We move fast. We fix what's broken.
ThnkLab is a small, opinionated AI consultancy for anyone doing real work, individuals, companies, nonprofits, and volunteer crews. We've spent years in the operator's seat, and we'd rather help you own one working thing than promise ten.
Make good AI tools reachable for the people who actually do the work: small businesses, nonprofits, community groups, and the one person holding it all together.
Mad Genius is the "thnk" in ThnkLab.
It's why we move fast and try things that haven't been tried.
AI cracked open a new world of solutions. We're the ones building in it, without permission, without 12-week discovery phases, without pretending we already know the answer.
If it's never been done before, good. Let's go.
01
Ship before you sell.
We'd rather show you a working prototype in week one than a 40-slide proposal in week three.
02
We've run the business too.
Our team has spent years in the operator's seat, payroll, late invoices, hiring misses, the works. We've felt the bottlenecks we now kill for you. That's why our advice is practical, not theoretical.
03
Kill the smallest annoying thing first.
Find the bottleneck eating the most hours. Build the smallest AI workflow that ends it. Repeat.
04
Talk like a human.
If we say 'leverage' or 'synergy' you have permission to walk out. We say what the thing does.
05
You own what comes next.
We don't build dependencies. We enable, build, hand off, and train so you can run it without us hovering forever.
06
Anyone doing real work.
Your budget and headcount don't decide whether you get good tools. A ten-person nonprofit deserves the same build quality as a company with a procurement department.
07
Partners, not vendors.
We work next to you, not at you. You know your work better than we ever will, so we build with you in the room instead of guessing from a scope document.
Mike Kline, Founder
Business operator turned builder. Twenty-plus years fixing process problems from the inside, now doing it with AI.
connect with meBefore
The operator's seat
Scaling startups, then running marketing, technology, and customer experience for trade associations. Mike saw what the right software does for a team with no budget to waste, and what the wrong software costs them.
2022
MKMC Consulting
Started to bring enterprise-level marketing to small and mid-sized businesses, built on the strategies that drove record revenue growth at SSPC and AMPP.
2023
The AI turn
ChatGPT landed and it was clearly not just another tool. A deep dive into Claude, Otter, and everything adjacent turned into a simple question: who actually gets access to this?
2024
Custom GPTs
Through Starter Story's AI App Accelerator came Chipp AI and custom GPT development. YinzGPT and 412Music proved the approach worked outside a demo.
2025
Building for real
Lovable opened the door to shipping full applications fast. A breakthrough workshop session at Chipp Con in Fargo, then a run of launched apps, made the direction obvious.
Now
ThnkLab
MKMC became ThnkLab: build the thing, teach the team, hand it over. Enterprise-quality work at prices a small business or nonprofit can actually sign.
"you're not some tech-bro a**hole. you actually relate to your students and teach something useful and practical."
– Workshop Attendee
- Prototype in week one, not a proposal in week three
- Built around the work, not around the software
- Straight talk, honest pricing
- You own it when we're done