Alternative · Consulting Firms

An alternative to a consulting firm
for the analysis layer

Consulting firms bring scale, methodology and partner-led judgment. For the analysis layer of the work, the alternative to a consulting firm is a board you can convene tonight, with its price on the card before it runs.

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In short

For the analysis layer, often yes. For implementation, primary research, regulated-industry credibility and named-firm signalling, no. Use SynthBoard for the strategy argument and keep firms for work that needs a delivery team.

Last reviewed October 1, 2026

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.

Consulting Firms

Example · Board of 3

Should we engage a consulting firm for this — or is the question well-shaped enough for a boardroom session?

Chief of staff

This one needs a board: The Strategist, The Operator and The CFO. 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 OperatorCOO
The CFOFinancial Controller

Asked first

Has a competitor already made this move?

Yes, one hasNot that I knowWe’d be first

The board’s call

Skip the consulting engagement.

The question is well-shaped — no methodology gap to close. All needed data is already inside the company.

Confidence74 · Moderate

The CFO disagreed

“If the board needs a named firm on the deliverable, this changes”

First step Use the engagement budget to fund the first 90 days of execution instead.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.

How would a top-tier firm sequence our 18-month strategic plan? — The Operator, up to 85 credits
What is the steel-man case against the consulting recommendation we just received? — The CFO, up to 85 credits
Which of our four strategic options carries the most risk of regret in three years? — The Skeptic, up to 85 credits

What you get

What she handles.
On this kind of call.

Consulting-grade frameworks on your facts

Strategy, operations, transformation, growth. Each expert researches alone, then reacts once to the others; the memo says who changed position.

A cross-functional board

The Strategist, The Operator, The CFO, The Skeptic and The Customer — the team a firm would assemble, proposed by your Chief of Staff.

Why SynthBoard

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

Minutes, not quarters

A typical consulting engagement runs 8–16 weeks. The card shows the time before anything runs: about a minute for a consult, about 6–10 minutes for a board. You read the memo when it lands; nothing needs you to sit and watch.

A card, not a six-figure 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 mid-market consulting engagement typically runs $100k–$2M.

No scope to expand

Firms are paid to expand scope. A board answers the question on its card, and nothing runs until you tap.

Reads what you already have

Your Chief of Staff reads the tools you connect — 62 integrations — and says what she read, so the board starts from your data, not a discovery phase.

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.

Competitive Expert

The Strategist

Don’t ask whether it’s good. Ask what your competitor does the day after you ship it.

The Strategist Competitive Expert

Best on: Positioning, entering a market, pricing against a rival.
Won’t let you: Plan a move as if nobody will answer it.

Try asking The Strategist

Start with

The StrategistOpen on every plan, Free included

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

Many consulting engagements are a delay mechanism dressed as analysis. A board removes the delay and shows whether the question needed a firm at all.

The Operator COOThe Operator on what consulting often is in practice

Questions

Fair questions.
Straight answers.

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

Does SynthBoard replace a consulting firm?

When should I use SynthBoard instead of engaging a firm?

When the question is well-shaped and the data is already in-house, when the decision is real but not worth six figures, or when you need the answer this week. You get opposed views rather than one polished recommendation.

When is a consulting firm still the right call?

For primary research at scale, implementation that needs people in your office for months, regulated transformations that need an audit-grade paper trail, and board-mandated work that requires a named firm.

How does the price compare?

A board costs credits, shown before it runs. 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 mid-market consulting engagement typically starts at $100k.

What does SynthBoard NOT do that a consulting firm does?

No on-site team, no primary research at scale, no implementation muscle, no audit-grade methodology, no senior partner behind the recommendation, no regulatory liaison. SynthBoard is a board of AI experts, not a delivery firm.

Can I use SynthBoard to evaluate a consulting proposal?

Yes, and it is one of the best uses. Put the proposal to a board before you sign. The experts surface the weak assumptions, the scope-creep risk and the questions to ask the partner team.

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.