Fixed-scope work
Three pieces of work with a set scope, a set turnaround and a fixed fee agreed in writing before anything starts. Each one is built for a decision that already has a date on it. Each one runs mostly in writing, so nobody on your team gets booked into a string of meetings.
Category & market assessment · First 100 days integration plan · Board-ready strategy deck
Category & market assessment
Whether a consumer category is worth entering, growing in or leaving. Sized, tested and argued well enough to take to an investment committee or a planning review.
Brand, strategy and corporate development teams in consumer and packaged goods who need an outside answer before a planning cycle, an innovation gate or an acquisition screen.
The category sized two ways where the data allows, with every source named. The growth drivers, the competitive set and where the open space is. Two or three ways in, each with what has to be true for it to work. A decision-ready deck and the sizing model behind it, both editable.
The question and the decision it feeds. Any sales, panel or retailer data you already hold, which sharpens the sizing but is not required. One named contact for questions.
Nearly eight years at Kraft Heinz, including category strategy and innovation at Primal Kitchen and new-category work in Global Strategy.
First 100 days integration plan
For a signed deal that needs its integration plan written before Day 1, so the value in the deal case has owners and dates from the first week.
Corporate development and integration leads at acquiring companies, especially in food, beverage and consumer goods, in the window between signing and close.
A Day 1 readiness checklist. The first 100 days laid out by workstream, with owners and decision gates. Governance and decision rights for the integration team. The synergy plan tied back to the deal case, with timing and a way to track it. The risks to watch in the first quarter, and a template for the leadership update. All editable, so your team runs it from day one.
The deal thesis and the synergy case as approved, the target close date, org charts for both sides, and any integration work already started. An NDA is signed before anything is shared.
I worked on M&A integration playbooks at Kraft Heinz, where I was Senior Manager, M&A & Partnerships before leading Global Strategy.
Board-ready strategy deck
For a broad question with a board or executive meeting already on the calendar, where the argument still has to be built from the evidence up.
Executives and chiefs of staff who own a board or leadership discussion and want the recommendation, the evidence and the pushback worked through before the room sees it.
A deck with an executive summary that stands on its own. The recommendation and the reasoning behind it, the assumptions and how far the answer moves with each, the strongest counter-case answered, and sources in the appendix. A one-page pre-read comes with it. Editable PowerPoint.
The brief, however rough. The meeting date and who will be in the room. Earlier materials and any data the argument should rest on.
At Kraft Heinz I led Global Strategy, which meant owning what went to the board across growth, governance and risk, M&A and new categories.
How every one of these runs
About 45 minutes at the start to agree the question, the audience and what done looks like. The scope is then written down and agreed before any work begins.
Questions and drafts go back and forth in writing. Nobody gets booked into weekly status meetings.
The finished work arrives with a short written summary. A walkthrough call is included for anyone who prefers one, and so is one round of revisions.
The fee is set by the scope and agreed in writing up front. Nothing is billed by the hour, and the fee only moves if the scope does. An NDA comes first whenever materials are shared.
Not one of these?
If the question does not fit any of the three, start with the scoping diagnostic. It costs nothing, it settles what the actual question is, and if the work is not something I should take, you will hear that too.
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