Co-Founder, Primare AI
I’ve built and run companies since the 1990s. Now my son and I build private AI for SMBs.
What I’m doing now
I’m co-founder of Primare AI. We install private AI systems at small and mid-sized businesses. The system runs on a machine inside your building, you own it, and we maintain and support it after deployment. Calls get answered around the clock and leads get followed up while they’re still warm, and everything the system learns about your business stays with you.
I lead the operating side of the company, from the first conversation about what your business actually needs through deployment and the ongoing relationship that follows. My co-founder, who is also my son, leads engineering. My job is to make sure what we build holds up at a real front desk, not just in a demo.
Where I’ve been
1990s
I co-founded Encore Tickets, with locations in Atlanta, Dallas, and Charlotte, a ticket brokerage that later merged into PrimeSport, now part of On Location.
2000s
I owned a financial trading firm in the United States and China with more than 500 equity traders.
2010s
I’ve built and marketed my own companies for more than twenty years, in both the United States and China, and began providing digital marketing services to other businesses in 2012. I later acquired and operated a 300-person team in the Philippines supporting marketing agencies and their clients in the United States.
2022
In November 2022 my son and I began building AI systems for businesses.
2026
We founded Primare AI.
I didn’t come up through a large corporation. I’ve spent my working life building and running small and mid-sized businesses, and those are the businesses Primare AI is built for. These are my people.
Get in touch
- jw@jwkirkland.com
- Primare AI
- primare.ai
- Where
- I split my work time between Austin and San Diego.