Speaker · Advisor · Mentor

Plans are easy.
The real world
is the test.

Army Ranger. Built a company with no capital and sold it. Built a career in financial services. Co-founded a tech company. Now Ken advises Fortune 500 teams, founders and small business owners on putting new ideas to work where it counts.

He speaks to corporate leaders, veterans, founders and community groups about what it takes to build from the ground up.

BOOK KEN TO SPEAK
Ken Sutton speaking on stage
SPOKEN AT CES VivaTech Paris Emerging Tech Exchange Boston AI Summit Voice AI Summit
AS SEEN ON CBS Boston
Media and stages

Ken in the room.

Ken Sutton interviewed by WBZ News at the Boston AI Summit 2026 CBS BOSTON · WBZ NEWSWhat AI industry leaders in Boston think of doomsday fears
Ken Sutton speaking at the Emerging Tech Exchange EMERGING TECH EXCHANGEFeatured talk, Santa Barbara
Ken Sutton on a panel at CES CES · LAS VEGASThe Voice of the Future, panel
Ken Sutton on a panel at VivaTech Paris
VIVATECHParis
Ken Sutton on a panel at Boston AI Week
BOSTON AI WEEKPanel [link to come]

RECENT APPEARANCES

  • CES, Las VegasPanel · The Voice of the Future
  • VivaTech, ParisPanel · Sight and Sound: the eyes and ears of AI
  • Emerging Tech Exchange, Santa BarbaraFeatured talk
  • Boston AI SummitPanel
  • Voice AI SummitFireside chat
  • CBS Boston · WBZ NewsInterview
"Ken has a rare ability to take deeply technical topics and show a C-suite audience exactly where the value is. He stays ahead on innovation but finds a way to make it relevant to today's problems. Ken is a strong communicator, technologist and operator from my experiences with him over the years."
Scott LikensGlobal Chief AI Engineer, Principal, PwC US

Bring Ken to your next event.

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The path

Five careers. Each one built from the ground up.

"I started a business in 1998 with no capital and nobody to ask."

MILITARY

U.S. Army Ranger

Airborne Ranger fire support specialist (13F2V), trained in air-ground operations and naval gunfire. The job: make the critical call before the picture is complete.

MARKETING

Founder, Tampa Marketing Group

Bootstrapped to eleven offices in six states. Promotions for Disney, the NBA and Universal Studios. Sold in 2006.

FINANCIAL SERVICES

Capital markets and structured finance

Learned how money moves. Led projects for investment banks, hedge funds and private equity firms, then founded an international capital advisory firm structuring debt and equity for entrepreneurs and project sponsors.

EMERGING TECH

Co-founder and CEO, Yobe

AI built for the real world. Yobe, his venture-backed voice AI company, holds two U.S. patents and runs in airports, vehicles and defense programs. He also founded UpShift, for small business owners, and IntuTV, a patent-pending streaming platform.

ADVISORY

Fortune 500 innovation advisor

Gets brought in to find where AI projects stall with the people meant to use them, then applies innovative product thinking to win adoption and create real value for Fortune 500 clients.

CAPITAL
$0
starting capital. Bootstrapped to eleven offices and sold.
$6.5M
raised in institutional funding to build a deep-tech company
$30M
in projected value surfaced for a major U.S. airline, from a $275K paid engagement
RESOURCES AND OUTPUT
0
clients, revenue or team on day one, across five companies
2 U.S. patents
one issued, one pending
10 industries
from aviation and healthcare to defense and finance
Speaking themes

Every talk is built for the room.

These are the themes audiences ask for most. Ken tailors every talk to the audience in front of him, and custom topics are welcome. Ken joins panels, fireside chats and workshops, and gives talks from chamber breakfasts to conference stages.

Founders and small business

No capital. Nobody to ask.

Bootstrapping from zero, without a network or a safety net. A company grown to eleven offices and sold, a venture-backed startup, and what small business owners should know before anyone sells them AI.

For founder events, chambers, SBDCs, civic and community groups

Veteran transition

Commit before you're certain

How military-grade decision-making habits carry into business, and what veterans bring to a startup that business school doesn't teach.

For VA and veteran service organizations, veteran ERGs, transition programs

Career reinvention and change

Starting over without starting from zero

Army, marketing, Wall Street, AI. What carries from one career to the next, and how to lead people through change when the old playbook stops working.

For HR and change leaders, MBA and alumni programs, universities

AI and innovation

By default or by design

Taking new technology from pilot to the real world. Most decisions get made by accident: a vendor pick, a demo that went well, a plan nobody tested. Ken shows leaders how to make those calls on purpose.

For Fortune 500 innovation teams, tech conferences, industry events

Have something else in mind? Talk to Ken about your event →

What Ken believes

Lessons learned the hard way.

"Hired, fired, made payroll and kept the lights on. That's where I learned most of what I teach."

"Nobody needs another strategy deck. They need a fix they can put to work on Monday and keep."

"Every decision gets made by default or by design."

Writing

Popular articles

All articles
Forbes Technology CouncilHow Voice Can Become The Enterprise Workflow Tool Of The Future LinkedInThe Consulting AI Alliance Every Firm Just Signed LinkedInVoice Is Already in Your Operation: by Default or by Design
Portrait of Ken Sutton
About Ken

Done the work. Not read about it.

Ken Sutton is a former U.S. Army Ranger and a serial founder who has built five companies from the ground up. He is co-founder and CEO of Yobe, a venture-backed voice AI company, and a named inventor on two U.S. patents. Fortune 500 teams bring him in as a trusted partner on innovation and on putting it to work, and he mentors founders at MassChallenge and Techstars. He writes on innovation and execution for the Forbes Technology Council.

Earlier in his career, he served on the board of Beat the Streets Wrestling Connecticut and built a 10-week entrepreneurship program for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Hartford.

Booking

Bring Ken to your stage.

Panels, fireside chats, workshops and talks. Community and nonprofit rates available. Replies within two business days.

Ken is booked by
  • Veteran service organizations and veteran ERGs
  • Founder and startup events
  • Chambers, SBDCs and economic development groups
  • Civic, cultural and community organizations
  • Corporate leadership, HR and change events
  • Fortune 500 innovation teams and tech conferences
  • Universities and alumni programs
Speaker kit

One-sheet to share with your team (PDF) · Headshots · Bios [to come]

After you send, you will get Ken's one-sheet to share with your team.