SEE WHAT OTHERS MISS.

HIGH-STAKES
STRATEGIC DECISIONS
FOR FOUNDERS AND CEOs.

When you're stuck, I see the way through. I find the friction you can't see from inside, turn the confusion into clarity, and help you make the move that wins.

Start the conversation How it works

Sound familiar?

  • Deals stall, pilots stay free, and clients don't see the value you deliver.
  • You're not sure what to charge, or whether to lock in early customers with lifetime pricing.
  • Investors nod, then go quiet.
  • The deck is thirty slides and still unclear.
  • Your week disappears into work that doesn't move the company.
  • You're a solo founder with no one to think it through with.
  • The team is pulling in different directions.

Or something's off and you can't name it yet. That's enough to start. Whatever has you stuck, the way through is usually simpler than it looks from inside.

See it.
Simplify it.
Win it.

Founders rarely lack effort or ideas. What they lack is distance. I come in from outside, find what's really in the way, and clear a path you can move on this week.

  1. 1

    See the friction

    The confusion, the mixed messages, the time leaks, the thing nobody on the team is saying out loud.

  2. 2

    Turn confusion into clarity

    Your pitch deck, go-to-market strategy, and scattered plans, distilled into a Solution Brief anyone can follow and repeat.

  3. 3

    Choose the move that wins

    Grounded in deep strategy: how people actually decide, and how competitors, buyers, and investors will respond before you move.

Confusion out. Clarity in.

Bring whatever you have. You leave with a Solution Brief: what you do, who it's for, why you win, and what to do next, said so clearly that your team, investors, and buyers all tell it the same way.

pitch-deck-v14.pdf34 slides go-to-market-strategy.docx12 pages notes, emails, a whiteboard photoeverywhere

Solution Brief

Clarity, in writing

Illustrative example: a seed-stage logistics software company.

Who it's for
Regional freight brokers running on spreadsheets and phone calls.
The problem
Every late load costs them a customer, and they find out too late to fix it.
Why we win
We flag at-risk loads hours earlier, using data brokers already have but never look at.
How it works
Connects to their existing email and load board. Live in a day, no new system to learn.
Proof
What real customers measured, in their own words.
Next step
A two-week pilot on their ten busiest lanes.

Two ways to work together.

Start with a workshop. Stay for the watch.

Workshop: three 90-minute sessions

First Light

Hands-on working sessions, just you (or your founding team) and me. Bring the deck, the stalled deal, the pricing question, or just the feeling that something's off. We find what's really in the way and work it through together.

You leave unblocked, with your Solution Brief and a clear next move.

The place to start.

Monthly

Night Watch

On call as things come up. Strategy when you need it, help closing deals and turning pilots into paying clients, pricing, solution briefs, positioning for investors and buyers, and eyes on your competitors while you run the company.

Start with a call

For founders who want someone in their corner every month.

When the plan depends on technology, any engagement can include applied AI, backed by 25 years of enterprise and cloud architecture and software engineering, so it can actually be built.

I see the way through.

For 25 years I've designed and rescued the systems behind financial services, healthcare, logistics, and federal agencies, and built a company as a co-founder. Along the way I became the person who could explain deep technology so buyers and investors say yes.

Pair that with a long study of how battles are won and how people really decide, and the pattern gets clear: no matter the problem, there's a way through. My job is to see it first and help you take it.

David ValdezFounder, Trench Coat Owls

25+ years in enterprise architecture Marketer and sales engineer Co-founder Avanade alum

Let's talk.

You don't need a clear question. Tell me a little, or nothing at all, and we'll find it together.

I take on a small number of engagements at a time. Everything you share stays confidential.

What's going on? Optional, pick any

Received. I'll be in touch shortly.