How I work
How an engagement actually runs
It starts with one question, not a retainer. The first conversation is 30 minutes, no deck, nothing to prepare. I ask what the commercial problem actually is, form a first view, and tell you plainly whether I am the right person for it. If I am, we cut the problem down to one question small enough to answer in weeks. Nobody should have to sign a standing arrangement to find out whether the work is any good.
Three shapes the work can take
Diagnostic sprint. Fixed scope, weeks rather than months. It ends in a one-page commercial architecture map and a prioritised roadmap: the problem laid out, the initiatives that address it, and the order to run them in.
Project engagement. A defined build with a clear end state. A market entry plan. A commercial due diligence brief ahead of an acquisition. A go-to-market redesign. Scope and timeline are set against the deliverable, not billed by the hour.
Advisory retainer. Standing senior counsel for an executive or an investor, on a fixed cadence. This is the shape for a team that wants an experienced commercial voice in the room, not a single answer and a handoff.
Two routes, priced separately
Most proposals I write offer two. A fast route that uses what I already know and who I already know, and gets you in front of the right people inside a few weeks. And a structured route that runs the full analysis in phases and ends in an implementation roadmap.
They are priced on their own. You can buy the fast route, see what it turns up, and decide on the structured one afterwards. Or take the structured route straight away when the answer has to hold up in front of a board.
Phases carry weeks, a criterion, and a gate
Every phase states three things: how many weeks it runs, who does the work, and what has to be true at the end for it to count as finished. A research phase ends with a shortlist and at least one idea cleared for testing. A testing phase ends with a signed letter of intent from a real customer. All of it written down before the work starts.
Between phases there is a gate. Go or no-go, decided on what the evidence actually showed. If it is no-go, the engagement stops there and you have paid for one phase. Work that rolls into the next phase automatically has stopped being accountable to anything.
Assumptions go on the table before the work hardens
Every plan I write opens with a table of working assumptions, each marked with how confident I am and how much rests on it. Your job is to correct them, in writing, before the recommendations firm up. If one is materially wrong the priorities change, and week one is a better time to find that out than week eight.
When the evidence says stop, the work stops
On one engagement a workstream scoped at eight weeks was wrapped at seven, because the early commercial signal was not there and another month would only have made the same answer more expensive. The invoice came down accordingly. Where a result is measurable, part of my fee is tied to it, so a phase that does not deliver costs you less.
What day 30 and day 90 look like
By day 30 you have named initiatives with an owner inside your organisation, not a set of recommendations sitting in a document nobody actions.
By day 90 the target is pilots running, not contracts signed. Enterprise buying cycles commonly run nine to eighteen months, so a 90-day plan that promises closed contracts is a plan built to miss. What 90 days can realistically produce is first pilots initiated, referral routes into real budget holders, and a pipeline positioned for the next buying window. I would rather tell you that at the proposal stage than explain it in month four.
Who this isn't for
I am not a body shop. There is no bench of juniors to staff onto a project. The person on the call is the person doing the work.
It also is not the right fit for a client who wants a deck to file and show they engaged someone. The output here is built to be executed, and if that is not the intent, the engagement will not be worth either side's time.
What the first conversation covers
Four things, in 30 minutes. What the commercial problem actually is, in your words. Whether I have a useful view on it or you would be better served elsewhere. Which of the three shapes fits, and whether the fast route or the structured route is the honest starting point. And what the first phase would have to prove for the second one to be worth buying.
No deck required, from either side.