HOW WE WORK
Every mandate starts with a written opinion
Not with a proposal, and not with a workshop.
The order
The judgement
One page, five working days from the signed NDA, no charge. What would make this fail, in five blocks, each with a status. For a good number of enquiries this is where the conversation should end — and where it does.
The assessment
The first paid step, and the one most mandates that continue are built on. If the answer is worth pursuing, we look properly: sources, scope, a defensible position you can put in front of a board. Fixed fee, defined scope, no negotiation on either — because the moment the scope moves, the document stops being comparable to anything.
The mandate
A corridor, defined in writing: direction, target market, field. Inside it we introduce, we negotiate alongside you, and we are paid partly on what comes of it.
The program
Where delivery runs for months and somebody has to steer the people doing it. We keep the steering. We do not subcontract the controlling.
Presence
Travel, fairs, rooms. Deliberately limited — we hold a small number of these at a time, and we say so rather than pretending otherwise.
THE RULE THAT COSTS US MONEY
If we do not believe a corridor will hold, we write that down.
Every advisor says yes. Saying yes is free, it is pleasant, and it is what the client came for. It is also why nobody quite believes the yes when it arrives.
We write no often enough that our yes is worth something. It costs us work we could have taken. We consider that the price of being useful rather than agreeable, and we would rather you knew about it before you hired us.
What we do not do
We do not deliver everything ourselves
Implementation runs through a network we have worked with and can hold to account. What stays with us is the control of it, and the responsibility for it.
We do not introduce people we have not assessed
A list of contacts is not a service. Anyone can sell you one.
We do not put a number on a market before we understand your scope
The pricing model is on each field page. The number arrives in a proposal, once there is something to price.
We do not name our clients
Not on this site, not in a meeting. When we ask for a reference, we ask at the end of the project, in writing, and we accept no as an answer. If that frustrates you now, it will reassure you later.
THE PAPERWORK, SINCE YOU WILL ASK
The confidentiality agreement is two pages and mutual — it binds us as much as you, and it arrives as a signature request, not as an attachment to reformat. We draft it so your side does not have to.
We take on the work, not the power: for the later, heavier agreements, we are just as happy to work on your paper, provided the few points we cannot move stay in.
START WHERE EVERYONE STARTS
Thirty minutes, plainly spoken
You bring the case. We tell you whether and how we can help — in German, Polish, Arabic or English.