Engagements
One practice. Three shapes.
Decision intelligence delivered three ways. Pick the shape that matches the move in front of you — or tell me on a fit call and I’ll tell you which one fits.
2–4 weeks · single engagement
Decision Sprint.
The high-stakes calls on your desk, tested against simulated audience and client response before you commit. A board-ready memo that ranks your options, weighs each against real behavior and your P&L, and gives you a defensible recommendation with a 30-day plan to run it. Two to four weeks.
What you get
- Decision framing doc (day 3) — the questions on the table, target audience, success criteria
- Each option simulated against real audience behaviour through MusicDatak and MediaDatak
- Ranked-options matrix with risk and reversibility
- Board-ready decision memo + presentation deck
- 30-day execution plan with named owners
- Optional board Q&A (live or async)
Best for
- Pre-commitment moves: M&A, format flips, launches, monetization pivots
- Executive teams split on direction and running out of runway
- Boards that need a defensible second opinion before a vote
90 days · 3 milestones
90-Day Growth Program.
Three months of disciplined experiments that compound. Built for owner-operators and mid-sized groups where every month has to pay for itself. Monthly milestones, weekly scoreboards, measured impact on revenue and audience.
What you get
- Month 1 — diagnostic: audience, revenue, content, team, tech
- Three prioritized experiments with success metrics
- Monthly experiment cycles tested via MusicDatak & MediaDatak
- Weekly scoreboards reviewed with leadership
- Month 3 — codified playbook, next-quarter plan, measured P&L impact
- Optional retainer hand-off into Advisory
Best for
- Owner-led and mid-sized media businesses on a plateau
- Leaders preparing for sale, investment, or succession
- Teams that need a tempo, not a deck
Retainer · 6-mo minimum · max 6 clients/year
Executive & Board Advisory.
A standing voice in the room — and, when the CEO needs it, a discreet one in the shadows. For CEOs, chairs, and boards that need an independent point of view on the biggest moves. Monthly rhythm, on-call for acute decisions, plus an ongoing “shadow” track for principals who want a safe space to think out loud before anyone else weighs in.
The two modes — same retainer
- The boardroom mode. Monthly 1:1 with the CEO, chair, or principal. Quarterly board attendance, on-site or virtual. Board-ready reporting each cycle. Two Decision Sprints per year included.
- The shadow mode. When the CEO has a question, an idea, a challenge, or a decision they want to pressure-test before taking it to the team or the board, they call. I listen. I go research. I come back with insights and a recommendation. We discuss. The CEO sharpens. I go back for deeper research. We iterate until the decision is ready. On-call within 48 hours, confidential from first call to last.
Best for
- CEOs and chairs who want an outside read before the room hardens
- Principals making moves that can’t yet be said out loud internally — M&A, succession, a firing, a pivot
- Boards facing major structural change, a new-market entry, or regulatory pressure
- Operators without a peer network of media operators they can actually trust
How it works
Five steps. No mystery.
People trust what they can picture. Here’s exactly how a Sprint runs, from the first call to the 30-day plan.
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01
Fit call. 20 minutes. No pitch. You describe the call you’re about to make; we confirm fit and stakes.
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02
Signed scope. Mutual NDA, signed scope, kickoff shortly after. No discovery deck.
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03
Simulate the response. Every option tested against how your audiences, users, and clients would actually feel and behave — via MusicDatak and MediaDatak. Not opinion. Not focus-group adjectives. Evidence.
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04
Board-ready memo. A recommendation I’ll stand behind, plus ranked alternatives and the risk of each — framed for the room that has to sign it.
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05
30-day plan. Named owners, weekly milestones, what “good” looks like at day thirty. Your team runs it.
Day-7 fit check: if the Sprint’s framing doesn’t hold at the end of week one, we stop — no obligation past that first week. That has never happened; it stays on offer.
Practical questions
Practical questions.
What languages can a Sprint run in?
English or French. Board presentations delivered in either.
Do you work solo or with a team?
Solo on the intellectual work — one name signs the memo. The MusicDatak and MediaDatak teams support the modeling infrastructure. You don’t pay for a pyramid.
What does a typical Sprint week look like?
Two structured sessions per week with your leadership, plus async daily progress notes. Live scenario review mid-Sprint. Final memo handoff in a 90-minute session with optional board Q&A.
Is there a money-back provision?
Yes. If at day 7 you decide the Sprint is not the right shape, we stop and refund the remaining balance. Nobody wants a bad fit on the books.
How do you handle confidentiality?
Discretion is the practice. Client names, financials, and decisions are not referenced externally without written permission. The case studies on this site were cleared with the clients in question.
What if we already have a preferred direction?
Most clients do — and that’s where a Sprint earns its keep. The job is to pressure-test the preferred direction against audience behavior and P&L outcomes, surface what breaks it, and either reinforce the call with evidence or surface a stronger option. Either way, you leave with a recommendation your board can defend.
How is this different from a McKinsey or Bain engagement?
Shorter, cheaper, and narrower by design. A Sprint resolves the strategic calls in front of you in two-to-four weeks, delivered by someone who has actually run stations and groups — not a team of analysts building a workplan. The memo is signed by one name, not a firm.
Where do MusicDatak and MediaDatak fit in?
MusicDatak and MediaDatak simulate how real listeners, users, and clients would respond to the move you’re considering — before you commit. They’re the engine under the memo, not the product. You’re buying a decision, not software.
Book the fit call.
20 minutes. No pitch. We test whether one of these three shapes fits your decision — and if not, I’ll point you somewhere that does.