Insights
Directthinking.
The operational and commercial problems we see in the work, and what it takes to fix them. No thought leadership for its own sake.
Marketing Procurement
The agency pitch is theatre. Buy the team, not the show.
2 min read→Marketing ProcurementHow much should a mid-market company pay its media agency?
3 min read→LeadershipWhat a decade selling to CMOs taught us about how marketing money is actually spent
2 min read→PE Value CreationWhat does operational due diligence actually cover?
2 min read→LeadershipThe CFO is in the marketing meeting now. Good.
2 min read→Marketing ProcurementShould we bring programmatic media in-house?
2 min read→MediaPrincipal media, explained for the people who sign the invoices
2 min read→Marketing ProcurementHow do you audit a marketing budget?
2 min read→AI EnablementYour AI pilot is a license, not a strategy
2 min read→AI EnablementWill AI reduce our agency fees?
2 min read→AI EnablementAgentic workflows: what is real in 2026, and what is a demo
2 min read→Marketing ProcurementWhy Your Media Agency Review Is Long Overdue (And How to Run One Without Blowing Up the Relationship)
3 min read→PE Value CreationPrivate equity’s next lever is the vendor stack, not headcount
2 min read→Marketing ProcurementThe RFP Process Most Brands Get Wrong, And How to Fix It
3 min read→Cost OptimizationWhere the money actually is
2 min read→Marketing ProcurementProgrammatic Advertising: Where Your Budget Goes and Why a Chunk of It Shouldn't
3 min read→OperationsHaving a procurement team is not the same as having procurement
2 min read→Marketing ProcurementAgency Roster Bloat Is Costing You More Than You Think
3 min read→IT & Cloud CostAuto-renewal is a business model
2 min read→Marketing ProcurementHow to Negotiate an Agency Contract Without Losing the Agency
3 min read→MediaRetail media is the new programmatic. Same margin, new name.
2 min read→IT & Cloud CostYour SaaS Stack Has a Leak: The Vendor Rationalization Guide
3 min read→LeadershipThe operator’s test for any consultant: will they run it?
2 min read→IT & Cloud CostHow to Stop Overpaying for Cloud Without Firing Your Entire DevOps Team
3 min read→PE Value CreationThe 100-Day Plan Most PE-Backed Companies Don't Actually Execute
2 min read→MediaLog-level data: the clause worth more than the discount
2 min read→PE Value CreationEBITDA Improvement Without Cutting People: The Vendor-First Playbook
2 min read→ModernizationTransformation starts to slip long before the technology fails
3 min read→AI EnablementThe board pack in an afternoon: what automation actually changed
2 min read→Marketing ProcurementFewer agencies, more senior people. Why the small roster wins.
2 min read→Revenue OperationsRevenue Is Stalling and It's Not a Sales Problem
3 min read→IT & Cloud CostThe most boring million in the company
2 min read→IT & Cloud CostWhen cloud spend starts eating margin: the operator's playbook
3 min read→MediaMeasurement is a governance problem, not a data problem
2 min read→LeadershipWhat a good fifteen-minute call sounds like
2 min read→Marketing ProcurementOutdated marketing contracts are quietly draining performance
4 min read→Industry FocusWhere QSR Franchise Systems Actually Leak Money
6 min read→Industry FocusThe Audit Most Dealer Networks Never Run
6 min read→Industry FocusThe Vendor Risk Review Nobody Prices as a Real Cost
6 min read→Industry FocusWhere Consumer Brands Actually Leak Margin: Agencies and Trade Spend
6 min read→Industry FocusThe MLR Review Tax Nobody Benchmarks
6 min read→Tell us what you’re working on.
Fifteen minutes. We’ll tell you whether we can help and what the engagement looks like. No pitch deck, no sales cycle.