Principles · permalinkable
How I work.
Strategy without a build is theater.
Every engagement ships something. A page, a brand, a sales motion — a real artifact you'd be embarrassed to fake. If we can't agree on what we'll ship, we don't start.
One person stays on the work.
No handoffs. The person who diagnoses the problem is the person who ships the fix.
Pricing is flat. Surprises are not.
Every engagement has a number on it before it starts. If scope changes, we talk about it before the work happens — not on the invoice.
If it won't move revenue, we don't build it.
I don't care how clever the idea is. If we can't draw a line from the work to a real dollar your business would earn, it's noise.
The deck is the slowest deliverable.
I'll write you one if you need it for a board. But the actual work is conversations, decisions, and shipped things. Most engagements need a one-page memo, not 60-slide theater.
Capacity is finite. I publish it.
I take two engagements at a time on purpose — see /now for current availability. If the timing matters, the conversation starts early.
Standing invitations & standing refusals
Borrowed from Patrick McKenzie's standing invitation. Here's what I'll always say yes to, and what I won't.
Always yes
- A 15-minute call from an owner who's read at least one page of this site.
- An honest second opinion on a strategy doc — no charge, no slide deck back.
- A coffee in St. Louis with anyone actually running a business.
- An intro to someone better suited when the work isn't mine.
Always no
- Equity in exchange for work — except in rare cases agreed in writing.
- Spec work, RFP responses, or competing against five other firms for a pitch.
- Work that obligates me to defend a position I don't believe.
- Engagements priced below my floor — there's no version of "we'll figure it out as we go."
See also /now — what these principles look like in practice this quarter.