The moment
A new partnership changes everything at once. New capital, new expectations, new teammates, often new companies joining the platform. But the story employees, customers, and add-ons hear is still the one that lived in the founder's head.
That gap is where momentum stalls. Messaging fragments. Acquired teams don't know what they've joined. Leaders pull in different directions.
We close it.
- acquirers fully achieve their deal thesis.
- 1 in 3
- acquirers fully achieve their deal thesis.
- PwC, 2026 M&A Integration Survey
- of mergers miss their expected revenue synergies.
- ~70%
- of mergers miss their expected revenue synergies.
- McKinsey Quarterly, “Where Mergers Go Wrong,” 2004
- of acquirers still struggle with cultural issues serious enough to need intervention.
- 75%
- of acquirers still struggle with cultural issues serious enough to need intervention.
- Bain & Company, 2023 M&A Report
An experienced team embedded with your leadership. Not a vendor. A seat at the table.
Every big change asks the same thing of a company: become something new without losing what made it work. The talent is usually already there. What's missing is someone who has led that change before.
We work inside the company, alongside the founder and leadership team, and report to the founder and the board. Every engagement is led by our two principals, Jennifer Easton and Shane Gring, with senior talent from our pool brought in as the work calls for it.
-
The story
Positioning, messaging, and a leadership narrative that holds across the founder, the team, the sponsor, and every company that joins.
-
The operating model
How the company actually runs once the founder isn't the bottleneck, so the story is backed by how work gets done.
-
The people, when it matters
When team alignment is the risk, we bring in behavioral insight to show how leaders and teams actually work together.
How it works
How an engagement runs
-
First 60 days
Leadership interviews, positioning, and the Partnership Playbook.
-
Months 3–6
Internal launch, customer rollout, and the first add-on integrations.
-
Through to exit
Embedded Leadership, with a standing cadence at the leadership table, building the story and operating model the next buyer will pay for.
The Partnership Playbook
Within the first 60 days, every engagement delivers one document the leadership team, the board, and every add-on can work from: the story, the brand architecture, the operating cadence, and the integration plan.
The people
Senior people, not a staffing plan
Principals
-
Principal
Brand & Narrative Lead
An experienced CMO who owns positioning, messaging, and the leadership narrative.
Jennifer Easton
Former SVP Marketing at the International WELL Building Institute, where she built the marketing function from the first hire.
-
-
- Tierney
-
-
- Sway (Techstars)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Principal
Operating Model Lead
An experienced COO who owns how the company runs, the leadership cadence, and the integration of each add-on.
Shane Gring
Fractional COO to founder-led companies. Built the operating platform behind IWBI's global standard, serving 300,000 users in 131 countries.
-
Our talent pool
Senior operators and specialists we bring in as the work calls for them.
-
Sales Lead
Go-to-market and sales leadership as the platform grows.
Lindsay Jacobs
Former SVP, Head of Sales and Marketing at the International WELL Building Institute, and a founding team member at Parsley Health.
-
People Insight Lead
Leadership and team alignment, grounded in behavioral science.
Lora Kantorovich
Creator of the Successence® methodology.
-
Design
Identity, website, and brand systems.
Nikole Sparks
Founder of Passer Design Co., with 15 years of experience building brands and leading creative teams.
-
Brand
Brand strategy, identity, and brand experience.
Dylan Garner
Founder and Creative Director of Sundry Studio, with a 15+ year career spanning national brands and neighborhood transformations.
-
Naming
Research-led naming when a platform or add-on needs a new name.
Brands our team has worked with
-
-
- Tierney
-
-
- Sway (Techstars)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Proof
Who we've worked with
Work from the bench
-
Environmental, health and safety consulting
A new site, and the measurement to run it
Citadel EHS, an employee-owned environmental, health, safety and sustainability consulting firm in business since 1993, rebuilt its marketing site and the tracking behind it.
-
Building compliance and sustainability consulting
Rebuilding an add-on's site inside its new platform
CodeGreen, a building compliance and sustainability consultancy for commercial real estate, is now part of the Pinchin team. Its website had to carry its own brand and the platform it joined.
-
Strength and conditioning software
Reshaping a marketing team that outgrew its operations
TeamBuildr, the strength and conditioning platform trusted by 5,500+ coaches, teams and facilities, moved its marketing operations to match a bigger buyer.
-
Healthy building standards and certification
Where the bench comes from
Three people in EASTONGRING's senior seats built core parts of the International WELL Building Institute: its platform and operations, its marketing function, and its sales and marketing leadership.