practice

  • Marketing sites with measurable conversion and clear CTAs
  • MVPs for ideas that still need validating
  • Customer portals, dashboards, intake applications
  • Integration with CRM, email, payments, AI layer

Tooling

Next.js · React · TypeScript · Tailwind · Supabase · Resend

Lead time: one to three weeks for an MVP.

06 · What that looks like

Three set-ups, one pattern: the work keeps going. Without you.

Illustrative set-ups. Your situation determines the final shape. No standard packages.

Set-up 01

The quote that writes itself

Today

Every request means copying from old quotes, looking up prices, fixing the layout, and doing it all over again next time.

  1. Request comes in
  2. AI reads & structures
  3. Draft in your house style
  4. You approve
  5. Customer receives

With this set-up

You only approve. The rest is ready, in your house style, with your prices.

n8n · your CRM · email

Set-up 02

The knowledge base that answers itself

Today

The same questions come back every week, and the answer is in your head, or somewhere in ten documents.

  1. Question is asked
  2. Searches your documents
  3. Checks the source
  4. Answer, with reference

With this set-up

Staff and customers get an immediate answer from your own documentation, with a source reference.

RAG · vector database · your documents

Set-up 03

The lead that never sits idle

Today

A request on Friday afternoon waits until Tuesday, and by then has become someone else's customer.

  1. Lead comes in
  2. AI assesses & enriches
  3. Personal reply
  4. In your CRM, followed up

With this set-up

Every lead gets an immediate, substantive, personal reply, and you see everything back in your CRM.

n8n · AI agent · your CRM

No promises, proof

Try the working demos
07 · How it works

No sales call. An honest answer.

even if it is 'no'

You email

Describe where it gets stuck. One paragraph is enough. You know your business best.

I read

I look at it through an AI lens. Honestly, even if there is no opportunity in it.

We look together

If I see an opportunity, we discuss together whether it is worth pursuing.

Free and without obligation. One paragraph about where it gets stuck is enough; you get an honest judgement on whether there is an AI opportunity in it, even if that answer is no.

Send your challenge
08 · Honest answers

What you are probably wondering.

Q1Do I need to be technical myself?

No. You know your business, I handle the technology. Everything I build is documented in plain language, and you get one point of contact: me.

Q2Is my data safe?

Solutions run on your own infrastructure where possible, and I work GDPR-aware: no customer data goes to third parties without agreement, and it is clearly recorded what goes where. Safe, privacy-compliant deployment is one of my four core areas.

Q3Can AI also run entirely on my own servers?

Yes. Alongside cloud models, I can run open AI models entirely on your own infrastructure, so sensitive data never leaves the company. That can be fully local or a hybrid setup: sensitive work on-premise, the rest in the cloud. We look at what fits best together, it is always open for discussion.

Q4What does AI automation cost for SMEs?

That depends on the solution, but we make a clear agreement about it up front, so you know where you stand before I build. No agency rates, no billable-hour surprises. And a first email with an honest answer costs nothing.

Q5What if AI is not the solution?

Then I say so. That is the working principle of Aether AI: rather an honest 'no' than a project that delivers you nothing. You are then one email further along, with no budget spent.

Q6How long does a project take?

Days to weeks, not months. I work solo with AI tooling as leverage, so there is no agency overhead between your question and a working solution.

Q7Will I stay dependent on Aether?

No, no vendor lock-in. It runs on your infrastructure, I document what I build, and you can always take it to someone else. That keeps me sharp.