“I’m the bottleneck.”
Everything routes through you. Nothing moves without you. You haven’t taken a real week off in three years.
The Strategy Sprint
You’ve been circling this decision for months.We’ll settle it in five days.
I fly to you Monday. By Friday you have the decision, the reasoning behind it, and the plan to execute it — in writing.
30 minutes. No pitch. From $65,000, all in. Ten sprints a year.
01 / THE STUCK STATE
What got you here is what’s holding you here.
You built this company on your own judgment. That worked — it’s why there’s a company. But somewhere along the way, the operating model that got you here quietly became the thing capping you.
You know the question you’ve been avoiding. You’ve turned it over at 11pm more times than you’d admit.
“We’ve stalled.”
Flat for two years, everyone busier than ever, and no two people in the building agree on why.
“The margin’s gone.”
Bigger every year, and less cash than you had at half the size.
“I don’t know what it’s worth.”
Almost everything you own is this company, and you have no idea what that’s actually worth or what’s suppressing it.
Why this instead
You can’t put it to your board, because they’ll want an answer. You can’t put it to your team, because they work for you. And you’re not calling a consulting firm, because you’ve seen what that becomes: a discovery phase, four associates, a deck, and an invoice that never stops arriving.
02 / The five-day sprint
Monday to Friday. On-site. One client at a time.
Before we start, you complete a detailed questionnaire and send financials. I research your company, your market, and your competitors. Monday doesn’t start at hour zero. It starts at hour forty.
MON
10am – 5pm
listendiscovery
TUE
10am – 5pm
listendiscovery
WED
2pm – 5pm
thinkanalysis
THU
10am – 3pm
buildbuild
FRI
10am →
decidedecide
MON
Discovery
Your team, your numbers, your history.
TUE
Discovery
Listen for the constraint, not pitch solutions.
WED
Analysis
No workshops. No facilitation. Just the work.
THU
Build
Shape the solution together, then finalize it.
FRI
Decide
Work through it. Make the call. Finish settled.
03 / Friday’s deliverable
A memo, not a deck.
Prose forces an argument where slides only gesture at one. Eight to fourteen pages, written so you can execute it without me.
A sprint doesn’t fix your company. It settles one thing — the thing you’re stuck on.
DECISION MEMO
FRIDAY / FINAL
The recommendation and the reasoning behind it
The numbers and evidence that support it
What was ruled out — and why
The strongest honest case against
The first 90 days, sequenced with owners
The tripwire that says stop or change course
04 / THE PROOF
Three stuck decisions. Three clear calls.
The useful result is not a dramatic presentation. It is a decision that changes what happens next — with the tradeoffs written down before memory edits them.
Read all resultsCase 01 · Software, San Francisco · $10M
“I thought I needed more people. I was wrong about which people.”
17% → 31% gross margin
Case 02 · Commercial property, Phoenix metro · $40M portfolio
“Forty percent of my buildings were empty.”
$7M/yr bleed stopped for a <$4M exit
Case 03 · Investment management, US East Coast · ~$100M AUM
“My clients told me I was the problem.”
30% of AUM kept, not returned
05 / One person, across the whole problem
Because I’ve seen where the disciplines collide.
Thirty years in and around businesses at this stage: strategy, growth, operations, finance, leadership, and change. An MBA and a degree in accounting, which means I read your statements myself rather than asking someone else what they say.
Most founders solving a stall need three people — a strategist, someone who can read the numbers, and someone who can judge whether the team can actually execute it. That’s three engagements and six months of coordination. This is one week.
30 years in the workMBA + accounting the numbers matter1 client at a time
About DJFrom / all in$65KFixed before the plane takes off
06 / Transparent by design
One number. Agreed before the week begins.
No expenses, no reimbursables, no line items. Larger or more complex engagements are scoped as a single figure before you commit. Whatever the number, it is fixed in writing and does not move once the week begins.
Sprint fee$50,000
Travel and accommodation$15,000
Capacity10 sprints / year
Not ready for the call?
Find where your company is actually capped.
Eighteen questions. Five minutes. An honest answer. No email required to see your result.
Take the scorecardThe scoping call
Bring the question you can’t get out of your head.
Thirty minutes. We work out what question you actually want settled, and what it costs. If a sprint isn’t the right instrument, I’ll tell you on the call.