There is a standard piece of advice given to professional service firms: specialize. Pick one thing. Go deep. It is good advice, and for most firms, it is the right advice. We chose not to take it.
Why Breadth
Our clients are rarely single-discipline problems. A hotel opening is a real estate decision, a software decision, a finance decision, and a design decision — and the quality of the outcome depends on those decisions being made in conversation with one another. A single-discipline firm cannot hold that conversation. We can.
The interesting problems live at the seams. Single-discipline firms do not work at the seams; they work around them.
The Cost
Breadth is expensive. It requires hiring expensive people. It requires them to respect one another across disciplines they do not share. And it requires partners who can hold the whole thing in their head. We believe the cost is worth it. Our clients, so far, have agreed.
Written by Elena Moreau · ARK Platforms