Clarity
A precise definition of the real decision, the evidence that matters, and the assumptions still doing too much work.
Business consulting · Founders and operators
Resolve the decision
Resolve the decision
slowing everything down.
A rigorous outside perspective for consequential decisions in strategy, research, positioning, and execution.
Start a conversation Begin with the decision itself. No deck or formal brief required.
One consequential decisionPrimary-source rigorClear tradeoffsPractical next moves
The problem
The expensive part is rarely a lack of options.
The expensive part is rarely a lack of options.
It is staying undecided.
Important decisions accumulate noise: too many inputs, hidden incentives, competing priorities, and people who are too close to the problem to challenge its assumptions.
The work is designed to create the clarity and conviction needed to move—without turning one hard question into an open-ended consulting engagement.
What you leave with
A decision you can defend.
A decision you can defend.
A path you can execute.
Tradeoffs
A clear view of what each path creates, costs, and makes impossible—including the second-order effects most likely to be missed.
Movement
A recommendation translated into priorities, owners, milestones, and the smallest useful action that produces new evidence.
The method
One decision.
One decision.
Three passes.
A focused question creates a sharper answer. The scope is shaped around the decision rather than forcing the problem into a generic package.
- 01
Diagnose
Define the real decision, gather the relevant source material, and surface the constraints and assumptions shaping it.
- 02
Pressure-test
Examine the options through evidence, incentives, downside, reversibility, and second-order effects.
- 03
Move
Turn the judgment into an explicit recommendation, a practical next action, and conditions for changing course.
Fit
Useful when the decision
Useful when the decision
has real consequences.
- You can name the decision and why it matters now.
- The answer requires judgment, not merely more information.
- You want a candid outside view, not validation.
- Someone has the authority and capacity to act.
- You need ongoing staff augmentation or outsourced execution.
- The desired answer has already been chosen.
- No one owns the decision or can implement it.
- The work requires personalized investment, legal, or tax advice.
Why Ian
Pattern recognition
Pattern recognition
with an operator’s bias.
My work sits at the intersection of program management, investing, research, technology, and human behavior. That range is useful because consequential business problems rarely stay inside one category.
I bring a primary-source research habit, a cross-disciplinary perspective, and a bias toward recommendations that survive contact with execution.
The next step
Tell me the
Tell me the
decision.
Send a short note with three things:
- The decision you are facing
- Why it matters now
- When you need to move
If the problem and fit are clear, we’ll have a focused conversation. If I can help, I’ll propose a simple scope.
Start a conversation Business strategy and operations only. No personalized investment advice.