Practices
Independent Thinking
How we see the industry. Opinions on when to hire, what not to buy, and why most implementations stall before they start.
Do You Still Need a Website in the Age of AI?
The “SaaS-pocalypse” take was that AI agents would make websites and most software obsolete. It hasn’t played out that way. In an AI-mediated market your website matters more, not less — it’s how AI tools, and the customers they route, decide you’re real.
June 9, 2026
Founder-Led vs. Firm: What You're Actually Buying When You Hire a Consultant
A large firm gives you a process. A founder-led consultancy gives you a person. Here's what the difference means in practice — and when each one is the right call.
June 6, 2026
How to Evaluate AI Tools for Your Business
There are hundreds of AI tools that claim to save time. Most of them will cost you more than they save if you adopt them the wrong way. Here's the evaluation framework we use.
June 6, 2026
The Three Things That Kill Every CRM Rollout
We've seen CRM implementations fail at companies of every size. The causes are almost always the same three things — and none of them are technical.
June 6, 2026
How to Know When to Replace Your CRM
A CRM is not broken just because your team hates it. Here's how to tell the difference between a tooling problem and a process problem — and what to do about each.
June 6, 2026
Why Most Marketing Programs Don't Generate Leads
Marketing spend is easy to measure. Lead quality is not. Most programs fail before the campaign launches — here's the upstream problem most small businesses don't see coming.
June 6, 2026
How to Know If Your Website Is Hurting Sales
A website that looks fine can still lose deals. These are the specific patterns we look for when a client's pipeline stalls and the funnel looks healthy on paper.
April 7, 2026