Chicago · Toronto · London
Strategy that survivescontact with the operation
Pinnacle Advisory Group works with executive teams in industrial manufacturing, healthcare services and financial services. We take the decisions that have been deferred for two quarters and close them in twelve weeks, with the operating detail already worked out.
- 0+
- Engagements delivered since 2009
- 0%
- Clients who commission a second engagement
- 0.8B
- Recurring value released for clients (USD)
The firm
Small enough that the partner is in the room
Pinnacle was founded in Chicago in 2009 by three partners who had spent a decade inside large strategy houses and were tired of selling work that a different team then delivered. The arrangement here has not changed since: the partner who scopes the engagement runs it, and there is no second bench to hand it to.
Twenty-eight consultants, three offices, and a deliberate ceiling on how many engagements run at once. We turn down roughly one in three approaches, usually because the question is already answered inside the client and what is missing is the decision rather than the analysis.
- A named partner on the work every week, not at the readout
- Fixed fee agreed before the engagement letter is signed
- Findings shared as they emerge, never held back for a final deck
- Implementation support included for ninety days after handover
What we do
Six practices, one operating standard
Each practice is led by a partner who still does the work. Engagements that cross practices are staffed once, by the people already on them.
Corporate Strategy
Where to compete and where to stop. Portfolio reviews, market entry cases and the three-year plan that a board can actually fund.
Operating Performance
Cost-to-serve, throughput and working capital. We size the opportunity in week two and hand over a plan owned by line managers.
Transaction Advisory
Commercial diligence, synergy cases and the first hundred days of integration, run alongside the deal team rather than after it.
Technology & Data
Platform decisions, data architecture and the automation business case, assessed on payback rather than on vendor roadmap.
Organisation Design
Spans, layers, accountability and the operating model that follows a merger, a spin-off or a change of chief executive.
Risk & Regulation
Regulatory change programmes for financial services and healthcare clients, from gap assessment to supervisory response.
How an engagement runs
Four phases, and a decision point at the end of each
The same shape every time, so an executive team always knows what happens next, what it costs and what they are holding at the end of it.
- Week 1
Frame
A partner spends four days with the executive team and the data, and writes down the question the engagement will answer. If the question is already answered, we say so and stop here.
You receive
A one-page engagement charter, signed by both sides
- Weeks 2–4
Size
We quantify the opportunity from primary data before we design anything, so the executive team can decide whether the prize justifies the programme. Findings are shared as they emerge.
You receive
A sized opportunity map with the model attached
- Weeks 5–11
Design
The plan is built with the managers who will run it, in working sessions rather than in a room down the hall. Every action carries a named owner, a date and a number it is expected to move.
You receive
An implementation plan owned by line management
- Weeks 12–24
Hand over
We run the first two operating reviews with your team and then watch them run the next four. Ninety days of partner access is included, and no invoice follows it.
You receive
A running operating rhythm and ninety days of support
Results
Measured at handover, not at the readout
Five figures from recent engagements, each taken from the client system rather than from our own model.
- At start
- At handover
- Gross margin, industrial client
- +6.5 points
- Order-to-cash days, logistics client
- −50%
- Clinic booking lag, healthcare client
- −71%
- Platform run cost, software client
- −42%
- Forecast accuracy, consumer client
- +44 points
Gross margin, industrial client: 38% to 74%.
Order-to-cash days, logistics client: 82% to 41%.
Clinic booking lag, healthcare client: 91% to 26%.
Platform run cost, software client: 66% to 38%.
Forecast accuracy, consumer client: 44% to 88%.
Why Pinnacle
What a client notices in the first fortnight
Four commitments we have made in writing since 2009, and still keep.
- 01
A fixed fee, agreed first
Scope and price are settled before work starts. If the question changes, we re-scope in writing rather than raising a variation at the end.
- 02
Numbers you can audit
Every figure in a Pinnacle deliverable traces to a source your finance team can open. The model ships with the report.
- 03
Built to be handed over
The plan is written for the manager who has to run it on Monday, and we stay available for ninety days while they do.
- 04
One team across three offices
Chicago, Toronto and London share a single engagement record. Nothing is re-explained because the work crossed a border.
Common questions
What prospective clients ask first
A fixed fee, quoted against a written scope, before the engagement letter is signed. Diagnostics start at 65,000 dollars and a full twelve-week programme typically runs between 240,000 and 420,000 dollars depending on the number of sites in scope. There are no time-and-materials engagements.
A diagnostic is four weeks. A full strategy or performance programme is twelve to sixteen weeks, structured as four phases with a decision point at the end of each. Integration support runs longer and is scoped separately.
A partner and two to four consultants. The partner who scoped the engagement is on it every week, reads the analysis and presents it. We do not separate selling from delivery, which is why we cap how many engagements run at once.
Almost always. The strongest engagements are joint teams with client members named in the engagement letter, because the plan is more likely to be carried out by people who built it. We ask for two to three days a week from each named client member.
Ninety days of implementation support is included: a fortnightly working session, access to the models, and a partner on the phone. After that we step back unless you commission a separate implementation engagement.
Our clients range from private companies with 80 million dollars in revenue to listed groups above 6 billion. The engagement shape differs; the staffing rule does not. Below roughly 40 million we usually recommend a specialist rather than take the work.
Next step
One conversation is usually enough to know
Forty-five minutes with a partner, no charge and no proposal attached. If we are not the right firm we will say so and suggest who is.