Ryan Hurst
I design and ship humane, scalable software systems that turn messy, high-stakes workflows into measurable outcomes.
- Fractional CTO & Product Leader for InsureTech, PropTech, and AI-driven systems
- Based in Greater Phoenix · He/Him · Fractional CTO at Cloud Elephants
Quick Snapshot
16+ years
Shipping software and data products
$30M+ new ARR
Driven via integrations and workflow design
7 days → 1 day
Claims decisions for national home warranty provider
Telematics, InsureTech, PropTech, SMB
Enterprise data labs to scrappy field deployments
What I Do
I help leaders make confident technology bets—and then build the systems to back them.
1. Fractional CTO & Architecture
- Translate business strategy into an opinionated tech roadmap
- Architect scalable, humane systems across cloud, data, and app layers
- Align incentives across product, engineering, data, and ops
- Coach teams and de-risk major technology decisions
2. AI, Data, & Decision Systems
- Design AI-assisted workflows (LLMs, graphs, agents) around real constraints
- Integrate data sources into usable products
- Build narrative/risk analysis tools that reflect how humans decide
- Move teams from dashboards/tickets to agentic workflows
3. 0–1 Product Strategy & Launch
- Take ambiguous ideas to shipped, revenue-generating products
- Run lean discovery and define requirements, metrics, and feedback loops
- Partner with design/engineering to ship fast without losing strategic depth
Selected Outcomes
Telematics for data-driven insurance (AmFam Group)
Led advanced telematics product work, integrating high-frequency sensor data and in-house algorithms to sharpen driver risk assessment and accelerate data-driven insurance products.
OS for the home (Cloud Elephants)
Designed and built a home maintenance OS that unifies inventory, inspections, and workflows so homeowners and service networks share an actionable view of the home.
Claims process: 7 days → ~1 day (SIBI)
Directed engineering for key integrations with a national home warranty provider, cutting decision time and driving $30M+ in new annual sales.
Automatic warranty registration (SIBI)
Implemented automatic registration for a leading HVAC manufacturer, improving coverage, customer experience, and downstream service data quality.
Independent cinema distribution (myCinema.live)
Built web/marketing portal and partner certification system, shipping from concept to first paying theaters in ~4 months; streamed the first h265-encoded film into a cinema.
AI-powered narrative analysis & knowledge graphs (Cloud Elephants)
Transformed unstructured text and operational data into navigable knowledge graphs so LLMs can power real workflows instead of chat experiments.
Farm operations tracking and analytics (Agrarian Labs)
Co-founded and led product/engineering for a farm management platform using telematics, BLE, and offline-capable apps to coordinate complex, distributed field operations.
About Ryan
I’m a Fractional CTO and product/engineering leader with a background that bridges policy, economics, and software. I cut my teeth in global environmental policy and international relations at American University, then spent the last decade and a half building systems for insurance carriers, home services platforms, cinemas, farms, and small businesses.
Across InsureTech, PropTech, telematics, and remote sensing, my through-line is the same: design systems that align incentives, respect human constraints, and scale.
At American Family Insurance’s Data Science & Analytics Lab, I worked on telematics-driven insurance products—integrating high-frequency sensor data and AI tools to sharpen risk assessment and streamline internal operations. At SIBI, I led engineering teams that connected national home warranty providers, HVAC manufacturers, and REITs, turning claims and warranty workflows into something closer to real-time decision systems.
Through Cloud Elephants, I now help founders, PE-backed platforms, and operators adopt AI and automation in ways that are grounded, humane, and measurable. Underneath the job titles, I’m a systems thinker: I care about how incentives, data, software, and people interact over time.
Domains
- InsureTech & telematics
- Home services & PropTech
- SMB digital transformation
- Remote sensing & distributed field ops
- Workflow tools, CRMs, and knowledge systems
Capabilities
- Technology strategy & roadmapping
- System and data architecture (cloud, APIs, event-driven systems)
- AI & LLM-driven workflows and agents
- Product strategy, discovery, and requirements
- Cross-functional leadership (engineering, product, data, ops)
How I Work
- Systems over heroics. Repeatability and clarity over clever one-offs.
- Aligned incentives. If incentives are wrong, the system will fight you—I start there.
- 0–1 first, then scale. Comfortable in ambiguity; build the first valuable version, then tighten and scale.
- AI as leverage, not spectacle. LLMs, agents, and automation where they genuinely reduce cognitive load.
- Clear communication. Direct, structured, fluent across executive and technical layers.
Previous Roles & Highlights
- Fractional CTO, Cloud Elephants (2010–Present) — AI-driven systems and architectures for SMBs, funds, and operators.
- Senior Technical & Data Product Manager, American Family Insurance — Telematics and AI-assisted tools for data-driven insurance products.
- Software Engineer Team Lead, SIBI — Integrations and workflow redesigns for national home warranty providers and HVAC manufacturers.
- Technical Lead, myCinema.live — Built cinema content distribution and partner certification platform.
- Co-Founder & Product Lead, Agrarian Labs — Telematics-driven farm management tools and offline-first apps.
- Director & Co-Founder, The African Equity Fund — Education, entrepreneurship, and technology initiatives across Sub-Saharan Africa.
Who I Work With
- Founders / CEOs in complex ops (insurance, home services, field ops, regulated environments) needing a pragmatic technology partner.
- PE / growth-equity platforms standardizing data, workflows, and AI across portfolio companies.
- Scaling SMBs that outgrew spreadsheets and ad-hoc tools and want durable, AI-ready architecture.
- Also open to Senior Technical PM, AI-focused engineering leadership, or Director-level data roles where systems and product depth matter.
Let’s Talk
Navigating complex technology decisions—AI, data, architecture, or 0–1 product bets? Let’s connect. No pressure, just a structured conversation.
$500 Value
Free Assessment
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