The Risk Memo.
AI in plain English.
One short note every Tuesday. What I'd tell a business owner over coffee — the move worth making this week, the risk worth watching, and the AI hype worth ignoring. 5 minutes. No fluff. No sales call.
What you get every Tuesday morning.
I run a one-person consultancy out of Switzerland. Before that I spent ten years as Head of Security at Loomis International, running risk programs across 50+ countries. I trained as an instructor in the Swiss army's most demanding unit. For the last two years, my entire job has been helping non-technical owners of growing businesses use AI without getting burned by it.
The Risk Memo is the same email I'd send a friend who runs a $5M company and asked me, "what should I actually do about AI this week?"
- 01
The Risk Question
One thing your AI setup is probably doing wrong this week, and how to test it in 60 seconds.
- 02
This Week's Move
One concrete action — usually free, never longer than an afternoon — that moves your AI readiness forward.
- 03
From the Field
What I saw this week working with real businesses. Names changed; lessons intact.
What it actually looks like.
Below is a real issue. Read it like a subscriber would.
From: Dominic Frei <[email protected]>
[Risk Memo #014] The "free trial" tax you're already paying
Last week I sat with the owner of a 38-person logistics company. She had eleven AI tools in her stack. Seven were on free trials that had silently converted to paid plans. Three were duplicating the same workflow. One was a $400/month subscription nobody on her team had logged into in 90 days.
She wasn't reckless. She was busy. This is the default state of growing businesses in 2026.
THE RISK QUESTION
Pull up your last 90 days of company-card statements. Filter for "AI," "GPT," "Claude," "Otter," "Copilot," "Synthesia." How many lines do you find? How many of those tools is anyone on your team actually using this week?
THIS WEEK'S MOVE
Block 30 minutes Friday. Cancel anything nobody used in the last 14 days. Average savings on the businesses I audit: $340/month. That's $4,080/year you can put toward one tool that actually moves the needle.
FROM THE FIELD
The logistics owner above cut $1,140/month in 22 minutes. She kept three tools. Her team uses all three.
— Dominic
Yes — send me one of these every Tuesday.
Questions I get.
One memo. Every Tuesday.
In plain English.
— Dominic Frei, Switzerland
Page last reviewed by Dominic on May 2026