Problems worth solving.

The problem

A mid-size insurance brokerage had been losing associate talent to larger competitors for three consecutive years. Ownership assumed it was a compensation issue and had budgeted for salary increases. They wanted help designing a retention program.

The unthinkery

The compensation assumption was never tested. After interviewing departing associates, we found the real driver: a lack of visible career trajectory. Associates couldn't see a path to partnership that felt achievable. The problem wasn't money — it was legibility.

The outcome

Instead of a retention program, the firm redesigned its partnership track to make milestones explicit and progress visible. Associate attrition dropped by 60% in the following year. The salary budget was redirected to performance bonuses tied to the new milestones.

The problem

A specialty personal care brand had plateaued at $1M in annual revenue for two years. They had tried new product lines, new packaging, and several new marketing agencies/strageies. Nothing moved the needle. They came to us asking for a growth strategy.

The Unthinkery

The brand had spent two years trying to acquire new customers. We asked a different question: why were existing customers not buying more? The answer was distribution — their products were only available in specialty retailers, and their core customers shopped primarily at mainstream grocery chains.

The outcome

The growth strategy wasn't a new product or a new campaign. It was a channel strategy. Within 18 months of entering mainstream distribution, revenue crossed $3M. The new product lines they'd been developing became the expansion play, not the growth engine.

The problem

A B2B SaaS company had strong product-market fit in one vertical but was struggling to expand into adjacent markets. Their sales cycle in new verticals was three times longer than in their core market, and conversion rates were half.

The unthinkery

They were selling the same product with the same messaging to buyers who had fundamentally different problems. The product could solve those problems — but the framing assumed familiarity with the core vertical's pain points. New buyers couldn't see themselves in the pitch.

The outcome

We worked with their team over six months to develop vertical-specific positioning for two adjacent markets. Sales cycle length in those markets normalized to within 20% of their core vertical. The product didn't change. The story did.