Make your tools work together.
Sometimes the leverage is in the tools you already have. I connect them so they work as one system, and your team stops doing by hand what the systems could do for them.
I help executives find where AI creates real leverage, then I build it with them.
Explosion 5000 is Andy Aupperlee's advisory practice. After twenty years at Boeing, Amazon and an AI-native startup, I now work inside companies with their teams and ship the things that keep everybody running.
Where I come from
Twenty years on the operating side.
Before I started this firm, I spent twenty years running and growing parts of big businesses, and then helped build a new one.
- Boeing · 2006 to 2014
I worked in finance, contracts and supplier management on the 747-8 and 787 programs. I led a 22-person team from procurement, engineering, manufacturing and finance that found $200M in cost savings in 16 weeks.
- Amazon · 2014 to 2022
I ran B2B categories, including a food service business over $100M where profit grew 93% in a year. In Amazon Devices I secured commitments from major brands for more than 30 Alexa-connected smart home products. I also created the Alexa Smart Reorders Accelerator and grew it from 2 to 8 solution integrators, who launched 14 replenishment devices worldwide.
- AWS Marketplace · 2022 to 2023
I helped scale the partner ecosystem, working with about 50 partners to grow their Marketplace contract value 250% year over year.
- An AI-native startup · 2024 to 2026
I ran commercialization and go-to-market for a startup that uses AI to clean up and enrich product data for retail and B2B catalogs. I built its commercial function from scratch.
Now I bring that kind of thinking to the businesses that need it most.
What I do
Find the leverage, then build it.
I start by finding the few places in your business where AI makes the biggest difference, then I build it with your team. The work usually takes one of three shapes.
Build a new way to work.
Sometimes it's a completely new way to work. Agentic workflows let a small team deliver the speed, quality and range of a much bigger one.
Get your team building with AI.
I run hands-on sessions and work alongside your people while they pick up new AI tools and ways of working. The goal is a team that keeps using them and building on them long after I've left.
What I've built
Real problems, working software.
Each of these started with a business problem and ended with something the team uses.
Three teams, one skill library
The skill library behind a software company's new MCP server.
When a quote-to-cash software company launched an MCP server so AI agents could work inside its product, I built the skill library that teaches those agents how to do real jobs with it. I wrote the standard, built the automated checks, security scanning and versioned releases, and brought in engineering, customer operations and marketing. Now the know-how of the company's best people goes into every agent that runs its skills.
A revenue engine, built from zero
The commercial function for an AI-native startup.
I built the CRM, the pipeline, the pricing model and the quoting workflow from nothing, and ARR grew 14x in the first 12 months I was there. A year later, all of it was still running unchanged.
A $29.5M capital raise
Investor campaign and reporting for Praxis Racquet House.
For Southland Capital's raise, I built the email campaign, a 166-contact investor database, an RSVP system, the HubSpot pipeline behind it and a reporting dashboard on top. Work like this usually takes several people. I built it so agents handle most of the upkeep, and I ran it in a few minutes a day, often from a phone.
How I work
Inside the business, with the team.
The work is advisory and hands-on building. I find the leverage, build it with your people and hand it over running.
I start with the people doing the work.
I learn how the work actually flows before I propose anything. That is where the real leverage shows up.
I build it and ship it.
I build working software, put it into the operation and stay until it is running.
I stay close to the customers and the revenue.
I've run categories and built revenue engines, so I judge what I build by what it does for the business, and I keep the customer in view the whole way.
The name
And the name?
If you've known me a while, you know it started as my high school band, The Andy Aupperlee Explosion 5000. It has stuck ever since. It's also the name on my photography, which has run online in The New York Times and National Geographic Traveler. When it came time to name this firm, there was really only one choice.
Get in touch
New firm, old name.
Let's go build something real.
I'd love to hear how your business runs today. Send me a note, and we'll work out together where AI fits and what to build first.