AI Strategy & Opportunity Assessment
Map workflows, assess AI opportunities, evaluate vendors and tools, and build a roadmap — clarity before you invest in build or buy.
- Roadmap
- Governance
- Vendor eval
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About
Sergei Yakupov
AI Strategy & Product Advisor · Fractional AI Lead
AI transformation for knowledge-driven organizations · Lisbon, Portugal · Founder, Novocean · 25+ years in media
Profile
I help knowledge-driven organizations identify where AI creates real value, build practical solutions, and embed them into everyday work. My differentiator isn't coding — it's the ability to connect strategy, products, people and implementation, so AI moves from isolated experiments into production systems that people actually use.
That foundation comes from 25+ years in news media — as a journalist, editor-in-chief, and media executive — where I saw first-hand how editorial teams, distribution, and management operate under real constraints. Today I specialize in AI transformation for knowledge-intensive organizations — media, NGOs, research institutes, universities, think tanks, and public broadcasters — with media remaining my deepest proof point, not my only market.
Open to
Available for projects, partnerships, in-house roles, or startups
Whether you need strategic AI leadership for a specific project, someone to drive AI adoption long term, or an AI role in a startup, I'm open to finding the right fit.
- Short-term project
- Long-term partnership
- Fractional CAIO
- Full-time role
- Startup AI roles
How I can help
- Develop an AI strategy aligned with your editorial and business goals
- Lead AI products and projects—from discovery to implementation
- Serve as a fractional or full-time Chief AI Officer
- Take on AI-related roles in startups — strategy, product, or leadership
Experience
25+
Years in news media
Journalist, editor-in-chief, managing director, founder
15
Years consulting
Eastern & Central Europe, exile media, international partners
2021
Novocean, Lisbon
Agency of one — strategy, prototypes, implementation
Novocean (2021–present). Boutique AI consultancy — agency of one; strategy, prototypes in 2–4 week sprints. Clients include Postimees.ee, Delfi.lt, G4Media.ro, LSM+.
Botsever.co (2020–2024): Data-driven automation, bots on large datasets, actionable insights for media.
Collaborations: Zinc, BCME, DT Global Europe, Internews, Thomson Foundation, IREX, Fojo Media Institute, LSE, Delfi, Postimees, LSM+, G4Media.ro, Rise.md, iFact.ge.
Core competencies
What I bring to newsrooms
- ✓AI Strategy & Opportunity Assessment — roadmaps, governance, vendor evaluation
- ✓Fractional AI Leadership — interim AI lead, stakeholder alignment
- ✓AI Product Development — end-to-end, MVP to production
- ✓Workflow & Knowledge-Ops Transformation — automation, internal AI assistants
- ✓AI Quality & Evaluation — prompts, feedback loops, regression
- ✓Data Analytics — multi-platform dashboards, actionable insights
- ✓Stakeholder Communication — technical ↔ operational translation
- ✓Training & Enablement — workshops, playbooks, onboarding
Python, React, modern webOpenAI, Claude, Groq APIsPrompt engineering & LLM evalVector DBs & semantic searchRSS/HTML parsing & aggregationWordPress & custom CMSGitHub, CursorGA & social platform APIs
Key capabilities
AI Product Leadership
Discovery, MVP design, and feature prioritization — from idea to production-ready systems that teams actually adopt.
- Discovery
- MVP
- Adoption
Workflow & Knowledge Transformation
Workflow automation, knowledge management, and internal AI assistants — grounded in real editorial and organizational operations.
- Automation
- Knowledge mgmt
- Internal AI
Fractional AI Leadership
Interim AI lead, 1–3 days a week — strategy, delivery, stakeholder alignment, and team coaching without a full-time hire.
- Interim lead
- Delivery
- Coaching
Data Analytics
Unified dashboards spanning 7+ platforms, proprietary editorial metrics, GA and social APIs.
- Dashboards
- GA4
- Social APIs
Technical Development
Python, React, CMS integrations, vector search, Claude/OpenAI/Groq — prototyping in 2–4 week sprints.
- Python
- React
- CMS
Selected work
Let's talk about your AI transformation
Whether it's a short project, a fractional role, or a full-time position — strategy, product leadership, or Chief AI Officer — book a 30-minute call and we'll see if there's a fit.