Methodology
The AI Strategy Framework.
Four stages — Frame, Decide, Create, Measure — carried by six steps and four principles, with an explicit position on what we don't do.
Origin
Built from 50+ engagements. Refined for the AI decade.
The AI Strategy Framework™ didn't start as a framework. It started as a habit — a way of structuring every engagement, refined across more than 50 advisory missions in strategy, M&A, transformation and value creation. When AI became a board-level decision rather than a technical one, the habit became a method.
Most AI advisory work is either too slow to matter, with roadmaps that age before they are delivered, or too shallow to defend in front of a CFO. The framework sits at the intersection: institutional rigour, delivered in weeks.
Principles
Four principles that guide every engagement.
PRINCIPLE 01
Thesis before tool.
We don't start with the AI capability. We start with the business question. Tools are chosen to serve the thesis, not the other way around.
PRINCIPLE 02
Independent by design.
No execution, no platform, no licence to place. Our recommendations carry no interest of ours.
PRINCIPLE 03
Weeks, not quarters.
Engagements are measured in 4 to 12 weeks. AI cycles are too fast for quarter-long deliverables.
PRINCIPLE 04
Durable assets, not decks.
Every engagement leaves behind a method your teams keep using: models, dashboards and a review cadence that outlast the engagement.
The process
Six steps, fully sequenced.
Each engagement progresses through these steps — sometimes all of them in sequence, sometimes a focused subset depending on where the client enters the chain. Each step has clear deliverables and a partner-led owner.
STEP 01 · FRAME
Thesis & Discovery
Industry economics, market structure, competitive dynamics, and opportunity framing. We start by understanding the business, not the technology. Output: a structured thesis on where AI creates real value in your context — and where it doesn't.
TYPICAL DURATION — 1 to 2 weeks
STEP 02 · DECIDE
Strategy Design
Roadmap, operating model, and value pool allocation. We translate the thesis into decisions: what to build, what to buy, what to delegate to AI, and what to keep human-led. Output: a defensible strategic plan with quantified value allocation.
TYPICAL DURATION — 2 to 4 weeks
STEP 03 · DECIDE
ROI & Due Diligence
Investment modeling, commercial and technical evaluation. For internal initiatives: 3-year NPV, sensitivity analysis, decision tree. For PE-backed targets: market, moat, unit economics, technical scalability. Output: defensible economics ready for Investment Committee or board review.
TYPICAL DURATION — 2 to 6 weeks
STEP 04 · CREATE · WE DON'T
Development & Integration
This is where we step back. Custom software, enterprise integration and large-scale change require specialist integrators, chosen by you. We stay neutral towards them: our role is to frame their work and measure its return.
HANDED OVER — to the integrator of your choice
STEP 05 · CREATE
Method Transfer
We install the measurement and hand our method to your teams: the models, the dashboards, the review cadence. Not a PDF that dies in a drive, but a discipline your finance and strategy teams keep running. Documentation and training included.
TYPICAL DURATION — 4 to 8 weeks
STEP 06 · MEASURE
Performance Measurement
Tracking outcomes, iterating, evolving the operating model. We close the loop — measuring what was modeled, comparing to expectations, and informing the next thesis. Output: a feedback signal that turns each engagement into the input of the next.
TYPICAL DURATION — ongoing, milestone reviews quarterly