Reduce cost
Unnecessary spend, supplier terms and performance, and work that doesn't need to happen at all.
Founder-led & $10M–$250M businesses
Profit doesn't vanish.
It leaks.
Not in one bad quarter — in a hundred small places, every week. Recurring issues, manual workarounds, firefighting, supplier surprises. I find them, put a number on each, and show you which to close first.
30 minutes · Confidential · No pitch deck
20+years inside operating businesses
200+companies evaluated or supported
22countries
$100M+in supplier negotiations
Leak check · 30 seconds
Check the ones that sound familiar.
Nobody decides to live with an expensive problem — it just stops looking like one. This is a fast read on how many have quietly become routine. Nothing is submitted or stored.
Finding the leaks is the easy part.Choosing the wrong fix leaks even more money and time.
And right now, the default fix everyone is being sold is software.
The difference
I don't start with AI. I start with the problem.
Sometimes technology is the answer. Often it's cheaper, faster, and more durable to fix what's underneath it first — which you can't know until someone looks.
Sometimes the answer is AI.
Sometimes it's a supplier.
Sometimes it's a broken process, poor planning, or work that shouldn't exist.
AI and automation can now eliminate work businesses assumed would always require people, and I use them where the economics make sense. I'll also tell you when they don't. That's the difference between a tool you bought and a number that moved.
Process improvementOperationsProcurementSupply chainAI & automationCommercial executionStrategic account growth
The offer
Start with a Profit Opportunity Map.
An objective look across the business for six kinds of opportunity, mapped and quantified — so you decide what's worth acting on instead of taking my word for it.
Increase profit
Pricing discipline, customer and product mix, and margin given away one exception at a time.
Accelerate growth
Execution constraints and untapped opportunity in accounts you already have.
Recover time
Manual reporting, data entry, follow-up, and the hours lost to firefighting every week.
Expand capacity
What's keeping your existing people and equipment from producing more.
Reduce errors & risk
Manual handoffs, information gaps, and single points of failure.
How it works
From symptom to ROI.
No 100-page deck. No AI looking for a problem. A prioritized path to measurable improvement — and you pick the depth after we talk.
Find
Understand the business, talk to the people doing the work, locate the leaks.
Quantify
Dollars, hours, capacity, revenue at stake. No number, no recommendation.
Prioritize
Quick wins against bigger plays, by impact, complexity, and cost.
Fix
Build the roadmap — and where it makes sense, help execute it.
Start here
Rapid Map
1–2 hours on one area you already suspect is costing you, and a short written read on what I'd look at first.
Go deeper
Full Map
Days to weeks, cross-functional. Quantified opportunities, a prioritized roadmap, and execution support if you want it.
Who you'll be working with
I've spent 20+ years walking into businesses and finding this.
One person, accountable end to end — whoever finds the problem should have to stand behind the fix.
Ryan S. Howard
Founder & Operating Partner
Before Ascender Partners, I spent my career inside operating businesses — figuring out what wasn't working, quantifying it, and helping teams fix it. Plants, supply chains, supplier bases, commercial teams, at Fortune 100 scale and family-owned scale. I run every diagnostic personally and bring in vetted specialists when execution calls for them.
16+ yearsat John Deere
200+ companiesevaluated or supported
22 countriesof operating experience
$100M+in supplier negotiations
130+ peopleled in production operations
Fortune 100John Deere, GE, Wells Fargo
Who this is built for
Founder & family-ownedLower middle marketManufacturing & industrialProfessional servicesPE portfolio companies
Before you book
Fair questions.
Answered straight, so the call can be about your business instead of my process.
Is this a sales pitch for AI?
No. AI is one tool, and often it isn't the right one. Plenty of the highest-return fixes I find are a supplier conversation, a planning change, or removing work that shouldn't exist. If AI is the answer I'll show you the math. If it isn't, I'll tell you that too.
What does it cost, and how much of my team's time?
The first call costs nothing. The Rapid Map is 1–2 hours, mostly conversation. Fees are scoped after I understand the business, and they're always tied to a clear ROI — I won't propose work whose expected value doesn't comfortably exceed what it costs you. If the opportunity isn't there, I'll tell you that instead of quoting.
Is it just you?
I run the diagnostic personally — that's deliberate, and it's what you're paying for. I also lead execution, bringing in trusted partners and specialists where a project calls for it, sized to the work. You get senior attention and a single point of accountability, without carrying a firm's overhead.
We've hired consultants before and got a binder.
Understood. The deliverable here is a short, prioritized list of opportunities with estimated dollar and hour impact — not a deck. And where it makes sense I stay to help execute rather than handing you a plan and leaving.
The first step
Where is your business leaking time and money?
Spend 30 minutes walking me through what's slow, frustrating, or expensive right now. I'll tell you where I'd look first and why — whether or not you hire me.
30 minutes · Confidential · No obligation