The new book gives C-suites and boards an operating system for turning enterprise AI spend into measured returns, built from more than 100 enterprise deployments.
ATLANTA (November 10, 2026) HatchWorks AI founder and CEO Brandon C. Powell today released The AI ROI Engine, a book that shows executive teams how to turn AI investment into a number they can defend to their board. Published by More Than Enough Press, it is written for the whole leadership team that owns a P&L, not the CTO or CIO alone.
The book comes from Powell's own experience. He pivoted HatchWorks AI, the 200-person firm he bootstrapped in 2016, to entirely focus on AI.
He got parts of it wrong first. Then he spent three years helping CEOs and executive teams get a real return on their AI investment. The AI ROI Engine is the system that came out of that work.
Why executives need it now
Nearly every company has adopted AI. Few can prove it was worth it. In PwC's 2026 Global CEO Survey of more than 4,400 CEOs, 56% said AI has not increased revenue or cut costs at all. Only 12% reported both. MIT NANDA's 2025 State of AI in Business report found just 5% of organizations have reached measurable, ongoing business impact.
Powell argues this is an operating problem, not a technology problem. The book starts from one rule: an AI initiative must pull at least one of three levers.
- Profit: revenue lift, cost takeout, and cash freed by faster cycles.
- Risk reduction: catching what people miss, at a speed people can't match.
- Decision velocity: calls that took weeks now take hours.
If an initiative pulls none of them, Powell calls it innovation theater.
What's inside
The AI ROI Engine runs fourteen chapters in three parts.
- Getting Real About AI covers where enterprise AI stands today, why adoption is universal while returns are not, and the six ways initiatives quietly fail.
- The ROI Engine lays out the formula behind the returns and the operating model that carries an initiative from idea to measured number. It includes two full case studies, one of which failed first.
- Building Your Own walks leaders through readiness, finding value, getting data in order, build versus buy, and a 90-day plan to reach a real number.
The book is not technical. It includes architecture, but it is written for people who read business cases.
Tested by the people who build AI
"Most enterprises can't tell you the return on their AI investment. That is an operating problem, not an AI problem. So I wrote a book about the fix."
Brandon C. PowellFounder and CEO, HatchWorks AI
Powell did not write it alone. He put each idea in front of the architects, executives deploying AI, forward-deployed engineers, and change leads at HatchWorks AI and asked them to argue with it. Engineers who ship agents into production cut anything that would fail in a real environment. Strategists who meet with executives every week cut anything a CFO would not sign. Every framework had to hold up for people who would use it on Monday.
What early readers are saying
Business leaders who read early copies say the book changed what they fund.
This is the playbook, not a book about it. We ran it. It works. If your AI pilots keep going nowhere, start here.
The only AI book I have handed to my leadership team. It tells you what to fund and what to kill.
I look at businesses for a living. The ones winning with AI do what is in this book. Everyone else buys tools and hopes.
The most useful, and more importantly, practical book on AI for business I've read.
Availability
The AI ROI Engine is available now in hardcover. Readers can also get the free Reader Artifacts at theairoiengine.com, with no purchase required. They include the AI ROI Engine Scorecard, every diagram from the book, and its checklists and decision tools, in interactive and PDF versions.
Powell also delivers keynotes, executive workshops, and board briefings on making AI pay. Booking details are at brandoncpowell.ai/speaking.
About Brandon C. Powell
Brandon C. Powell is the founder and CEO of HatchWorks AI. Forbes named him one of the top five AI leaders bringing AI to everyone. He holds a Harvard MBA and speaks on AI strategy for YPO EDGE, Tiger 21, CEO Coaching International, and Harvard Business School alumni programs. He calls himself an AI Humanist and treats that as a strategy, not a sentiment.
About HatchWorks AI
HatchWorks AI is an AI-native software development firm headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 2016, it has grown to 200 people across six offices in the Americas. Clutch ranks HatchWorks AI the #1 AI services company in the U.S. Learn more at hatchworks.com.
