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Strategic Advisory · Chicago, IL
Cadence Strategy Group helps mid-market companies navigate complexity - from organizational restructuring and M&A advisory to market entry and performance transformation.
140+ engagements since 2006 · Chicago · New York · Los Angeles
What We Do
We partner with leadership teams at the moment of maximum consequence - when the right strategic move isn't obvious and the cost of error is high.
Strategic planning, organizational design, and operating model transformation for mid-market companies.
Buy-side and sell-side advisory, due diligence, and integration planning for strategic transactions.
Entry strategy, competitive positioning, and go-to-market planning for new geographies and verticals.
Operational efficiency, cost reduction, and margin improvement programs grounded in benchmarking.
Independent strategic perspective for boards and CEOs navigating critical decisions and transitions.
Capital structure optimization, financial forecasting, and scenario planning for major initiatives.
Mid-market companies deserve the same caliber of counsel as the Fortune 500.
How We Work
01
We spend the first two weeks listening before we make a single recommendation.
02
Every recommendation is backed by data, benchmarks, and a financial model.
03
We don't hand over a deck and disappear. We implement alongside your team.
Sector Expertise
Operational transformation, M&A integration, and margin improvement for mid-market industrials navigating supply-chain complexity.
Strategic growth planning, service-line optimization, and regulatory-aware restructuring for regional health systems and physician groups.
Acquisition strategy, risk-model alignment, and compliance-driven organizational redesign for banks, insurers, and investment firms.
Go-to-market strategy, pricing architecture, and board-level positioning for high-growth software companies approaching scale inflections.
The Firm
Managing Partner
22 years in management consulting. Former McKinsey Principal with a Harvard MBA. Eleanor founded Cadence Strategy in 2006 with a belief that mid-market companies deserve the same caliber of strategic counsel as Fortune 500 enterprises.
Senior Partner
16 years specializing in M&A transactions and post-merger integration. Wharton MBA. David has advised on over $1.2B in deal value across manufacturing, healthcare, and technology sectors.
Partner
12 years in operations and performance transformation. MIT Sloan MBA. Priya leads Cadence's performance practice, specializing in cost structure redesign and organizational efficiency for mid-market industrials and services firms.
Client Perspectives
Cadence helped us double our EBITDA margin in 18 months. Precise diagnostics, no wasted time.
The best strategy work I've seen in 25 years. Their M&A modeling saved us from a $40M mistake.
They don't just advise - they roll up their sleeves and make it happen.
Engagement Models
Structured engagements built around your goals - from focused quarterly strategy to full executive transformation.
Growth Advisory
Executive Transformation
Enterprise
FAQ
Common questions about how we work, who we serve, and what to expect.
Cadence Strategy Group serves clients across technology and SaaS, healthcare systems, financial services, manufacturing and distribution, and retail. We have deep sector-specific expertise in each of these verticals rather than a generalist industry-agnostic approach - the nuances of healthcare strategy differ materially from those of software, and our teams reflect that.
All engagements begin with a custom scoping conversation and a written proposal. We do not post standard rates because scope, complexity, and team composition vary too much to make flat pricing meaningful. Most project-based engagements are priced as a fixed fee tied to defined deliverables. Ongoing retainer arrangements are billed monthly. We are transparent about pricing from the first conversation.
Project-based work - a strategic plan, a market entry assessment, an M&A due diligence - typically runs four to twelve weeks from kickoff to final deliverable. Ongoing advisory retainers are month-to-month with a 30-day notice period to wind down. Some clients have engaged us on retainer for years; others need a single focused sprint. We structure engagements to fit the actual work, not the other way around.
Yes. We provide a standard mutual NDA before all discovery calls and initial scoping conversations. Client confidentiality is a foundational commitment, not a formality. If you have a specific form your legal team requires, we are generally able to work with it - contact us to discuss before your first call.
We work with businesses across the growth spectrum, from Series A startups navigating their first strategic inflection to Fortune 500 enterprises managing large-scale transformation. Our approach adapts to company stage: early-stage work tends to focus on market positioning and go-to-market strategy, while established-company engagements more often involve organizational design, M&A, or performance improvement. The quality of thinking is consistent regardless of company size.
Blog
Strategic insights for mid-market leaders from Cadence Strategy Group
The most common failure mode in management consulting isn't bad strategy - it's good strategy that never translates into organizational behavior. Here's what we've learned from 18 years of staying through implementation.
Read MoreMost buy-side due diligence in the mid-market is financial. That's necessary but not sufficient. The deals that underperform almost always do so for operational and cultural reasons that a standard QofE never catches.
Read MoreCost restructuring programs have a predictable failure mode: they achieve the financial target and lose the people who made the target achievable. Here's the framework we use to avoid it.
Read MoreEvery engagement starts the same way: a 90-minute diagnostic call. No charge, no obligation, and you leave with our honest read on the problem - whether or not you hire us.
