Farwell Project Advisors, a consultation management firm based in Madison, is planning to have a presence in Milwaukee by year’s end.
“The timing is right,” CEO and founder Jason Potter told WisBusiness.com. “Milwaukee is our next market… After that, we will evaluate opportunities for growth into other areas.”
Potter founded the company in 2012, tapping the industry connections he made over 25 years working in IT consulting and project management.
“We identified a need in the Madison market to provide a different type of service from what was available,” he said. “Consulting requires a high level of trust, especially with a young company like ours. We were fortunate enough to have good relationships in Wisconsin.”
The region had several staffing firms at the time offering project management services, but he says larger national companies were charging more and had fewer local resources to offer.
“We saw an opportunity to take a shot and go after that market. Fortunately, we’ve had a bit of success,” he said.
Farwell has grown to $4.8 million in revenue in 2017, with 42 employees. This year, the company was ranked 655th on the Inc. 5000 list, recognizing 770 percent growth in the past three years. Farwell’s clients include companies like Lands’ End, Sub-Zero, WPS and Fiskars.
Potter says companies’ management practices can be assessed to determine the maturity and effectiveness of current strategies. Farwell also helps with software selection, when a client is considering adopting an enterprise management tool or customer relationship management platform.
“Those are large investments for big organizations,” he said, adding it can cost millions just for new software, and more to get it implemented. Since these systems are so large and integrated, Potter notes that businesses can be stuck with what they choose for as long as 10 years.
“In the agile business world of today, you’ve got to make sure you make a selection that will allow you to remain agile,” he said. “Some tools are better fits for that.”
Farwell can also assist clients with executing complex projects by bringing in expert consultants.
Larger clients often come to Farwell with a more sweeping, well-formed plan, seeking validation and assistance with pulling off their vision. For small or medium organizations, Farwell can come up with an external plan of its own to help improve operations in a number of ways.
“Every solution will be in direct response to the needs of the client,” he said.
