BUSINESS CONSULTANCY
Research, decisions and special projects for founders.
Independent Special Projects Consultant
I work with founders, investors and private clients on complex research, commercial questions and special projects. I establish the facts, bring structure to unclear situations and carry the work through to a clear decision or next step.
The result is clearer decisions, less wasted time and more efficient execution.
Technology can accelerate enquiry. It cannot supply judgement. Work is undertaken where claims require scrutiny, consequences must be understood and discretion matters. Evidence determines the conclusion. Responsibility remains human.
01 · What I take on
The kinds of question this suits.
- 01A commercial question the team keeps circling without settling.
- 02A decision nobody has framed yet, where the options are still unwritten.
- 03A special project that sits outside everyone's remit.
- 04Research that has to be independent of the people it affects.
- 05Recurring spend nobody owns, where the aim is to identify avoidable cost.
02 · How the work runs
Four steps, all of them in writing.
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01
We agree the question
One question in writing, and what a useful answer would actually change. If the question is the wrong one, that is said before any work starts.
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02
I establish the facts
What is known, what is assumed and what is missing, each labelled as such. Sources are named so you can check them without me.
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03
I set out the options
The realistic courses of action, with what each one costs, what it risks and what it rules out.
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04
You get a recommendation
One recommendation, the reasoning behind it, and the next step that follows from it.
Five-day first engagement
Most work starts as a five-day engagement: one agreed question, the facts behind it, the options and a written recommendation. It is the smallest useful piece of work and the least risky way to find out whether we work well together.
Work is individually scoped. Scope, timing and price are agreed in writing before anything begins, and no payment is taken at the enquiry stage.
03 · A worked sample
What arrives at the end of it.
A fictional composite illustrating the structure of the work. It does not describe a client.
Our support costs are rising faster than our customer numbers. Is that a staffing problem or a product problem, and what should we change first?
- Tickets per customer rose across the period, so growth on its own does not account for the increase.
- One onboarding step accounts for the largest single share of first-month tickets.
- Two of the three most common questions have no self-service answer written anywhere.
- Add support cover. Fastest to arrange, and the cost keeps rising with customer numbers.
- Rewrite the onboarding step. Slower to ship, and it removes the largest single source of tickets.
- Write the missing self-service answers first. Cheapest to try, and it reduces volume without changing the product.
Write the two missing answers this month while the onboarding step is rescoped, and measure again before adding headcount.
A two-week decision window, reporting the same three numbers at the end of it.
04 · One action
Discuss a project
Tell me what you are working on and what a useful answer would change. No payment is taken and nothing is booked by sending this.