You're sitting on revenue you can't see.
Most companies own at least one intangible asset — a brand, a dataset, an internal tool, an IP library — that's earning a fraction of what it could. Most leaders also miss the next big shift in their industry.
I spent 30 years inside Disney, DreamWorks, NBCUniversal, and Yuga Labs spotting both. If your company has value sitting still, or you're wondering if the market is moving in a direction your team isn't tracking, that's the conversation.
30 minutes. Complimentary. You'll leave with insights about your business you didn't know walking in.
30 years inside the room with
Half of the work is revenue you can't see.
A product you built for yourselves that other companies would pay to use.
Salesforce was Marc Benioff's internal CRM. Bloomberg started as Salomon Brothers' internal data tool. Slack was a side product Stewart Butterfield's gaming company built to talk to itself.
If your engineering team built something to solve your own problem, somebody else has the same problem. That's a business.
A brand or character sitting in one category that could license into five.
Hello Kitty started as a coin purse. Sanrio now licenses to over 50,000 products. Crocs was a boat shoe. Now it has a Balenciaga collab.
If you have brand equity in one place and you're not extending it, somebody else is about to.
Data, models, or methodologies worth more to your neighbor than to you.
A retailer's footfall data is worth millions to commercial real estate. A bank's fraud model is worth millions to insurance. A media company's viewing data is worth millions to advertisers.
If you're generating data as a byproduct, it has a market that you should own.
The other half is shifts you're not tracking yet.
By the time a shift is in your board deck, the windows for the best moves are already closed. The leaders who win are the ones reading the pattern early. Three patterns I've watched repeat:
A new distribution channel emerges. The incumbents misread it.
Happened with streaming. Legacy studios kept their focus on DVDs and missed the tech developments that fast-tracked streaming and the consumer data that came with it. I was in those rooms. The same pattern is playing out right now with AI, and the deals being signed in 2026 will set the rules.
A fad lays the groundwork for a new asset class and frictionless transactions.
NFTs exploded in 2021 and fell back to earth due as much to an uncertain regulatory environment as speculators. Underneath was a technology for more efficient, trusted transactions and a new licensing model. Gucci, Puma, and Yuga Labs were running early experiments. The companies that did are the ones with the playbook now. Whatever the next one is, the same window will open and close fast.
A regulatory or governance shift starts quietly in one industry. It resets the rules for three more.
AI governance is where cyber and privacy governance was in 2015. And most boards still treat AI as the responsibility of the IT or legal department. But C-suite and board competence is now mandatory, and individual board member fiduciary exposure is real and compounding. By the time it's a front-page story, the structural moves are already made.
If any of this sounds like a situation you think about, that's where the conversation starts.
I was in the room…
Three rooms. Three patterns I've seen too many times since.
I was in the room, leading a major studio's first license deal with a streaming service. I pushed to obligate the streamer not to allow password sharing and to deliver to us aggregated viewing data, because that's how every other studio distribution channel worked. Theaters reported it. Nielsen reported it. We needed it to set pricing and program what came next. Other business objectives took priority. Password sharing went unchecked for a decade. Creators flew blind. A power shift occurred and the ecosystem fragmented in ways that fundamentally changed the entertainment landscape.
The pattern: the most expensive mistakes can look small in the room.I was building a major studio's first digital streaming business. An executive who outranked me wagged his finger and said: "You need to stop. The future of digital is Blu-Ray Disc." It wasn't.
Leaders who aren't open to seeing what's next are doomed to miss it.I ran an RFP for a major brand company. A licensing agent came back with a proposal offering $5 to $6 million a year in turn-key revenue. No work required from the brand. Just a license. The CEO wasn't interested. Had bigger plans, never looked at the proposal or delegated it to anyone for review. Within months the CEO was let go as the company struggled to generate revenue.
Individual fiat loses to strategy, process and execution every time.For 30 years, the way to grow was to be more efficient than your competitors. Software is now better at that than you are. So the value is moving to things software can't do: seeing what's coming before it's obvious, finding the deal nobody else sees, structuring it right, and getting it signed. That's the work I do. And the companies doing it now are the ones that will still be relevant years from now.
I see what's coming.
Most strategy work is reactive — the industry's past used to predict its future. But by the time a shift shows up in decks, the best moves are already taken. I work the other way: I read across industries, watch the leading indicators, and give you insight on what's likely to happen in yours. Sometimes that's a quarterly briefing. Sometimes it's a phone call on a Tuesday because something just shifted.
I find the money.
I look at what your company owns — IP, data, brand, products, or partnerships — and help you find where the revenue you're not capturing is. Sometimes it's a license deal. Sometimes it's a product spin-out. Sometimes it's a partnership with a company in an industry you've never thought about.
I structure the deal.
Knowing the opportunity exists is the easy part. Structuring it so the deal generates revenue, protects your IP, and doesn't blow up in three years is the hard part. I've negotiated deals with Netflix, Apple, Google, Sky, Comcast, Microsoft, DirecTV, Sony, and a long list of others. I know where the landmines are.
I'm in your corner.
For some leaders the work is a project. For others it's an ongoing seat at the table. I'll read your board materials. I'll prep you for the conversation that matters next week. I'll make a call on your behalf. Most consultants deliver a deck and disappear. I stay where I'm useful for as long as I'm useful.
A 30-minute conversation.
No commitment. You walk out with insights on your business you didn't have walking in. Most engagements that turn into something bigger start here.
A project.
Something specific to find, structure, or close. Defined scope, defined outcome, typically 8 to 16 weeks. For companies that know roughly what they're looking for and want someone to get it done.
An ongoing seat.
A fractional strategy executive role. I'm in your inbox, in your board prep, in your deal rooms. Typically 6 to 12 months. For leaders who need someone in the room every week, not just every quarter.
The numbers.
Built a digital distribution business from zero to $40 million.
Structured deals generating $30 million in new revenue.
Generated for Disney, DreamWorks, NBCUniversal, and 20th Century Fox.
Yes, billions. With a B.
Your competitor just announced a deal you should have done first.
They got there because someone in their room saw what your room missed. The next one doesn't have to go the same way.
Your industry is starting to look like one I've watched before.
Streaming, NFTs, AI licensing, digital transformation. The patterns repeat. The companies that move on the pattern early and smart win. The ones that wait for it to be obvious don't.
You've got a brand or product everyone says is great, but the revenue is flat.
Great isn't the problem. Awareness, process, structure and execution are. You're probably one or two deals away from a different P&L.
Your team built something internally you keep thinking could be a real product.
It probably could. Most companies sit on these for years because nobody has time to figure out how to commercialize them. That's a conversation.
You have data nobody else has and no idea what to do with it.
Somebody in an adjacent industry will pay for it. Often a lot. Finding them and pricing it right is the work.
You need someone in the room who isn't on your payroll.
Internal teams have their own incentives. Big firms have their own playbooks. Sometimes what you need is one trusted outside read from someone who's been in your seat. That's me.
A major shift just happened in your industry and you're not sure how to respond.
Most companies wait until the shift is obvious to act, which is usually too late. I've watched this exact movie at three studios. I can tell you what comes next.
30 minutes. No strings.
You'll leave with insights about your business you didn't know walking in.
Here's how it works. You fill out the form. We get on a call. I ask you what your company owns and what you're watching in your market. You tell me. I tell you, honestly, what I see.
If there's something there, I'll tell you what I'd do. If there isn't, I'll tell you that too. Either way you walk out with a sharper read on your own business than you walked in with.
No pitch. Just a sharper read.