Bismarck and the Art of the Possible
Otto von Bismarck defined politics as the art of the possible. Not the art of the ideal—the possible. Recognizing constraints, exploiting windows, compromising between ambition and reality.
Business strategy operates under the same logic. It is not about what you want. It is about what you can achieve—with the resources at hand, within the prevailing legal environment, across a given time horizon.
Strategic advisory is the translation of ambition into possibility. And possibility into action.
Chess, Not Checkers
In checkers, all pieces are equal and move the same way. In chess, each piece has different capabilities, and the value of a move depends on the position of the entire board.
Most entrepreneurs play checkers. They make decisions sequentially, reacting to what lies before them. Move after move, problem after problem.
Strategy is chess. Seeing the board whole. Understanding that a tax decision affects transactional possibilities. That ownership structure determines exit options. That today’s compromise closes or opens tomorrow’s paths.
A strategic adviser sees the board. You can focus on the move.
Boyd and the OODA Loop
John Boyd, fighter pilot and strategist, described the decision cycle as a loop: Observe, Orient, Decide, Act. Whoever moves through the loop faster than the adversary wins—even with inferior resources.
In business, the OODA loop is competitive advantage. Faster diagnosis of the situation. Faster assessment of options. Faster decision. Faster implementation.
A strategic adviser accelerates the loop. Delivers observations you would not gather yourself. Offers orientation grounded in experience from dozens of similar situations. Structures the decision so you don’t drown in options. Supports action so that decisions don’t remain in the realm of plans.
For Whom
Business owners planning a leap. International expansion. A new line of business. Acquisition of a competitor. Moments when the scale of the decision exceeds the scale of the everyday.
Management boards facing strategic choices. Direction of development. Capital allocation. Restructuring. Decisions from which there is no easy retreat—and where board member liability makes error personal, not merely corporate.
Entrepreneurs preparing transactions. Mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, investor entry. Situations where a structural error costs for years. Where due diligence is not formality but survival.
Companies seeking optimal structure. Ownership, tax, operational. Architecture meant to serve for decades, not for a quarter.
Those managing significant assets. Private and business. People for whom error means not project failure but life failure.
What We Do
We design structures. Ownership, holding, tax. Architectures that serve business objectives, minimize risks, and optimize burdens.
Investment Agreements & Financing | Private Equity & Venture Capital — because your company is more than an asset on a balance sheet. It is your work.
We prepare transactions. Due diligence, structuring, negotiations, documentation. From the first idea to closing.
We plan expansion. New markets, new jurisdictions, new models. International private law as enabler, not barrier.
We support restructuring. Operational, financial, ownership. Transformations that rescue or strengthen.
We protect assets. Against business risk, against claims, against changes in law. Asset protection structures that survive turbulence. Fiduciary arrangements that add layers of separation.
We analyze scenarios. What if? Legal and tax simulations of alternative paths. So you decide on the basis of data, not hunches.
The Shadow Side
Success attracts attention—not always benevolent. The entrepreneur who builds something significant becomes visible to regulators, to competitors, to those who would challenge what he has built.
The eternal problem of unchecked power applies to states as much as to individuals. Tax authorities with expansive powers. Prosecutors who see crime in complexity. Agencies that assume guilt until innocence is proven.
White-collar criminal charges can arrive suddenly—often based on transactions that seemed routine at the time. When your life is at stake, the question is no longer business strategy but personal survival. This is when we step in as Your criminal defense attorney.
Money laundering allegations can attach to entrepreneurs who had no knowledge of wrongdoing elsewhere in the chain. Anti-money laundering compliance is no longer optional—it is the shield that protects against accusations that can destroy a reputation overnight.
Strategic advisory includes anticipating these shadows. Building structures that withstand scrutiny. Creating documentation that demonstrates good faith. Preparing defenses before they are needed.
Kahneman on Thinking
Daniel Kahneman described two systems of thought. System 1—fast, intuitive, automatic. System 2—slow, analytical, effortful.
Entrepreneurs live in System 1. They must—because the pace of business does not permit eternal deliberation. Decisions are made quickly, on the basis of experience and intuition.
But strategic decisions require System 2. Analysis that accounts for second- and third-order consequences. Time that is usually unavailable. Perspective that is hard to acquire when you are inside the situation.
A strategic adviser is the outsourcing of System 2. Someone who thinks slowly so that you can act fast.
Thiel on Secrets
Peter Thiel argued that great businesses are built on “secrets”—truths that are true but not obvious. Most people don’t see them. Whoever does has an advantage.
In law and taxation, there are analogous secrets. Structures that are legal and beneficial but not obvious. Interpretations that authorities accept though they are not widely known. Possibilities that exist in the regulations but require knowledge and creativity to perceive.
Strategic advisory is access to secrets. To knowledge that is not common—because it requires years of practice, hundreds of cases, thousands of hours at the intersection of law and business.
When It’s Worth It
Before a major decision. When the stakes are high and retreat is difficult.
At a change of scale. When what worked at a smaller scale may not work at a larger one.
In the face of uncertainty. When law, markets, or environment are changing—and you don’t know how to prepare.
When perspective is lacking. When you’re too close to the problem to see clearly.
When the cost of error is disproportionate. When failure is not a lesson but a catastrophe.
Drucker on Decisions
Peter Drucker maintained that effective executives do not make many decisions. They make a few decisions—but the right ones. And they devote time proportional to the consequences.
Strategic advisory concerns those few decisions. Not the daily grind. Not routine. The moments that define trajectory.
Most of the time, companies run on rails. Strategic advisory is work on the switches.
Why Us
We are entrepreneurs. We have run our own companies for two decades. We understand pressure, risk, responsibility. We do not advise from an academic tower.
We combine law with taxation. Legal structure has tax consequences. Tax optimization requires proper legal structure. One without the other is half the picture.
We think long-term. We do not optimize for tomorrow. We design for years. Structures that survive changes in law, changes in markets, changes in life.
We have seen your problem before. Perhaps not identical—but similar. And we know how different paths end.
In Closing: Seneca on Sailing
“No wind is favorable for one who does not know to which port he sails.”
Strategic advisory begins with the question of the port. Where do you want to be? What do you want to achieve? What does success mean for you?
Only then do we choose the wind. Structures, transactions, optimizations—these are all means. The end is you.
Strategy without a goal is drifting with a map. A goal without strategy is hope without a plan.
We offer both: help in defining the port and navigation to bring you there.
