Sector Focus
Where commercial economics matter most
We have concentrated experience in sectors where specific commercial distortions recur: where margin is misread, capital gets trapped, incentives distort strategy, and growth narratives diverge from cash.
Commercial Patterns
Where these problems repeat
Recurring patterns across sectors where contribution gets misread, capital gets trapped, incentives distort decisions, and growth narratives diverge from cash economics.
Software and SaaS
Unit economics look clean until you disaggregate by cohort. A 10-year-old cohort might be profitable while newer cohorts are destroying value. Churn curves are embedded in valuation but often invisible in strategy. Pricing power gets assumed but tested by competitor entry. Revenue growth masks contribution collapse.
Manufacturing and Industrial
Capacity and fixed cost decisions made five years ago now determine vulnerability to revenue pressure. A business cannot survive a 20-30 percent revenue decline if 40 percent of costs are fixed. Investment decisions assume full capacity but downturns empty it. The structural cost problem is usually discovered too late.
Financial Services
Profitability is driven more by customer mix than operational excellence. Payer mix determines realized price independent of list price. Capital requirements often constrain strategy more than market position does. Moving the wrong customers usually destroys margin faster than pricing power creates it.
Healthcare and Pharma
Portfolio economics are opaque. A few large bets determine returns across the entire pipeline. Clinical timelines compress timelines for capital allocation decisions. R&D spending is enormous but returns are concentrated. Capital often sits unproductively in programs that will never reach market.
Private Equity and Investor-Backed Businesses
Portfolio company economics require different scrutiny than public market businesses. Hold periods constrain what can be fixed. Value creation plans embed assumptions about pricing power and margin expansion that are rarely tested against market evidence. Exit valuations depend on multiple expansion assumptions that may not survive a change in rates. We help sponsors and management teams test whether value creation assumptions are achievable before they become the basis for a transaction.
How engagements typically work
Most engagements begin with a single commercial question that has a defined financial consequence. We do not require a retainer or ongoing commitment. Work is scoped around the question, not around maintaining an advisory relationship.
Initial conversation. We discuss the commercial question, the decision being made, and what analysis would change the outcome. If we think we can add value, we scope the engagement. If we do not, we say so.
Financial analysis and assumption testing. We work from the underlying data: management accounts, deal models, pricing data, cost structures, market evidence. We identify the assumptions doing the most work and model scenarios around them.
Decision support and execution. We present findings directly to the decision-maker, not to an intermediary. We stay involved through implementation to catch where the economics diverge from what the decision assumed.
Work on a question in these sectors
If you are working through a commercial decision with material financial consequences, reach out to discuss whether we can help.