Advisory
Advisory that ends in something being built.
Most advisory work stops at the recommendation. We take a defined problem, work it down to ground truth, recommend a course of action, and then do the work required to make that recommendation real. That includes building software, systems, processes, and commercial infrastructure when that's what the answer turns out to be.
Advisory work is scoped to the problem, so we'll tell you what it costs once we understand what it is.
Who calls, and when
The owner whose company stopped scaling
Revenue flattened, or it grew and the margin didn't follow. Headcount went up and output didn't. Every non-trivial decision still routes through you. Nothing is on fire, but everything is slower than it was two years ago. We find the actual constraint instead of the loudest symptom, and then fix the operating design.
The leadership team holding an opportunity they cannot structure
A new market, an acquisition, a partnership, a capital-intensive build, or a contract you've never bid before. The opportunity looks real but the economics are unproven. We build the evidence base and the economics before you commit, and we'll say plainly when the opportunity isn't real.
The organization that needs a system that does not exist
The data you need lives across systems that were never designed to talk to each other, or the workflow is too specific for anything on the market, or a compliance boundary rules out every off-the-shelf option. We design the constraint into the architecture first, and then build.
Diagnose, Advise, Build, Execute
- 01
Diagnose
What happens: interviews, document and data review, process observation, financial review, and where relevant a look at the market and the competitive set.
What you get: a written problem statement you actually agree with, the constraint named, and a ranked list of what's costing money or blocking growth.
Duration: two to six weeks, and a narrow single-question diagnosis can close in one.
How it ends: a working session and a short written document. Some clients stop here and act on it themselves, which is a perfectly good outcome.
- 02
Advise
What happens: options developed and tested against evidence, economics, risk, and the people who have to agree. Where capital is involved, the numbers are modeled with the assumptions exposed.
What you get: a recommended course of action, the alternatives we rejected and why, sensitivity where money is at stake, and a plan for the order it happens in.
Duration: three to eight weeks.
How it ends: you make the decision. We don't make it for you, and we don't pretend a recommendation is neutral when it isn't.
- 03
Build
What happens: we create what is missing. Software, a data pipeline, an intelligence platform, a dashboard, a workflow, a documented process, or commercial infrastructure. Regulatory, security, and contractual constraints are designed into the architecture before the first feature.
What you get: a working system, its documentation, the evidence trail showing how it meets the constraint, and a handoff package your own team can actually operate.
Duration: six to twenty weeks for a first working version. Larger platforms are staged so something usable ships early.
How it ends: the system is in your hands and running, and your people can use and maintain it without us.
- 04
Execute
What happens: we run the implementation. Business development, partner and vendor identification, procurement support, customer development, stakeholder coordination, rollout, and introductions from the network where the fit is real.
What you get: the thing actually happening. Signed partners, filled roles, shipped rollouts, live pipelines, closed decisions.
Duration: defined phases of eight to sixteen weeks with a review at the end of each.
How it ends: by design rather than by drift. Every phase has a named end state, because we don't sell the kind of retainer that never closes.
What makes the work different
We work to ground truth
We start from what is verifiably true, not from what everyone in the building believes is true. Most bad decisions trace back to an assumption that got in early and never got tested.
We stay through execution
The recommendation is the middle of the engagement, not the end of it. We run the implementation too, including the parts nobody wants to own.
We build when building is the answer
We design and write software ourselves, but we'll also tell you when an existing product fits and you should just buy it instead.
There is no predefined package
Sometimes it's strategy, sometimes it's software, and sometimes it's a new partner, a better process, or information you didn't have. The scope follows the problem.
We bring in a specialist when the problem needs one
We keep an advisory network across business sectors, and we use it. When a problem turns on domain knowledge the core team doesn't hold, we bring in someone who has it rather than reasoning about it from the outside. You're told who is involved and why.
How an engagement starts
- 01
A conversation
You describe what's happening in your own words and we ask questions. If the problem is outside what we should be taking on, we'll say so and point you somewhere better.
- 02
A short written read of the problem
We send back how we understand the problem, what we would need to establish, what the first stage covers, and what it costs. You decide from there.
Questions people ask before they call
Do you only work in certain industries?
No. The work has covered multiple verticals, including defense and national security, infrastructure, water and wastewater, government procurement, healthcare, software, and capital markets. Clients include international companies entering the United States market for the first time. The industries change, but the underlying problems usually don't: fragmented information, a hard constraint, and a decision that has to survive later scrutiny. And when a problem needs domain knowledge the core team doesn't hold, the firm draws on an advisory network across business sectors.
What does an engagement cost?
There are two shapes to it. Problem-scoped advisory is priced to the problem, so there's no list price: we tell you what it costs once we understand what it is, in the written read of the problem, and before you commit to anything. Ongoing engagements work differently, reserving a share of executive capacity each month, and they begin at $6,000 per month with a three-month minimum. Defined deliverables with fixed scope and fixed prices are published separately.
Do you build software?
Yes. Custom software, data pipelines, intelligence platforms, dashboards, and integrations across systems that were never meant to connect. Eleven 186 has shipped 8+ first-of-their-kind systems, with viable builds typically live within 120 days. But we only build after we've confirmed that no existing product fits the constraint.
What if we do not know what the problem is?
That's the common case, and it's what Diagnose exists for. And if you want something before you speak to anyone, the Operating Diagnostic is twelve questions, about two minutes, self-serve, and no call required.
How is this different from a management consultant or an agency?
A management consultancy usually ends at the recommendation, and an agency usually starts with a deliverable it already sells. We start with the problem and stay until the answer is actually running, and you work with the people who design the system.
Can we stop after the diagnosis?
Yes. Some clients take the written problem statement and the ranked list and go act on it with their own team. That's a perfectly good outcome, and we price the stage so it stands alone.
Do you work outside the Lehigh Valley?
Yes. Eleven 186 is based in the Lehigh Valley and serves Allentown, Bethlehem, and Easton, but engagements run nationally and most of the work is remote.
Tell us the problem
Describe what's happening in your own words. Two paragraphs is enough to start. And if you can't name it yet, start with the Operating Diagnostic instead.