About us
Empowering Orange County businesses with Artificial Intelligence Strategies and Practical Business Applications...
What We Are
OC AI Business Growth Rocktars is the go-to community for Orange County entrepreneurs, business leaders, marketers, technologists, and innovation-seekers who want to harness the power of artificial intelligence to scale, compete, and transform. We believe AI isn’t just a buzzword — it’s a tool to work smarter, grow faster, and lead with vision.
What We Do
- Practical Workshops & Demos: Hands-on sessions where you learn to apply AI tools and techniques directly into business operations — marketing automation, content generation, customer experience, predictive analytics, etc.
- Case Studies & Success Stories: We Spotlight what’s working in OC and beyond — real examples from local businesses using AI to save time, increase revenue, and enhance customer satisfaction.
- Peer Learning & Networking: Connect with other business owners, tech leads, and AI enthusiasts who are asking the same questions you are. Exchange ideas, resources, and challenges in a supportive environment.
- Stay Ahead with Trends & Tools: We filter the noise. From emerging AI platforms to regulatory/ethical issues — we cover the stuff you need to know to stay ahead in an evolving landscape.
Why Join
- Cut your learning curve by learning from those who are already experimenting with AI in business.
- Discover low-cost, high-impact tools you can implement right away.
- Build relationships that help with collaboration, referrals, or even co-development.
- Be part of the vibrant AI ecosystem growing fast in Orange County — you get access to the latest research, investment, talent, and trends locally. (OC has seen 400%+ growth in AI-investment deals in the last decade. (PRWeb))
Who It’s For
If you are any of the following, you’ll fit right in:
- A small or medium business owner wanting to streamline operations, marketing, sales using AI
- A marketer / growth professional seeking to integrate AI tools (automation, analytics, content)
- A founder or startup exploring AI/ML products or AI-adjacent services
- Tech practitioners who want to translate technical AI into business value
- Anyone curious how AI can change your business or industry
Vision
To make Orange County a hub where every business — big or small — can thrive in the AI era by being smart, ethical, and agile. We aim to bridge the gap between AI theory and business reality, so that leadership and growth are accessible and inclusive.
FREE Book
Before you start leveraging AI you need to get your systems in order because AI is not digital magic dust that fixes everything, it is more like a giant magnifying glass that amplifies whatever you have. Be sure to get your business in order with a FREE digital copy of How to Grow Your Business Like an M&A Pro by signing up for the NEXTATUS Wealth Strategies Newsletter. https://www.nextatus.com/free-book/
PS Check out this bookmarklet I created to allow your to RSVP for ten recurring events at a time. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hc3Atvivpx38UBG-5tUtWSUWrOje-ktqncdoYTEGP3Y/edit?usp=sharing
Upcoming events
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AIBGT: The AI Model Selection Playbook
·OnlineOnlineAI Business Growth Tuesday. Join us this week for special guest Mark Garrett, an expert in AI application and enablement, specializing in marketing automation, business process automation, and strategic development. As a CAIO, Mark helps businesses navigate the evolving AI landscape with clarity and direction. Mark's career spans decades and includes work in supply chain management, software development, real estate investing, construction, property management, marketing automation. His passion lies in empowering small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to leverage AI technologies for efficiency and growth - helping the leaders achieve the goals of the company while supporting the team through the journey of change.
Why Attend
Most business owners are using one AI tool and leaving enormous value on the table. The real competitive advantage isn't just using AI — it's knowing which AI to use, when, and how to chain them together into a workflow that multiplies your output. This session will give you a practical, repeatable system you can implement the same week.What You'll Walk Away With
- A clear mental model for when each major AI platform outperforms the others
- A step-by-step AI workflow chain you can apply to any business research or content project
- Practical prompt templates to move intelligence seamlessly from one tool to the next
- Confidence to stop second-guessing which tool to open — and start producing at a higher level
Session Outline (60 Minutes)
Opening — The Problem with One-Tool Thinking (5 min) Most people default to ChatGPT for everything. That's like using a hammer for every job. We'll reframe AI tools as a specialized toolkit, not a single Swiss Army knife.
The Players: Know Your Tools (15 min) A fast, practical breakdown of each platform's strengths:- ChatGPT — Prompt engineering, creative ideation, structured instruction writing. Best for thinking out loud and designing inputs for other tools.
- Perplexity — Real-time web research with citations. Best when you need current, sourced information fast.
- Claude — Deep reasoning, long-document analysis, structured outputs (spreadsheets, reports, formatted docs). Best for synthesis, refinement, and production-ready deliverables.
- Gemini 2.0 Pro — Extremely long context window, great for extended back-and-forth reasoning and working through complex, multi-part problems over a long conversation.
- NotebookLM — Source-grounded Q&A and summarization. Best when you have your own documents and want an AI that stays strictly within them.
The Workflow Chain: Putting It All Together (20 min) A live walkthrough of the full chain using a real business scenario:
- ChatGPT → Draft a precise research prompt based on your business question
- Perplexity → Run that prompt to gather current, cited research
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 → Paste the research in; analyze, synthesize, and extract key insights
- Gemini 2.0 Pro → Open a long-form strategic conversation to pressure-test ideas, explore angles, and develop your thinking
- Claude → Take the refined output and produce your final deliverable — a formatted report, spreadsheet, or presentation deck
Why This Order Matters (5 min) Each handoff is intentional. You're not just switching tools randomly — you're moving from input design → information gathering → synthesis → deep reasoning → production. This mirrors how a high-performing team would divide the same work.
Live Demo / Case Study (10 min) Walk through one concrete example end-to-end — ideal options include: competitive market analysis, client proposal creation, or content strategy development. Audience can suggest their own business scenario.
Q&A + Takeaways (5 min) Attendees leave with a one-page cheat sheet mapping each tool to its ideal use case and the workflow chain template.Take this quick survey to get a FREE outline of where to start implementing AI in your business. Take the AI survey here>>> https://www.nextatus.com/ai-heros-journey
PS Check out this bookmarklet I created to allow your to RSVP for ten recurring events at a time. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hc3Atvivpx38UBG-5tUtWSUWrOje-ktqncdoYTEGP3Y/edit?usp=sharing
1 attendee
AI Business Growth Tuesday
·OnlineOnlineAI Business Growth Tuesday. Join us for practical AI techniques, strategies, and tools taught by a Certified CAIO.
TOPIC TO BE ANNOUNCED.
Take this quick survey to get a FREE outline of where to start implementing AI in your business. Take the AI survey here>>> https://www.nextatus.com/ai-heros-journey
PS Check out this bookmarklet I created to allow your to RSVP for ten recurring events at a time. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hc3Atvivpx38UBG-5tUtWSUWrOje-ktqncdoYTEGP3Y/edit?usp=sharing
1 attendee
Past events
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