How we think, and how we work.
Principles
- 1
Quality is the point.
We use AI to raise the depth and quality of what skilled people produce, not to churn out more of the same, faster. If the output is merely quicker and more plentiful, we’ve missed the point.
- 2
Work should get more human, not less.
A well-designed AI process clears away the drudgery so people can spend their time on the craft they’re good at and care about. We won’t build systems whose main purpose is cutting people out. If the work is less satisfying when we leave, we’ve got it wrong.
- 3
Curiosity is the engine.
AI lets anyone who asks good questions prototype, test and explore at a pace that was impossible a few years ago. That’s where the value should come from: new things made, not people replaced.
- 4
Build things that outlast us.
Past the prototype stage, we build systems that are documented, easy for the next person or agent to pick up, and shaped around your expertise and aims. You should finish able to run and improve them yourselves, and know who to call when you can’t.
A note on AI and good work
Dave Beck · October 2026Every labour-saving technology has promised us time: time to do things well, and time for each other. AI could finally keep that promise. It could both lift the quality of skilled work and give us hours for family, friends and community.
Instead, we’re being sold volume and corporate profitability. More content, faster, cheaper. Judgement handed to software. Conversations routed through chatbots. The result is a world full of slop and emptier jobs.
Thala is here for good work. We build AI that makes skilled people better at what they do, keeps decisions in human hands, and leaves teams prouder of their work than before we arrived.
Who we work with
Small and medium-sized firms and private clients, almost all of them outside the UK: in Canada, the US, Europe, Australia, Dubai and Oman. For private clients we mostly build research stacks tailored to their interests, like the one behind our own writing, and audit how their research and personal teams use AI.
The people
Dave Beck
FounderIn research technology since 2013, starting while finishing a PhD. Since 2020: personal knowledge systems and research assistants, and shadow-CTO work for founders and small firms. The first Thala (2019–21) helped clients store, organise and build on their own thinking. Run from a family yacht in the Caribbean on fifteen hours a week, it was great for its clients and impossible to scale. Many lessons learnt.
James Perly
Business consultingTwenty-five years advising founders and executives, most of it through his own practice; he was the earliest mentor to Jayson Gaignard, founder of MastermindTalks. As Senior Partner at Perly Consulting he has spent those years winning Canadian firms SR&ED, IRAP and training funding, learning file by file what the CRA actually means. He has taught since 1998, at Queen’s, U of T and as head trainer at Gardner Walker.
Emma Dawson
Research consultantEmma has 15 years’ experience in research across a range of academic disciplines, and has worked with Dave in various roles since 2020. Her attention to detail makes Claude on ultracode look sloppy, and she brings insight to every field she touches.
Mian Mansoor Ahmad
Design and buildMansoor has spent six years building AI systems for clients across the US, UK, UAE, Australia and Europe: multi-agent architectures, voice AI, and the production infrastructure that keeps them running. He has contributed to Thala since 2022, trains in MMA, makes music, and is at his best when the problem is genuinely hard.
We’d like to hear from people in three areas. Work with us →
How we work
- Fixed pieces of work. After a first conversation you get a written proposal: scope, outcome and cost, agreed before we start. Most pieces take 4–12 weeks. There’s no price list, because everything is made to fit, and no open-ended retainers.
- Sometimes, a joint venture. Where the upside is large and shared, we take a percentage of the gain instead of a fee. Our SR&ED work with Perly Consulting runs this way.
- No commission, ever. We never take commission on any product we recommend. Advice is only worth having if it isn’t for sale.
- Your work stays private. We never name a client, or show their work.
- Async by default, once we know each other. Fewer meetings: notes, voice notes and screen recordings instead, picked up when it suits you. Quicker turnarounds, whatever the time zone.
What can we do for you?
Get in touch