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T1 delivered $1.91M in revenue. This is a 12% increase over T1 2025, and 2% above our trimester average 2025. We accomplished this while sharpening the firm’s strategic positioning, significantly increasing our learning about and application of AI, navigating a cash crunch, and launching our new book!
August’s 12-month rolling revenue (May 2025–Apr 2026) hit $5,779,158, a new all-time high.
The story of T1 2026 has four threads: the book launch that marked August’s biggest public moment in years, revenue that hit new all-time highs even as the sales landscape shifted, a genuine commitment to AI adoption inside and outside the firm, and a cash crunch that tested our resilience and improved our systems.
Teams That Meet the Moment published May 5 — a cornerstone of the 2030 strategy to increase the fame of the firm. The trimester was a months-long build: advance copies circulating in January, a full newsletter relaunch in February (expanding from ~1,000 to 9,000+ subscribers), Forbes and Fast Company coverage in March, the team assessment tool going live at assessment.org.co, and a coordinated push through April to the East Village launch party. Every function contributed — PR, marketing, sales collateral, team video content, endorsement strategy, and Amazon logistics. The book codifies the firm’s core methodology and is already shaping how we position August externally.
T1 delivered $1.91M — 12% above T1 2025 and 2% above trimester average. The 12-month rolling revenue hit $5,779,158, a new all-time high. But the path was bumpy. January and February were soft. Deals got smaller (~$55K average vs. $128K in T1 2025) and shorter — no 6-month anchor contracts appeared in the pipeline. Close rates lagged: only $275K of the $1.26M full-year goal closed by late April. Yet April became a record revenue month, qualification meetings reached 49 of 90, and conference season (Chief of Staff Summit, Transform, Gartner town halls) generated real pipeline. The tension between a strong topline and structural shifts in deal size and duration is the story to watch heading into T2.
This was the trimester where AI went from talking point to practice. Internally, August moved to the Claude team account, discontinued Otter, launched frAIdays (a structured team AI learning series), and began building toward a shared “second brain” workflow. Team members started using Claude in client work — writable PDF worksheets, offering drafts, pipeline projections from HubSpot. Adoption was real but uneven; the March MonCon noted “more capabilities but a longer learning curve.” Externally, the AI offering evolved from a draft POV in January to a CHRO-specific playbook, 50 printed implementation playbooks for the Transform conference, and ~6 active pre-pipeline AI conversations by April. The pipeline target for AI offerings rose from 10% to 40% of net new. A public-facing AI learning lab series was set to launch June 4.
A serious cash crisis emerged in February and March, driven by AR collection delays ($800K in delayed receivables at the peak), a $700K annual bonus not properly modeled in the cash forecast, and ongoing finance-partner data reliability issues. Partners deferred salaries. Cash runway dropped below one month. The response was swift: a $200K line of credit secured as a backstop, daily cash standups instituted, aggressive AR tracking. By late March the crisis resolved — Autodesk paid $100K early, collections caught up, partner pay was restored. Cash runway recovered to 5.95 months by late April (policy: 6.0 months). More importantly, the crisis produced lasting improvements: conservative 60–90 day pipeline weighting, daily cash monitoring, and a new $1M year-end cash balance goal. The fragility was real; the discipline it prompted is durable.
| Month | Revenue | Break-even Costs | Net Operating Income | NOI % | vs. Target |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | $436,000 | $374,000 | $62,000 | 14.2% | 83.0% |
| February | $377,000 | $368,000 | $9,000 | 2.3% | 71.8% |
| March | $512,000 | $309,000 | $203,000 | 39.6% | 97.5% |
| April | $585,243 | $369,000 | $216,000 | 36.9% | 111.5% |
| T1 Total | $1,910,243 | $1,420,000 | $490,000 | ~25.6% | 91.0% |
| Quantity | Value | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Net New | E&E | Net New | E&E | |
| T1 2026 | 33% (13) | 68% (27) | 25% ($541K) | 75% ($1.65M) |
| T1 2025 | 17% (3) | 83% (15) | 15% ($319K) | 85% ($1.87M) |
| Full 2025 | 25% (16) | 75% (47) | 10% ($605K) | 90% ($5.04M) |
| Quantity | Value | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Net New | E&E | Net New | E&E | |
| T1 2026 | 45% (38) | 55% (47) | 38% ($2.15M) | 62% ($3.46M) |
| T1 2025 | 24% (11) | 76% (34) | 13% ($634K) | 87% ($4.22M) |
| Full 2025 | 43% (59) | 57% (78) | 27% ($2.36M) | 73% ($6.42M) |
| Deal | Value | Owner | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| ACLU Privacy Governance RFP | $288,000 | Erica Seldin | Closed 4/16 |
| Waymo People Development & Waymo Way of Hiring | $232,500 | Alexis Gonzales-Black | Closed 1/5 |
| PPFA Cultural Transformation Roadmap | $159,000 | Karina Mangu-Ward | Closed 3/4 |
| Colgate Skin Health – Reorg Support | $150,000 | Erica Seldin | Closed 4/27 |
| Genentech Onboarding and Field Readiness | $147,000 | Alexis Gonzales-Black | Closed 3/25 |
| Genentech L&SD Sprint: Stabilizing Today, Building the Future | $144,000 | Alexis Gonzales-Black | Closed 4/20 |
| Deal | Value | Owner | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colgate North America RFP | $576,000 | Erica Seldin | Lost 4/20 |
| Danone 2026 Culture Reset | $250,000 | Melissa Shamis | Lost 3/10 |
| Colgate – AI Big Bang | $176,000 | Erica Seldin | Lost 2/9 |
| R/GA / Omaha Steaks | $150,000 | Mike Arauz | Lost 2/24 |
| Deal | T1 Rev |
|---|---|
| Genentech Onboarding & Field Readiness | $98,000 |
| Siemens Mobility US – LT Meeting | $50,000 |
| UNICEF Strategy & Planning | $48,000 |
| Waste Management HiPo | $30,000 |
| UNICEF | $25,000 |
| Genentech EA Feedback & Coaching | $15,000 |
| OTPP – PS + DM Workshop | $8,500 |
| Thyssenkrupp Materials | $2,000 |
| Nike Learning Week Workshops | $0 |
| Deal | T1 Rev |
|---|---|
| Waymo People Development | $232,500 |
| McCain Jan 2026 Extension | $192,000 |
| ACLU Equitable Sharing Ext | $180,000 |
| PPFA Cultural Transformation | $159,000 |
| NYCPS ODTC Leadership Dev Ph2 | $100,000 |
| McCain SureCrisp PACE Addendum | $72,000 |
| Genentech L&SD Sprint | $72,000 |
| PPFA Development Org Design | $66,667 |
| Autodesk ORBIT Decision Making | $60,000 |
| + 21 more deals totaling $496,076 | |
| Client | Status | Context |
|---|---|---|
| McCain | Watch | Internal business pressure making long-term commitments difficult. Revenue could contract in T2/T3. |
| Waymo | Wind-down | Transitioned to small ad-hoc support. Revenue will be minimal going forward. |
| PVH | Opportunity | $386K pilot in late-stage pipeline. If closed, becomes major new anchor for T2+. |
| Colgate NA | Lost | $576K North America RFP lost in April. Skin Health ($150K) closed, but anchor relationship needs rebuilding. |
What we’re learning from the market that shapes our strategy heading into T2.
Average deal size dropped to ~$55K from $128K a year ago. Buyers are purchasing in sprints, not programs. The implication: August needs roughly 2x the deal volume to hit the same revenue targets, which puts pressure on the sales team’s capacity and makes every large anchor deal disproportionately important.
Genentech (lapsed, now $374K), Marriott (from $10K to $195K), and Siemens (via network) all demonstrate that relationships compound. The 2025 10-year anniversary outreach and in-person dinner strategy are generating measurable returns.
The April retreat conclusion — stop leading with AI — reflects what the market is telling us. Buyers want their transformation challenges solved, potentially with AI as a tool. The Maginative partnership has not yet converted small initial engagements into larger transformation work.
DOT/Gartner ($153K) opened a new channel. MWBE certification is creating access to government-adjacent work that didn’t exist in the pipeline before.
Danone’s $1M loss to Hubble suggests that for global clients, local relationships and existing vendor status carry significant weight. Worth noting for future global account strategy.
| May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | T2–T3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Confirmed | $550,862 | $189,562 | $137,722 | $115,556 | $76,556 | $78,056 | $33,056 | $55,556 | $1,236,924 |
| Weighted | $151,260 | $210,010 | $134,265 | $83,310 | $15,750 | — | — | — | $594,595 |
| Total | $702,122 | $399,572 | $271,987 | $198,866 | $92,306 | $78,056 | $33,056 | $55,556 | $1,831,519 |
| Target | $525,000 | $525,000 | $525,000 | $525,000 | $525,000 | $525,000 | $525,000 | $525,000 | $4,200,000 |
| % of Target | 133.7% | 76.1% | 51.8% | 37.9% | 17.6% | 14.9% | 6.3% | 10.6% | 43.6% |
| Finance Dashboard | Revenue, P&L, cash flow, pipeline |
| HubSpot Pipeline | All deals, stages, contacts |
Report generated May 18, 2026. Data sourced from Finance Dashboard (last updated May 18), HubSpot (live), and Granola meeting transcripts (Jan–May 2026). Revenue figures reflect confirmed revenue per the Finance Dashboard; HubSpot deal values may differ based on recognition timing.