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SynthBoard

Alternative · Strategy Consulting

An alternative to Bain
when the question cannot wait a quarter

Bain sends a partner-led team for months. As an alternative to Bain for the calls in between, SynthBoard convenes a board of opposed AI experts tonight. The cheapest place to test a strategy is a room that already exists.

Start free See how it works

In short

For the strategic-debate part of an engagement, yes. For the in-person team, the benchmark database, the implementation muscle and the senior-partner brand on the recommendation, no. Use SynthBoard for the thinking; hire Bain when the brand or the implementation team is half the value.

Last reviewed

An example

One ask, start to finish.
What comes back is a memo.

How a board takes a call like this: her read, who sits, what they ask first, then the call — with how sure they are, who disagreed and the first step.

Strategy Consulting

Example · Board of 3

Where is our customer-economics leak — acquisition, conversion, or expansion?

Chief of staff

This one needs a board: The Strategist, The CFO and The Investor. The Strategist maps competitive dynamics and strategic options across multi-year horizons. Each researches alone first, then they react to one another — and on a decision, two of them take opposed sides.

  • The StrategistCompetitive Expert
  • The CFOFinancial Controller
  • The InvestorVC Partner

Asked first

Has a competitor already made this move?

Yes, one hasNot that I knowWe’d be first

The board’s call

Defer the M&A and instead reinvest the diligence budget into a 90-day expansion-revenue sprint.

Customer-economics leak is in expansion, not acquisition — change the focus. Acquisition multiples at current cycle phase compress the IRR below your hurdle.

Confidence74 · Moderate

The Investor disagreed

“If the target is acquired by a competitor first, the strategic landscape shifts”

First step Test what The Investor flagged before you commit.this week

Board of 3 · up to 135 credits on the card · an example, not a recorded run

Other asks people bring here

Several asks in one message become several rooms, each with its expert and its own price on the card. Keep or drop any, then convene them together.

  • Should we restructure into business units now or wait another revenue cycle? — The CFO, up to 85 credits
  • What is the steel-man case against acquiring our nearest competitor? — The Investor, up to 85 credits
  • How would a top-tier strategy firm sequence our portfolio rationalization? — The Sales Leader, up to 85 credits

What you get

What she handles.
On this kind of call.

Net Promoter, share-of-wallet, growth diagnostics

The experts work through the diagnostics a Bain team would run, so you find the gaps before you commission a study.

A partner-shaped board

The Strategist, The CFO, The Investor, The Sales Leader and The Skeptic. Your Chief of Staff proposes who sits; you can name anyone you want at the table.

A memo you can ship

The board’s call, the conditions it holds under, the risks, who disagreed and why, and a first move with a date for your leadership team.

Why SynthBoard

Why SynthBoard for this.
Not one voice. A board.

Convene tonight, not next quarter

No SOW, no kickoff deck, no Tuesday 9am onsite. Tell your Chief of Staff the question; nothing runs until you tap.

A card, not an engagement

A board shows its price on the card before it runs — up to 135 credits for a 3-seat board on Free — and a board never bills above its card. A Bain workstream runs six to seven figures, which reshapes what is worth analysing at all.

Opposed by construction

Partners are diplomatic with clients by training. On a decision, at least two experts are assigned opposed positions, and the memo keeps whoever dissented.

Test the other framing too

One engagement is one swing. When the first memo raises a better question, put it to a new board the same evening.

Who sits

The experts for this call.
Each one holds a position.

Your Chief of Staff proposes who sits for the call, and every board is built with someone whose job is to argue against the obvious answer. Name an expert and they take a seat; tell her who you want on your board and they sit by default. How many seats a board has depends on your plan.

Pick an expert

Hover, tap or tab throughSwipe, then tap one
  • GPT
  • Claude
  • Gemini
  • Grok

Seats are spread across model families: GPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok and more.

In their words

The most expensive part of strategy consulting is not the fee — it is the option value of all the alternatives you never got to test. A board makes testing the alternatives cheap.
The CFO Financial ControllerThe CFO on the real cost of engagement-based consulting

Questions

Fair questions.
Straight answers.

What people ask before they bring this call to a board.

Is SynthBoard a real alternative to Bain?

For the strategic-debate part of an engagement, yes. For the in-person team, the benchmark database, the implementation muscle and the senior-partner brand on the recommendation, no. Use SynthBoard for the thinking; hire Bain when the brand or the implementation team is half the value.

When should I use SynthBoard instead of Bain?

When the decision is real but the budget is not six figures, when the question changes weekly and a 12-week engagement is too slow, or when you want opposed views instead of one polished recommendation.

When is Bain still the right answer?

For PE-portfolio diligence on a tight clock, for transformations where the board wants a named firm on the page, and for primary research across dozens of customers, suppliers or markets. SynthBoard is a thinking room; Bain is a delivery firm.

How does the price compare?

SynthBoard prices each board on its card; Bain prices an engagement. Free to start — 150 credits every month + 250 to start. Talking to your Chief of Staff costs nothing. A board shows its price on the card before it runs — up to 135 credits for a 3-seat board on Free — and a board never bills above its card. Paid plans are $20, $50 or $99 a month (1 credit = $0.01 USD). A single Bain workstream typically starts in the high six figures.

What does SynthBoard NOT do that Bain does?

No primary customer or expert interviews, no cross-industry benchmark library, no on-site team, no transformation PMO, no named partner behind the recommendation. SynthBoard is the thinking instrument; Bain is the delivery firm.

Can I run a SynthBoard board before a Bain engagement?

Yes. A board before the engagement sharpens the brief, surfaces the questions the partners will probe, and gives you a baseline to compare their deliverables against. A board’s memo shares as a page anyone can read without an account.

Keep exploring

Nearby decisions, audiences and methods inside SynthBoard.

SynthBoard (synthboard.ai) is one place for your business, your life, and every hard call. Your Chief of Staff keeps what you tell her on file, and 24 named experts on different AI models take the calls — one expert for a consult, a board with opposed seats for the hard ones — and hand back a memo with the call, the dissent and the first move. How it works.

A different mechanic for the same hard call.
Start free, with one message.

What is the steel-man case against acquiring our nearest competitor?How would a top-tier strategy firm sequence our portfolio rationalization?Should we restructure into business units now or wait another revenue cycle?

It waits in her box after you sign up. Nothing is sent until you press send. Tell your Chief of Staff the call. She proposes who sits from 24 named experts, and nothing runs until you tap. Free to start. No card.