We thrive
when you grow
Accelerate your time to value
We go beyond traditional consulting. Rolling up our sleeves to deliver inception-to-exit operating services.
Orchid Black rapidly increases enterprise value by crafting a customized value creation playbook then injecting our elite group of former CXO’s to generate outsized growth.
evaluated
and owner exits
Who we work with
Promising, founder-led companies
Orchid Black delivers hands-on execution and strategic co-leadership. Our team of former executives makes centuries of expertise and a vast network of tech-ecosystem partners available for small and medium sized businesses. We understand the unique challenges you face, and our collaborative model is designed to mitigate risks while multiplying your opportunities for growth and revenue diversification.
Enterprises eyeing carve-outs
Our agile leadership provides confidential, expert guidance to turn your technology and AI productization ideas into reality. We combine a proven framework for product-market-fit with a deep understanding of your unique business model to launch innovation. Our integrated team ensures the realization of untapped technology value without disrupting your core resources.
Private equity firms
Rapidly scale revenue and create synergies among portfolio companies. Orchid Black embeds seasoned CXO’s and a proven framework for immediate value creation impact and fresh monetization opportunities. We adapt this framework to your unique investment thesis, streamlining integration and growth from acquisition to harvest.
Services Offered
Strategic Planning
Uncover your
potential, fast
Validate a thesis or gain clarity to inform impactful decisions around the most important value creation levers
Strategic Planning
Uncover your
potential, fast
Market research
Growth strategy development
Product road mapping
Operational efficiency analysis
Risk management
Executive alignment
AI Strategy
Optimize your product
and operations
Align your operations and offering to deliver AI-centric capabilities and customer experiences
AI Strategy
Optimize your product
and operations
AI readiness assessment
Innovation strategy
Solution development
AI/technology implementation
Growth Services
Accelerate
your vision
Rapidly achieve strategic goals for your product, brand, revenue generation, and go-to-market
Growth Services
Accelerate
your vision
Market entry strategy
New product GTM
Pricing and Packaging
Revenue optimization
Product strategy
Branding & marketing
Organizational Transformation
Set your operations up for scale
Get the right people and processes in place to drive sustainable change in your business
Organizational Transformation
Set your operations up for scale
Leadership alignment
Change management
KPIs / metric tracking
Process training
Exit Readiness
Realize your
optimal value
Prepare founders and their businesses to rapidly increase enterprise value and close the value gap before a transaction
Exit Readiness
Realize your
optimal value
Business optimization
Targetted KPIs
Intellectual property
Talent management
Enhanced competitive positioning
Succession planning
Investment Support
Enhance investment
portfolio value
Optimize your investment strategy and maximize revenue & valuation within the investment hold period
Investment Support
Enhance investment
portfolio value
Due diligence
Risk assessment
Post-acquisition growth planning and execution
Business Integrations
How we work
with you
Combine your vision with our expertise. Hear how our distinct model sets us apart from growth consultants.
Partnership Over Projects
We only choose winners, seeking deep partnerships and an outsized return instead of outsized hourly rates
Integrated Expertise
We skip armchair recommendations, integrating real-world experts into client teams for immediate solutions
Maximized Enterprise Value
We’ve been through exits — we know what buyer’s look for and we know the right levers to pull to close the value gap and maximize value
Shared Success
We bet on ourselves and align our compensation with your success, assuring a return on your investment
Our
Approach
We offer a unique approach that ensures your value and performance long after traditional managemement or growth consultants. Our approach involves ring-fencing our team within your organization to ensure culture, operations and incentives evolve in support of your total value transformation.
Strategize
Clarify Your Opportunity
We decompose core value drivers and pair them with intensive market and customer research to uncover your most compelling opportunities
Accelerate
Execute Your Ambition
We integrate with your team, piloting growth strategies to rapidly increase demand, achieve strategic goals, and maximize valuation
Harvest
Sustain Your Success
Ensure enduring impact, facilitating smooth transitions for sustained success. maximized Return on Investment, and lasting legacy
Case Studies
growth strategy
A leading cybersecurity firm partnered with Orchid Black to overhaul its IAM solution's P&P amid rising competition and a shift towards cloud computing and IoT.
Orchid Black Results
Key insights led to a strategy introducing a "wedge offering" to ease sales and attract new clients. Orchid Black's collaboration, involving interviews and financial analysis.
exit strategy
This financial technology company puts easy-to-use risk management and portfolio analysis tools into the hands of professional investors.
Orchid Black Results
Through the execution of a seven-month growth services engagement, the company and Orchid Black executed on a new go-to-market strategy that realized an ROI of more than 4000%.
revenue growth
Thumbstopper, a Martech SaaS company, overcame growth stagnation by realigning sales and marketing strategies, resulting in consistent pricing and revenue upswing.
Orchid Black Results
Thumbstopper increased market share, slashing marketing costs by $500K while boosting year-over-year revenue by 30% and saving over $750K through incentive restructuring.
digital transformation
This tech company was challenged in navigating to cloud computing amidst the dominance of Amazon, Google, and Microsoft. They needed to understand the factors involved in migrating.
Orchid Black Results
Our research aimed to guide a well-established corporation through the tumult of digital transformation and cloud computing integration. It highlighted the importance of aligning business and cloud.
repositioning
The Hilco retail team developed a tech platform used to scale and accelerate inventory liquidation efforts and realized it could be offered to their customers to drive best practices.
Orchid Black Results
Orchid Black’s strategic growth consultants supported this effort product development at Hilco with the analysis and selection of a software development vendor.
service model design
When this organization experienced an unexpected surge of consumer inquiries to their call center, the leadership team recognized a need to improve the customer experience.
Orchid Black Results
Orchid Black did a phenomenally deep assessment of Xyngular’s current state, prioritizing and refocusing multiple areas for leadership and potential investment for Xyngular.
Our Managing Partners
Steven Horwitz
Founding Managing Partner
30+ years in executive leadership and VC consulting, propelling software and tech services through complex challenges with innovative strategies and high-performance teams.
Jim Barnish, Jr
Founding Managing Partner
Maximizing growth, enterprise value and profitability. 20 years of experience in scaling tech firms.
Howard Joyce
Managing Partner
Experienced in leading SaaS and tech services, building dynamic teams and implementing strategic improvements to drive efficiency and scale.
Bob Caruso
Managing Partner
Seasoned business leader with expertise in forming top-tier teams and delivering swift, tangible results.
I am a visionary, performance-driven strategist with over 30 years of executive leadership and venture capital consulting experience across software and technology-enabled service organizations. With a hands-on leadership approach, high energy, and exceptional skills in critical thinking and creative problem-solving, I excel at building and inspiring high-performance teams to tackle complex organizational challenges. My track record spans from steering high growth environments to managing turnaround situations in both early-stage, venture-backed software startups and Fortune 100 companies. My expertise is deeply rooted in identifying and achieving product-market fit, harnessing the voice of the customer for strategic insights, and crafting effective channel strategies to maximize market penetration. I have a proven ability in enterprise sales, fostering a solution provider ecosystem that enhances value delivery, and adept deal making that ensures sustainable growth. My approach to governance and due diligence ensures operational integrity and risk mitigation. As a storyteller, I articulate vision and strategy compellingly, fostering a culture of innovation and resilience. I prioritize team building and leadership development, creating cohesive units that excel in execution and adaptability. Specializing in growth strategy development, I focus on demand/category creation, leveraging my comprehensive skill set to drive organizational success.
Industry & Type Expertise
Enterprise & SMB HiTech Professional Services Enterprise Software
Mastery and Unique Skills
Product Market Fit Voice Of Customer Channel Strategy Enterprise Sales Solution Provider Ecosystem Deal Making/construction Governance/due Diligence Story Telling Team Building
Over the past twenty years, I've immersed myself in the tech industry, growing companies as an entrepreneur, operator, and consultant. At the helm of Orchid Black, my team and I specialize in propelling SaaS and tech-forward companies into new realms of growth and value. Our mission at Orchid Black is clear: to leverage our unparalleled track record to maximize growth and enterprise value. With a deep understanding of the tech landscape and a strategic approach, we navigate through the complexities of scaling businesses, ensuring our partners not only grow but thrive in competitive environments. My expertise lies in strategically positioning tech companies for success, from crafting and implementing innovative go-to-market strategies to managing the intricacies of mergers & acquisitions and fine-tuning operations through revenue operations. This focus is the cornerstone of my approach, guiding tech-forward companies to sustainable growth and industry leadership.
Industry & Type Expertise
Startups VC PE SaaS
Mastery and Unique Skills
Design Thinking Launches & GTM Mergers & Acquisitions RevOps Startups Strategy
I am a seasoned senior operations executive with extensive leadership experience across SaaS and technology services sectors. My expertise lies in spearheading strategic initiatives and tactical operations to foster organizational growth and efficiency. A proven high-performance team builder, I excel in the acquisition and retention of top talent, strategically aligning human resources with business goals to drive substantial outcomes. My professional journey is distinguished by a robust track record in crafting and executing operational improvements and process innovations aimed at enhancing efficiency and scalability. These initiatives have consistently resulted in significant advancements in operational capabilities and competitive positioning. My skill set encompasses a broad spectrum of areas critical to organizational success, including business and finance transformation, channel strategy & management, and distribution. My experience in mergers & acquisitions extends to both the buy-side and comprehensive IT due diligence, underscoring my versatility and strategic depth in navigating complex corporate landscapes. Additionally, my capabilities in operations management, product management, and sales strategy have been pivotal in driving forward company objectives. I have successfully led ERP implementations and merger integrations, projects that demonstrate my ability to manage change and integrate advanced technological solutions effectively. This combination of strategic foresight, operational expertise, and leadership acumen positions me as a dynamic executive capable of steering technology-focused companies through periods of growth and transformation. This diverse toolkit of skills and experiences makes me a versatile and strategic leader, adept at guiding technology-focused companies through growth and change, always with an eye toward the future.
Industry & Type Expertise
Enterprise & SMB Enterprise Software Professional Services Media & Entertainment
Mastery and Unique Skills
Business/Finance Transformation Channel Strategy & Management Distribution Mergers & Acquisitions Operations Product Management Sales Erp Implementations Buyside M&A IT Due Diligence Merger Integration
Over the past 30 years, I have worked with iconic global technology and strategy consulting firms (including Intel, PWC, and Accenture) and startups, focusing on solving complex business problems and helping clients innovate to bring enterprise product and service solutions to market at scale. The last 20+ years have been dedicated to defining and delivering what success looks like through co-developing strategies for ideal client profiles, ensuring repeatable predictable pipeline growth, and creating consumption models with strategic revenue programs. I have executed go-to-market (GTM) offering roadmaps alongside the world’s leading semiconductor, spatial computing VR/XR (wearables), multi-cloud infrastructure, telco 5G/ORAN stack, CRM, and IoT-Edge, AI/ML foundation providers. This has involved aligning people, processes, capabilities, and programs for new routes to market, fostering partnerships, and offer co-development investments to differentiate, build preference, and generate IP with value creation at scale. Currently, I serve on two not-for-profit boards, leveraging my experience to contribute to broader societal goals. My career is built on a foundation of growth through Strategy, Tactics, Metrics (STEM methodology), innovation at scale, demand creation, and category creation programs, among others. I pride myself on building teams that execute co-innovation, utilizing design thinking for offers that drive a predictable quality pipeline. Leadership for me is about leading with stories, fostering diversity, inclusion, and empathy within teams. With over 30 years of global leadership, client strategy, and consulting delivery experience in the high-tech sector, my focus has always been on building, operating, and transferring client innovation co-development with revenue scale. My expertise in GTM capabilities, leadership, collaboration and orchestration, executive alignment, and delivering innovation at scale underscores my approach to opening up new markets and achieving predictable revenue.
Industry & Type Expertise
HT (Products, Services, Consulting And Advisory) Innovation New Categories
Mastery and Unique Skills
GTM Capabilities Leadership Collaboration And Orchestration Executive Alignment Results Orientation Through Servant Leadership To Open Up New Markets Agile Methodology For Validation Partnership + Client Credentialing Delivering Innovation At Scale (Client Problem, Ideal Customer Profile, Tech Enablement, Offers, Assets, Capabilities, Predictable Revenue)
With over three decades immersed in the realms of technology sales, business development, and Private Equity Value Creation, my career is a testament to the power of enduring relationships built on trust. For the past 20 years, I have dedicated myself to demonstrating to Private Equity sponsors, C-suite executives, and board directors the transformative impact of technology on efficiency, visibility, scalability, and ultimately, on enhancing valuation for exit strategies. My passion lies in identifying and seizing opportunities to assist clients in accelerating revenue generation, refining go-to-market strategies, and cultivating alternate sales channels and partnerships for sustained growth. As a Strategic Business Development and Sales Executive, I've established a formidable track record in leading sales teams within Fortune 100 Technology companies. My experience encompasses spearheading and nurturing high-performing teams adept at leveraging technology to address the mission-critical priorities of commercial stakeholders. I excel in forging collaborative partnerships with C-suite leaders, delivering professional service solutions tailored for private equity-owned organizations. My commitment to fostering long-term partnerships is driven by a desire to act as a catalyst for competitive growth, ensuring the alignment of diverse cross-functional teams towards common objectives. My expertise spans critical areas such as Private Equity, Sales, Business Development, Customer Success, ERP/CRM, Fintech, Strategic Partnerships, and Strategy. These competencies allow me to drive significant business transformation, positioning the organizations I work with to not only meet but exceed their strategic goals. My approach is characterized by a deep understanding of the nuances of technology sales and the unique challenges and opportunities it presents, making me a pivotal figure in navigating and thriving in the competitive landscape of technology sales and private equity value creation.
Industry & Type Expertise
Enterprise - Technology Telcom/Media Professional Services Finance InfrastructureEdge/Hyperscalers, AI/ML SaaS
Mastery and Unique Skills
Private Equity Sales Business Development Customer Success ERP/CRM Fintech Strategic Partnerships Strategy
I am an accomplished business leader renowned for my ability to drive customer-focused changes across various professional services firms. My leadership is defined by building high-performance teams through empowerment, innovation, and creativity. Known as a practical problem solver who focuses on outcomes, my operational style is designed to deliver real value promptly. Beyond my role in organizational leadership, I am a dynamic keynote speaker and a published writer, particularly on the subjects of customer and employee engagement. These platforms allow me to share insights and strategies for enhancing engagement and fostering a culture of responsiveness and innovation within organizations. My expertise encompasses a broad range of areas critical to organizational success, including customer experience development, change management, marketing, and organizational change. I am deeply committed to leadership development and practice leadership, principles that have guided significant and impactful organizational transformations. I also specialize in business process re-engineering and implementing the voice of the customer initiatives. These areas highlight my ability to align organizational processes and strategies with customer needs, ensuring an integrated and customer-centric approach to business operations. This comprehensive approach to leadership and change management, underpinned by a steadfast focus on customer and employee engagement, positions me as a transformative leader. I excel in guiding organizations through periods of growth and change, ensuring they remain aligned with their core mission of serving customers effectively while achieving enhanced organizational effectiveness.
Industry & Type Expertise
Enterprise Manufacturing HiTech
Mastery and Unique Skills
Customer Experience Development Change Management Marketing Organizational Change Leadership Development Practice Leadership Business Process Re-Engineering Organizational Effectiveness Voice of the Customer