A great independent strategy consultant brings decades of pattern recognition into one voice. SynthBoard brings five distinct strategic lenses into one room. Different mechanic, complementary use.
Porter, 7S, scenario planning, market sizing, JTBD — the frames a senior consultant walks through, run by a synth panel.
A consultant brings one voice (their experience). SynthBoard brings five (strategist, CFO, investor, customer, skeptic).
Every session ends with a written synthesis you can bring to your team, your board, or your real consultant.
Real questions. Multiple expert perspectives. Every time.
“Should we focus our positioning around the buyer or the user?”
“How would a top strategy consultant frame the trade-off between vertical depth and horizontal breadth?”
“What is the steel-man case against the strategic shift my consultant is recommending?”
“Which of these three market-entry sequences would a thoughtful strategist pick?”
“Where is our current strategy leaning on yesterday's assumptions?”
Each expert thinks independently — they won’t just agree with each other.
The Strategist
Maps competitive dynamics and strategic options across multi-year horizons.
The CFO
Pressure-tests unit economics, runway, and capital allocation.
The Investor
Thinks like a board, an LP, and a downstream acquirer at once.
The Customer
Speaks for the buyer’s real problem, not the product team’s assumption.
The Skeptic
Questions every premise. Finds blind spots others miss.
A synthesized recommendation from your team of experts — not just opinions, but structured analysis.
Strong Agreement
Key Recommendations
Synthesized Recommendation
Position around the buyer (the CFO) but design the product for the user (the analyst). Most "buyer vs user" debates resolve here. Lead with the buyer in marketing; build for the user in product.
Full analysis continues with detailed reasoning, trade-offs, and next steps...
Watch Out For
Expert Opinions
“One consultant gives you one good answer. A panel gives you the five answers worth disagreeing about. Pick the one that survives.”
A senior strategy consultant has a waitlist. SynthBoard is there the moment you sign in.
SynthBoard is free to start. Independent strategy consultants charge $250-$1500+ per hour.
A consultant gives you their one experience. The synth panel gives you five.
Each consultant hour is finite. SynthBoard reruns are free.
The questions people ask before they sign up.
For the structured analysis layer, often yes. For the depth of pattern recognition that comes from a 30-year career, no. Use SynthBoard as the room you walk into before, between, or instead of consultant sessions — depending on how load-bearing the consultant's pattern recognition actually is for your question.
When you need an answer this week. When the budget does not warrant a billable engagement. When you want adversarial multi-perspective input rather than one expert voice. When the question is well-shaped and what you need is structured debate, not pattern recognition.
When you need decades of industry-specific pattern recognition. When you need direct introductions from someone with a network. When the project requires primary research or interview work. When you need a human to stake their reputation on the recommendation. SynthBoard is a thinking room; a consultant is a relationship.
SynthBoard is free to start; paid tiers run low double-digit dollars per month. Independent strategy consultants typically charge $250-$1500 per hour, with project rates from $10k-$200k. Different mechanism, complementary use.
No industry-specific war stories from a 30-year career, no introductions, no primary research, no on-call availability for a quick text, no reputational accountability on the recommendation. SynthBoard is a structured multi-agent thinking room.
Yes — and it is a high-value use. Bring the consultant's recommendation into a session and ask the panel to steel-man the counter-argument. Many users tell us this changes how they implement consulting work — and occasionally surfaces a fatal flaw before it is committed.
Adjacent decisions, audiences, and methods inside SynthBoard.
The MBB-firm comparison.
ExploreThe full-firm comparison.
ExploreThe head-to-head comparison.
ExploreStrategic calls a consultant would frame.
ExploreThe full comparison hub.
ExploreThe stress-test method page.
ExploreConvene 24 expert Synths to debate it across rounds. Free to start. No card.