Ashton Advisors is the practice of Brandon Ashton Stein, an independent principal advisor to tech-enabled businesses on strategy, operations, and customer. Recent work has shifted toward AI strategy and selection: roadmap planning, vendor scoring, and operationalizing across tech-enabled businesses. Engagements are direct, fiduciary, and sized to the work.
Principal & Principal Advisor
Twenty years inside the operating decisions that actually moved the number: strategy, customer, technology, GTM.
Brandon is a fractional executive and senior advisor to operating teams across energy, software, finance, and professional services. M&A is the overlay. He shows up when a business is scaling, integrating, or making a high-stakes technology bet.
Before launching Ashton Advisors, Brandon was Director of Digital & Customer Transformation at MRE Consulting, with senior leadership and consulting roles at Salesforce, Acrisure, Slalom, Deloitte, and Molecule, leading enterprise transformation, customer success, and GTM programs across Fortune 500 and middle-market portfolios.
Single-principal by design. The partner you hire is the partner on the work. Referral-based, performance-oriented, and structured to leave a stronger team behind than the one he was asked to help.
Listening first. The people doing the work usually know things I don't.
Asking the second question. And the third.
Saying the thing no one else will. Plainly.
Engagements are run on your behalf. Not a vendor's, partner's, or anyone else's. Strategic insight, sound execution, commercial independence.
Strategy, operations and customer advisor to tech-enabled businesses. Single-principal practice: referral-based, fiduciary, performance-oriented. Sprint, Engagement, and Fractional formats across energy, software, finance, PE, and professional services.
Led the firm's Salesforce and digital advisory practice: go-to-market, vendor selection, strategic assessments, and digital roadmap planning across Fortune 2000 clients. Liaison to the Salesforce ecosystem for new logo, expansion, and ROI engagements.
Reported to the President/CEO of ATG at the fastest-growing insurance broker in history. Connected product strategy, software ops, and broker needs so the AI platform drove agency-partner growth.
Led a strategic mid-market customer portfolio across Texas. $23M+ ACV under management. C-level advisor on aligning business strategy, operations and technology ROI across Sales, Service and Marketing Cloud. Rated top leader within Salesforce CSG (8.5/9-box) in FY19.
SR. ADVISOR→PORTFOLIO DIRECTOR
Owned the venture's commercial business: strategy, marketing, partner relationships, business development, and Series A fundraising support. Quarterly sales targets across energy hedge funds, private equity, trading desks, and market-data providers.
Founding member of Slalom's Houston market launch. Built the customer strategy & analytics practice from scratch: talent, marketing, business development. Closed first two engagements totaling $4.8M+ in services revenue within four months. Recognized as a top-18 leader nationally during launch year.
Joined Deloitte's Human Capital practice out of Northwestern. Sales process redesign, exec comp analytics for F500 boards, incentive plan design for a leading PC manufacturer, lead practitioner for undergrad campus recruiting. Returned post-MBA to the Houston SFE practice as Manager, leading Salesforce-anchored CRM transformations for Fortune 100s. Top rating every Analyst/Consultant year; top-ranked Manager FY13 and FY14.
ANALYST→ CONSULTANT→ SR. CONSULTANT→ MANAGER
Concentration in Finance, Marketing & Entrepreneurship. McCombs Admissions Committee (1 of 41 selected). VP, External Affairs, McCombs Graduate Business Council. Principal, Texas Venture Labs.
Minor in Business Institutions. GPA 3.7. Weinberg College Dean's List, Winter 2004: Spring 2006. Greek Emerging Leaders; Campus Tour Guide & Peer Advisor.
Clients hire a person, not a brand. So a few things worth knowing about me.
Houston-based with my wife and daughter. There's a deck of cards within reach as I write this.
Husband, girl-dad. Wife outranks me, by every metric.
Cards & close-up. Self-taught. Mostly humbling.
Lifelong Broadway fan. Will fly for a good revival.
The trip is half the work, half the meal.
Always taking recommendations.
Initial conversations are confidential, complimentary, and short. I'll tell you within thirty minutes whether to engage, and who I'd refer you to if I'm not the right fit.