# Ashton Advisors

> Independent principal advisory to tech-enabled businesses on strategy, operations, and customer. Sprint, Engagement, and Fractional formats across energy, software, finance, PE, and professional services. Founded 2025 by Brandon Ashton Stein. Houston, TX.

Ashton Advisors is a single-principal advisory practice. Brandon Ashton Stein is the founder and only principal — the person hired is the person on the work. Referral-based, fiduciary, performance-oriented. Twenty years across Deloitte, Salesforce, MRE Consulting, Acrisure, Molecule, and Slalom before launching Ashton Advisors.

## Practices

- [Strategy](https://www.ashtonstrategies.com/strategy.html): AI strategy, sequencing, GTM, and enterprise roadmap development. Special executive initiatives, AI use-case scoring, roadmap defense at ELT/board reviews.
- [Insights](https://www.ashtonstrategies.com/insights-practice.html): Independent AI and software vendor diligence, scorecards, benchmarking, and ROI defense that survives Finance/IT/Board scrutiny.
- [M&A](https://www.ashtonstrategies.com/ma.html): Day-1 readiness and time-sensitive merger, divestiture, and carve-out support for software, sales, services, and CS organizations. Pre-deal through post-close.
- [Operate](https://www.ashtonstrategies.com/operate.html): Cross-functional COO-style leadership across sales, marketing, and customer success. Revenue operations, AI adoption, program leadership.

## Formats

- **Sprint** (2–8 weeks): Fixed-scope, fixed-fee. $25k–$50k starting range.
- **Engagement** (3–6 months): Fixed or T&M, scoped to deliverables.
- **Fractional** (ongoing): Ongoing executive presence, monthly retainer.

## Key Pages

- [Home](https://www.ashtonstrategies.com/): Site entry point, positioning, and top-level overview.
- [Services](https://www.ashtonstrategies.com/services.html): Full breakdown of the four practices with the Hub & Spoke interactive widget.
- [Work](https://www.ashtonstrategies.com/work.html): Selected engagements from two decades across consulting, software, and operating roles.
- [Case Studies](https://www.ashtonstrategies.com/case-studies.html): Seven anonymized case briefs filterable by practice (Strategy, Insights, M&A, Operate).
- [About](https://www.ashtonstrategies.com/about.html): Brandon's bio, values (Appreciation · Curiosity · Courage), career timeline (River view), and education (Northwestern BA · UT McCombs MBA · Goldman Sachs PWM Summer 2010).
- [Insights](https://www.ashtonstrategies.com/insights.html): Field notes from the practice — working POVs on enterprise AI, M&A operating advisory, customer success, and Salesforce.
- [Contact](https://www.ashtonstrategies.com/contact.html): Direct contact form, email, phone, LinkedIn. Two-business-day response window.

## Principal

**Brandon Ashton Stein** — Founder & Principal
- Location: Houston, TX (regional preference across Texas; national reach)
- Email: brandon@ashtonstrategies.com
- Phone: 832.771.0088
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandonashtonstein/
- Prior roles: Director Digital & Customer Transformation at MRE Consulting; Head of Agency Partner Success at Acrisure Technology Group; Portfolio Director, Customer Success at Salesforce; VP Marketing & BD at Molecule Software; Senior Principal at Slalom Consulting; Manager at Deloitte Consulting (Human Capital + Salesforce SFE practices, 8 years).
- Education: MBA, UT McCombs (Finance / Marketing / Entrepreneurship, 2011); BA Political Science, Northwestern University (Weinberg College, 2006); Goldman Sachs PWM Summer 2010 internship.
- Certifications: 4× Salesforce Certified (Sales Cloud Consultant, Service Cloud Consultant, Salesforce Administrator, Business Analyst).

## Industries Served

Energy · Software · Finance · Services · Healthcare · PE-backed portfolio companies · tech-enabled operators

## Distinguishing Features

- Single-principal practice: no account managers, no vendor incentives, no bench pressure
- Independent and fiduciary: no referral fees, no reseller relationships
- M&A operating overlay: pre-deal readiness through post-close execution
- AI-native: strategy, vendor diligence, adoption, and governance for enterprise AI initiatives

## Optional

- [AI Roadmap Sprint PDF](https://www.ashtonstrategies.com/assets/downloads/ashton-ai-roadmap-sprint.pdf): 4-page overview of the flagship AI Roadmap Sprint offering — scope, deliverables, format, and case examples.