Chicago Partners works on a limited number of assignments where senior judgement, independent challenge and practical execution can materially improve the outcome.
Strategies often fail not because the analysis is wrong, but because priorities remain too broad, difficult choices are postponed and the organisation is asked to do everything at once.
I start with the diagnosis — what is actually preventing progress — before any strategy is formulated. The result is a small number of executable choices and a clear view of what the organisation must stop doing. Not a programme, not a framework: decisions the board can act on.
Growth has stalled and the reasons are disputed.
A transformation programme is underway but not delivering.
The industry is changing faster than the organisation can respond.
The objective is not another strategy document. It is greater clarity, fewer competing priorities and a leadership team able to act.
New business fields are often attractive in principle but difficult to establish inside an existing organisation. Success depends on more than the market opportunity: mandate, risk appetite, governance, capabilities and the ability to learn quickly all matter.
I test growth ideas against economic and organisational reality before capital is committed, and help create the conditions a new venture actually needs: a genuine customer problem, a viable model, and the freedom to operate outside the logic of the core business.
A new market or business model looks promising, but the case rests on assumptions no one has tested.
A venture has been launched and is absorbing resources without gaining traction.
Challengers are emerging at the edge of the core business — and it is unclear whether to respond, partner or build.
The result is a realistic path from opportunity to a viable, owned and adequately resourced business.
Growth Check — an independent second opinion before you invest →Selected transactions and owner situations require more than a process. They require discretion, access, sound judgement and the ability to align parties whose interests and timelines differ.
I support owners and management teams personally and confidentially, drawing on transaction professionals, lawyers and industry experts from my network as the situation requires. No standing apparatus — just the right people for a decision that matters.
An ownership question needs to be resolved — succession, partial sale, or a selected acquisition.
An off-market opportunity requires senior judgement and discretion rather than a large process.
A company faces a situation where financial, strategic and personal considerations intersect.
Chicago Partners accepts only mandates where access, experience and personal involvement can make a meaningful difference.
University of Chicago Booth School of Business, Harper Center, Chicago
A short, confidential conversation is usually the best way to determine whether Chicago Partners can add value — and what the right next step should be.
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