2022
Started Bace Agency
Lake Forest, Illinois. First clients: local firms buried in manual work that nobody else wanted to touch.
About · Michael Pavlovskyi
Founder of Bace Agency. I sit down with the owner, walk the operations, build the AI, and hand over the keys. Based in Lake Forest, Illinois.
The story
I was born in Ukraine. I started building businesses as a teenager, before I was old enough to know how hard it was supposed to be.
E-commerce first. Then digital services. Then a software agency that built websites, CRMs, and custom tools for clients across Berlin, Warsaw, and Barcelona. I learned how real businesses run, where they quietly leak time and money, and why most technology projects fail for reasons that have nothing to do with the code. Business was always my strength. Coding was not.
Then 2022 came, and the war changed everything. I packed a laptop and moved to the United States with years of operating experience and very little else. I left behind the network, the clients, and the reputation I had spent years building. I bet on a country I had only seen on screens. Terrifying. Also the best decision I have ever made.
I landed in New York City with no warm introductions and no shortcuts, and I rebuilt the way I always have. One conversation. One problem solved. One client at a time. If you have ever bet your livelihood on your own judgment, you know the feeling. It is the same instinct that built your firm.
A year later, I moved to Chicago and started working with a family office, its private equity arm, and a handful of other local businesses. That is where I watched the work change. Hours that used to vanish into spreadsheets and inboxes started taking minutes. That was the moment AI stopped being a headline for me and became something I could hand to a client and watch them use.
So I went deeper on the technical side than I ever had. I have built and worked on AI and machine learning systems, including fraud detection in healthcare, where a wrong answer carries real consequences. I am still an operator first. But I am no longer a founder who points at the technology and hopes. I know what it can do, what it cannot, and where it is worth your money.
I have been the operator drowning in manual work. I know what it costs, and I know how to fix it.
By the numbers
Software and automation projects, delivered in three years.
The path here
2022
Lake Forest, Illinois. First clients: local firms buried in manual work that nobody else wanted to touch.
Spoke at
Microsoft- and Google-sponsored events on AI automation for professional services firms. Real case studies, not theory.
Attended
A week with founders and investors building on AI. I came back certain the North Shore was the market everyone else was ignoring.
Attended
Watched how the best startups ship fast, then brought that pace to client work.
Spoke at
AI and entrepreneurship. Talking to the next generation about building real things in real industries.
Today
Insurance agencies, law firms, financial advisors, healthcare practices. 95% come back for more.
Out in the field
Validation
When I say I understand your business, it is because I have sat across the table from people exactly like you. A coffee shop in Lake Forest, not a Zoom from San Francisco.
The RedNote Podcast
I host the RedNote Podcast: real conversations with founders and operators. No fluff, no scripts, just an honest look at what building a company actually takes.
Watch on YouTubeCredentials
Book a call. I will show you the first agent worth building and give you a plan you can act on, whether you work with us or not.