Recent Projects

Ideation/Positioning Consult

Insurance Industry Entrepreneur (confidential)—Ongoing

I am currently working with an SVP of data and analytics who is preparing to pitch a new AI-based modeling tool to funders. The goal of our work: to identify and sharpen concepts that are essential to her new venture, and deploy them effectively in written and in-person communication with early potential funders.

  • Deep-dive discussions clarifying the nature of her new technology and its potential applications. Together, we’re clarifying its underlying structures, examining market opportunities and challenges, and uncovering new product features

  • Preparation for initial meetings with VCs and other backers; we are reviewing and clarifying my client’s objectives and sub-objectives for each meeting, her long-term history with these potential backers, the intellectual and business contexts for her interactions with them, and the rhetorical postures that will help her be clear and persuasive

Practice Group Launch

AmLaw 100 Law Firm—Ongoing

A major American law firm tapped me to conceptualize and write communications vehicles related to a new firm-wide practice group. Work includes:

  • in-depth interviews with partners, staff and other stakeholders to explore the complex legal contours of the practice; define its audiences, their pain points, and corresponding value propositions; and trace practice processes and workflow

  • developing client-facing collateral including partner-to-client email templates; FAQ sheets; partner talking points for client meetings; and practice descriptions that reflect the above conversations

  • developing internal communications, including internal practice launch announcements, partner talking points for staff instructions; and FAQs

Copywriting for Rebrand

Chambers Band One Boutique Firm—Ongoing

A highly regarded boutique law firm, a client of mine for many years, asked me to pitch in on its rebranding efforts, which are being conceptualized and managed by a third-party communications agency. Work includes:

  • helping agency lead to sharpen and expand brand narrative based on partner interviews and previous collateral

  • developing editorial content, including thought leadership pieces, case studies, partner profiles

Ideation/Positioning Consult

TL;DR: I’m an ideation consultant for a data and analytics entrepreneur in the conception and upcoming launch of her new startup

The Story: When [NAME REDACTED] contacted me, she was...unsettled.

It’s an unfamiliar feeling for her. She’s a brilliant SVP of Data and Analytics with a stellar resume and ambitions to spare. In her world, what she says goes; her ideas have proven enormously valuable to the companies who have been lucky enough to hire her.

But when she decided to strike out on her own and develop a new AI-based modeling tool, she was leaving the familiar behind.

She had created the underlying technology with a team of like-minded collaborators who spoke a common technical and professional language. But pitching that technology to VCs and other early-stage funders was a novel communications challenge, a shift into a different dialect. She needed help—help developing clear, concise talking points, anticipating questions about the new product, and strategizing approaches for each meeting.

  • We started off with several deep-dive discussions clarifying the nature of her new technology and its potential applications. These conversations served to get me up to speed, but over time they came to serve another purpose—a rigorous examination of the product’s underlying structures, market opportunities and challenges, and features.

  • We then shifted to comprehensive preparation and practice for her initial VC meetings. We identified objectives for each meeting, taking into account her history with these potential backers, the intellectual and business context for their interest in her work, and the rhetorical postures that would help her remain clear and persuasive.

Our work together is ongoing.