Free Lesson

How I Scaled an AI Team From 3 to 50 — With No Budget

Hosted by Fredy Diaz

Sat, Jun 27, 2026

4:00 PM UTC (30 minutes)

Virtual (Zoom)

Free to join

Invite your network

Go deeper with a course

Lead AI Strategy without the Hype
Fredy Diaz
View syllabus

What you'll learn

Audit your five talent channels in 30 minutes

Score where you actually stand on each channel, then pinpoint the single lowest-scoring one as your fastest 90-day win.

Build a tiered upskilling track with no LMS or budget

Turn people already on your payroll into practitioners using the three-tier model — literacy, practitioner, expert.

Hire for skill, not pedigree — and keep talent longer

Rewrite postings to screen for capability, recruit nontraditional candidates, and embed talent so it doesn't walk.

Why this topic matters

Every director gets the same mandate: "stand up AI capability" — with no new budget or headcount. So they try to hire their way there and lose to bigger salaries. I scaled a team from 3 to 50 under those exact constraints. Capability was never about headcount; it's about five talent channels most leaders never systematize. This course is the full playbook — and a 90-day plan to start.

You'll learn from

Fredy Diaz

Data & AI leader, board member, mentor, US Marine

I'm a technology leader with 20+ years building systems and teams across US federal agencies. I've held leadership roles modernizing enterprise platforms, scaling high-performing teams from scratch, and architecting solutions serving millions. I received the Data Foundation CDO of the Year Award and hold a Master's in Government Analytics from Johns Hopkins and a MBA from University of Baltimore

I believe great engineering isn't just about writing code; it's about building with intention and creating systems that free teams to focus on what matters.

I'm teaching on Maven because I'm committed to making technical foundations accessible and practical. You'll get real-world strategies backed by my experience scaling systems and leading distributed teams across complex institutions.

See all products from Fredy

Sign up to join this lesson

By continuing, you agree to Maven's Terms and Privacy Policy.