Houston, Texas · Building across worlds

COLBYBLACK

My main focus is development — building EIG Nexus, applied AI products, and web applications through Emergent Intelligence Group. I founded Emergent Intelligence to turn emerging technology into working systems.

Enter Emergent See the workBuild a website
BusinessColby@EmergentIntelligenceGroup.comPersonalEmergent.intel@gmail.comPhone713-882-7467
Art-directed portrait of Colby Black walking through a city in a dark suit
Systems builderCreative technologist
20+years across sales, operations, and building
22modules in Forthea's SMITools revenue operating system
3disciplines connected: development, marketing, sales

00 / MANIFESTO

Creativity is not decoration.

Creativity is not decoration. It is how an unclear opportunity becomes visible, useful, and real.

00A / EMERGENT ORIGIN

Founded independently by Colby Black

Emergent began
with one builder.

Before Emergent Intelligence Group became a company, Colby started Emergent Intelligence alone as a working lab for turning emerging technology into products people could see, test, and use. In March 2026, he co-founded Emergent Intelligence Group with Mathew Young and Ryan Caulkins.

That founder-led build arc included Pocket Factory, SkyClaim, a door-knocking app, digital avatars, voice clones, and other early experiments. Today, that same impulse continues through EIG — and EIG Nexus is the orchestration layer connecting the work.

Pocket FactorySkyClaimDoor-knocking appDigital avatarsVoice clonesApplied AI experiments

Founder historyEarly work ranged from experiments and prototypes to operated ventures. The current EIG portfolio is presented by demonstrated maturity, not as one undifferentiated claim.

Enter EIG Explore EIG Nexus
Emergent Intelligence gold-and-white mark
NOWEIG Nexus
SkyClaim drone inspection venture visual
OPERATEDSkyClaim
My Computer Map local work intelligence interface
BUILTMy Computer Map

00B / EIG NEXUS FILM

Founder-built product storytelling

The system,
made visible.

Colby built the product world and visual story around EIG Nexus, translating an agentic operating system into something people can immediately see, feel, and understand.

Watch on YouTube

September 24, 2026 · product views

Inside the workspace.

Supplied development screenshots; connection and setup states are visible. Select an image to see the full view.

Build with Codex · development view: The coding workspace and shared conversation surface. Codex is disconnected in this capture.
Build with Codex · development view

The coding workspace and shared conversation surface. Codex is disconnected in this capture.

God’s Eye View · development view: The embedded globe showing Houston and traffic visualization overlays.
God’s Eye View · development view

The embedded globe showing Houston and traffic visualization overlays.

00B / WORK IN MOTION

Work in motion.

Original content, on-camera presence, and AI-assisted filmmaking — presented as moving artifacts, not a static gallery.

FILMED · EDITED · SOUND DESIGNED

Built from first frame to final mix.

Colby filmed, edited, and created the sound design for this original production.

Watch with sound

DRONE FILM · SAN DIEGO

Give silent footage a pulse.

A San Diego drone film rebuilt through manual sound design to deepen movement, scale, and immersion.

Watch with sound

SOLAR BUILD · FIELD INVENTION

Build the system around the constraint.

Colby walks through his fence-mounted solar solution, the pergola he built, and a direct-solar DC mini-split. He reports the approach reduced required system size by roughly 40%, before adding batteries and a free-nights hybrid strategy.

Watch with sound

FEATURED SHORT FILM

The Ones We Find

Built by Colby Black from a mix of real images and video, image-to-video tools, manual editing, and sound design.

Watch with sound on YouTube
01Original content

Commercial presence

On-camera product storytelling built around movement, detail, and trust.

02AI motion study

After-hours momentum

A close-profile drive dissolves into neon streets and wheel-level city motion.

03AI-assisted film

Memory, remade

A personal memory reconstructed as a cinematic AI-assisted visual narrative.

04AI-assisted montage

Weather the transition

Suit, field identity, lightning, rain, and machine imagery cut into one transformation sequence.

05AI cinematic sequence

Into the storm

A cinematic progression from executive presence to entering the truck and driving through the rain.

Art-directed Colby Black Creatives portrait
∞Living collection

More work enters here.

This reel is designed to keep growing as new films, experiments, and stories are finished.

JIU-JITSU · MEXICO

Practice under pressure.

Colby training Brazilian jiu-jitsu in Mexico—another view of the discipline, adaptation, and repetition behind the work.

Watch with sound
Colby Black smiling in a cowboy hat beside his computer workspace
THE BUILDERHouston / 2026

01 / THE THROUGH-LINE

Development first. Marketing makes it visible. Sales brings it to market.

Colby Black focuses on development: turning ambiguous opportunities into applied AI products, web applications, and operational workflows. Marketing makes the work visible and understandable. More than two decades in sales ground the build in how people decide, what they need, and how an offer reaches the market.

20+ years learning how people decide, teams perform, and offers move.

One practice connecting code, content, operations, and real-world execution.

Human center technology does the grind; judgment stays with the person.

“I do not wait for the perfect category. I understand the system, find the missing piece, and build it.”

02 / OPERATING RANGE

Three disciplines.
Development leads.

Build the product. Tell its story. Bring it to market.

01Current focus

Development

Build the product. Connect the workflow. Make it useful.

Development is Colby's main focus today: building applied AI products, web applications, and operational systems through EIG. Product architecture, hands-on implementation, and human review connect the idea to a working experience.

  • Product and systems architecture
  • Full-stack and web development
  • Applied AI and agent orchestration
  • Human-in-the-loop workflow automation
02Core strength

Marketing

Make the work understandable. Give people a reason to care.

Positioning, creative direction, cinematic media, brand narrative, and product demonstrations help people understand what was built and why it matters. Photography, video, and technical translation give the product a visible story.

  • Positioning and brand narrative
  • Creative and art direction
  • Photography, video, and product demos
  • Technical teaching and translation
03Commercial foundation

Sales

Understand the need. Shape the offer. Earn the decision.

More than two decades across retail, B2B, reputation, solar, and founder-led sales inform how Colby understands demand, prices offers, builds teams, and brings products to market.

  • Consultative selling
  • Revenue and go-to-market design
  • Team building and enablement
  • Partnership and offer architecture

03 / SELECTED PROOF

Built systems.
Visible proof.

Products, working prototypes, commissioned systems, and operated ventures — shown through the interfaces people can actually recognize and use.

My Computer Map development workspace showing the Nexus domain map and project evidence.
05

EIG product · local work intelligence

My Computer Map

Your computer, simplified.

A local-first knowledge and control surface that connects selected files, meetings, project facts, and active work so the operator can understand what exists, where it came from, and what needs attention.

  • Maps selected local work into navigable spaces and living relationships
  • Keeps source evidence and provenance attached to claims
  • Turns scattered project context into an operator-facing workspace
Local-firstKnowledge mapWork intelligence

Private pilot

See it in the EIG product gallery
Land Grabber permit opportunity dashboard with an interactive Texas map and owner workflow.
06

EIG prototype · land and mineral workflow

Land Grabber

Turn permit activity into researched owner opportunities.

A focused application that translates permit research, owner review, quality control, and land-workflow coordination into a visible opportunity pipeline.

  • Permit discovery and geographic opportunity views
  • Owner matching, title checks, and quality-control queues
  • Structured lead packages prepared for human review
Permit researchOwner workflowLead operations

Working prototype

See it in the EIG product gallery
SkyClaim drone inspection visual above a residential roof.
07

Field system · operated 2020-2023

SkyClaim

Turn a damaged property into a clear, time-stamped visual record.

A drone property-inspection operation built to organize high-resolution imagery, measurements, and damage documentation for homeowners, contractors, and adjusters.

  • Standardized field-to-report deliverables
  • Drone operations and team training
  • Client education across property stakeholders
Drone operationsField documentationProperty workflows

Operated venture

Inventory Agent dashboard showing an active equipment-book project and deliverable readiness.
08

EIG product · field-to-deliverable workflow

Inventory Agent

Turn field capture into controlled, sales-ready deliverables.

A guided inventory application that organizes equipment records, source evidence, buyer materials, and project outputs without overwriting the original files.

  • Structured import, organization, research, and evidence stages
  • Controlled project templates for equipment and asset sales
  • Reviewable deliverables assembled from source material
InventoryField operationsDeliverables

Related-company delivery

See it in the EIG product gallery
Nexus Web Agent interface for visible, voice-controlled browser operations.
09

EIG prototype · browser operations

Nexus Web Agent

Turn plain-language goals into visible browser work.

A browser-operating surface that translates spoken or typed objectives into human-readable web actions, live work updates, and reviewable outputs.

  • Voice and text command surface
  • Visible browser actions and human-readable work history
  • Scoped permissions and operator control
Browser agentVoice controlVisible work

Working prototype

See it in the EIG product gallery
Wi-Fi Sensing Lab interface showing a spatial situation map and nearby device alerts.
10

EIG R&D · situational awareness

Wi-Fi Sensing Lab

Make nearby signal activity understandable at a glance.

An experimental local sensing interface for mapping nearby signals, devices, alerts, and spatial context through live, radar, room, and situation views.

  • Local signal and device awareness views
  • Map, radar, room, and situation interfaces
  • Named-device context and anomaly alerts
R&DSituational awarenessLocal sensing

R&D prototype

See it in the EIG product gallery
Nexus Gaze prototype tracking objects and motion probabilities in recorded drone footage.
11

EIG prototype · drone visual analysis

Nexus Gaze

Track what is moving, then show what may happen next.

A visual-analysis prototype that tracks objects in recorded drone footage and displays short-horizon, motion-based probabilities for operator review.

  • Object tracks rendered directly over recorded footage
  • Short-horizon motion probabilities and confidence views
  • Operator-facing visual analysis rather than hidden model output
Computer visionDrone analysisMotion modeling

Working prototype

See it in the EIG product gallery

Forthea / AI revenue operating system

Forthea SMITools Account Research module showing its guided research workflow
Account Research22 modules / one operating system
12

Commissioned for Forthea · 2026

Forthea SMITools

One revenue journey. Twenty-two connected modules.

A commissioned AI revenue operating system for Forthea Interactive Marketing, connecting prospect intake, account research, visibility analysis, qualification, content, proposals, call coaching, onboarding, client workspaces, analytics, and administration.

  • 22 documented modules across strategic accounts, marketing production, and onboarding
  • Research, audits, content, decks, media, and call coaching in one workflow
  • Human review and explicit sharing gates before client-visible output
AI revenue OSFortheaHuman review

Commissioned build

AI-assisted motion portrait

04 / CREATIVE FORCE

Make the complex visible.
Make the useful unforgettable.

Content is not an afterthought to the system. The demonstration, the story, the visual, and the experience are how people understand what was built — and why it matters.

Cinematic directionBrand & web experiencesTechnical translationAI-assisted media

05 / CAREER ARC

Built in chapters.
Often at the same time.

Current ventures and operating roles overlap. This is a portfolio of concurrent building, not a tidy single-track ladder.

01
March 2026—Present
Emergent Intelligence Group gold brand mark

Co-Founder

Emergent Intelligence Group

Co-founded Emergent Intelligence Group with Mathew Young and Ryan Caulkins in March 2026. Builds applied AI products, web applications, and operational systems through EIG.

builder
02
2021—Present
Emergent Intelligence gold-and-white mark on a dark background.

Founder & AI Systems Architect

Emergent Intelligence / Emerger Industries

Started Emergent Intelligence independently as a product-building lab, then carried that founder-led practice into EIG's applied AI, agent, knowledge, and automation portfolio.

builder
03
2018—Present
Colby Black Creatives circular white mark on a black background.

Founder & Creative Director

CB | Creatives

Directs cinematic storytelling, brand systems, interactive websites, content workflows, and digital builds.

creative
04
2020—2023
SkyClaim drone inspection visual above a residential roof.

Co-Founder

SkyClaim

Built and operated drone property-inspection and field-documentation workflows.

field
05
2017—2020
Starlight Solar brand mark with a stylized solar home.

Vice President of Sales

Starlight Solar

Led consultative solar sales, system-design education, team building, and homeowner enablement.

commercial
06
2013—2017
ReviewUs customer-feedback campaign created for Twin Peaks.

Director of Operations

ReviewUs

Restructured the offer and operating model around direct client service, production, and aligned incentives.

commercial
07
2010—2013

Vice President of Sales

Humankind Reputation Management

Led client programs, teams, social strategy, reporting, and escalated customer relationships.

commercial
08
2009—2012
Gracie Barra Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Houston, Texas academy mark.

Assistant Instructor - Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

Gracie Barra Association / Draculino

Taught introductory and private lessons while supporting operations, marketing, filming, and editing.

teaching
09
2007—2008
The Mobile Choice storefront displaying its Verizon indirect-dealership sign.

Owner

The Mobile Choice - Verizon Indirect Dealership

Founded, owned, and operated a Verizon indirect dealership that was profitable in its first year before Hurricane Ike destroyed the location.

commercial
10
2002—2007
Verizon wordmark from Colby's wireless retail career chapter.

Salesman to Multi-Location Sales Manager

Verizon Wireless / Alert Cellular

Advanced from frontline sales into hiring, coaching, and managing multiple retail locations across greater Houston.

commercial

06 / BEYOND THE DESK

The body teaches the builder.

Discipline, field reality, and making by hand keep the digital work honest.

01

Martial practice & teaching

Four-stripe Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu brown belt under Draculino, with live practice and documented teaching experience; an earlier Tae Kwon Do black belt and Junior Olympic result are presented as historical junior achievements.

Advanced adult practice
02

Fieldcraft & self-reliance

Repeated friction-fire success, shelter and camp systems, natural-material fabrication, field cooking, navigation, angling, fly tying, gardening, and practical repair.

Proficient overall
03

Hands-on making

Physical prototyping, installation, repair, sewing, natural-material construction, equipment documentation, and the habit of learning through the artifact itself.

Working competence
04

Narrative & creative practice

Photography, video, visual direction, copy, music and lyric development, symbolic storytelling, and a long-form business narrative titled The Bridge.

Core creative range

07 / FOLLOW THE BUILD

The next chapter is already moving.

Follow the experiments, systems, creative work, and operating lessons as they become real.

BusinessColby@EmergentIntelligenceGroup.comPersonalEmergent.intel@gmail.comPhone713-882-7467