The engagement model
is simple
The work is deep
Every engagement starts with a diagnostic conversation - but it's one where the problem-solving starts immediately. Dave will do a structured discovery process if you want - or, if you just want a thought partner to dig in, the solving can start immediately. You set the pace, and Dave adjusts.
If there's a fit, you sign up for a working relationship with a rhythm and the flexibility to go where the work needs to go.
Regular rhythm.
Real flexibility.
A typical engagement involves regular working sessions - usually monthly or bimonthly - structured around wherever the work is. Between sessions, Dave is available. Not on call around the clock, but accessible for the questions that don't wait for the next scheduled session. You're not waiting for a project kickoff or a deliverable review. You have a thinking partner.
Engagements typically run 12 months or more - not because they're structured that way, but because that's how long real change takes. The companies that get the most from working with Dave have been with him long enough to build shared context that makes every conversation faster and the advice sharper.
A strategy session with the leadership team.
A one-on-one with the CEO to pressure-test a decision.
A facilitated conversation the team can't quite have on its own.
A deep dive into a specific challenge that's emerged.
More details about how Dave works
The model works well for most private company owners, but it isn't for everyone. Transparency is part of partnership. What you see is what you get with Dave.
There's no team behind him.
Dave is a solo practitioner. For most clients that's an advantage - you work with the senior person, always. If you need a large team executing day-to-day across multiple workstreams, that's not the model here.
He's not a functional specialist in every domain.
Dave works across strategy, leadership, marketing, talent, and innovation. He helps you think clearly, make good decisions, and build the capability to execute. And he'll advise and even help with execution if you want it. He'll also help you choose and manage specialists if that's needed.
He takes a limited number of clients.
Doing the work well requires real attention, and real attention is finite. When he's at capacity, he'll say so.
Private companies where the work is personal.
Dave's clientsare owners and leaders of private companies: family businesses, closely-held companies,and founder-led firms where decisions carry real weight and relationshipsmatter. Not publicly traded. Not on a venture capital timeline. Running on thefounder's conviction, the leadership team's trust, and years of built equity.
These are $1M to$20M companies. Thirty employees or a hundred. Services businesses,manufacturers, professional firms. What they share: a leader who takes the workseriously, cares about the culture they've built, and needs a thinking partnerwho can hold up in the room.
Outcomes that meet your needs
Clients who work with Dave for a year or more tend to describe some combination of the following.
The Second Stage company
A shared understanding of the growing pains of a Second Stage business. Clarity on where the company is going and what it will and won't do - clarity that shows up in how decisions get made day to day.
A stronger leadership team
Managers who are leading instead of doing, having harder conversations more productively, and building their own capability rather than depending on the founder for direction.
Better marketing
For fractional CMO clients, a marketing function aligned with the company's market strategy and producing results that connect to revenue.
Organizational readiness
The ability to hire, develop, and retain the people the next stage of the company requires.
None of these come from a single deliverable. They come from sustained work over time. That's the model.
What comes up
in strategy sessions
The topics vary by company and by stage. Here's a representative list from active engagements.
Sales performance
New offerings and new markets
Hiring plans and hiring process
Talent development
Succession planning
Leadership team dynamics and collaboration
Compensation design
Performance improvement
Project and business-unit profitability
Marketing and lead generation
Support systems (CRM, HRIS)
Middle management effectiveness
Board structure and governance
Ownership transitions
No two clients work on the same things in the same order. That's the point.
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