Advisory services
A thinking partner for the decisions that keep you up at night
Mintkforge advisory gives leadership teams access to structured external thinking on a retainer — without the overhead of a full project engagement.
Not every problem needs a project team
Some of the most consequential decisions a leadership team makes don't fit neatly into a consulting project. A new competitor entering the market. A board asking for a revised capital allocation plan. A leadership departure that reshapes the team's chemistry. These situations call for fast, high-quality thinking from someone who knows your business well — but isn't inside it. Our advisory retainer is designed exactly for that. Each retainer includes a monthly strategy session of two to three hours with a senior Mintkforge consultant, on-demand access for urgent questions by phone or email within one business day, and a quarterly written brief summarising the key themes, risks, and decisions from the preceding three months. Engagements run on a rolling three-month basis with a one-month notice period to exit.
What clients use advisory for most often
These aren't the only use cases — but they're where the retainer format tends to create the most value.
Pre-Board Thinking
A standing slot before major board meetings to pressure-test the narrative, sharpen the numbers, and prepare leadership for the questions the board is likely to ask — especially the ones you'd rather they didn't.
Competitive Response
When a competitor moves — prices, product, geography — you need a rapid, clear-headed read on what it means and what your options are. Advisory gives you a thinking partner for exactly that kind of fast-turnaround analysis.
Senior Hiring Decisions
We help CEOs and founders think through the brief, the profile, and the final choice for C-suite and senior leadership hires — bringing an outside view to a decision where confirmation bias is a real risk.
Strategy Maintenance
For organisations that completed a strategy engagement with us or elsewhere — a lightweight retainer to keep the strategy current, revisit assumptions quarterly, and avoid strategic drift between major planning cycles.
What advisory doesn't replace
An advisory retainer is a complement to good management, not a substitute for it. We're an external voice with broad consulting experience — we can challenge your thinking, sharpen your analysis, and surface blind spots. We can't run your business, attend every meeting, or be your primary risk management mechanism. Clients get the most from advisory when they come to the sessions with specific, real decisions rather than open-ended questions. If a situation requires deep diagnostic work, a dedicated project team, or specialist expertise in a domain we don't cover — legal, tax, technical engineering — we'll say so directly and help you find the right resource.
Is an advisory retainer the right fit for where you are?
We run a short scoping conversation before any retainer starts — no commitment, just an honest conversation about whether this structure makes sense for your situation.
Schedule a scoping call