Consulting Uncensored

Epizodai

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  AI as a Digital Worker: Moving Consulting from Personal Productivity to Organizational Impact with Ray Hsu 15.07.2026 50min

  Every CEO is telling their teams to "do something with AI," so most firms hand out ChatGPT licenses, call it transformation, and move on. Then they ask it to forecast demand or reconcile five years of data, get a generic answer, and decide AI "isn't ready." In this episode, Neal sits down with Ray Hsu, Vice President and General Manager at RapidCanvas, a native-AI company that pairs a secure, agentic platform with human experts in the loop. They explore the gap almost no one in professional s...
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  How to Turn a Potential Client into an Enemy: A Conference Invitation Failure 01.07.2026 10min

  Have you ever watched a firm with real talent completely sabotage a relationship through sheer carelessness? In this episode, Neal shares a firsthand account of being disinvited, and essentially accused of planning to crash a party, by an investment bank conference his firm had attended and presented at before. Neal uses the experience as a real-world case study in how poor communication, absent leadership, and a lack of accountability can turn a potential client into an adversary overnight. ...
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  The Long Game: Building Relationships and Credibility in Consulting with Grant Marcks 17.06.2026 46min

  What separates great business development from everyone else? In this episode, Neal sits down with Grant Marcks, Partner at The Riverside Company, to explore why winning work in private equity and consulting depends on patience, credibility, and long-term relationship-building. Grant explains how thoughtful “no” responses can create future goodwill, why silence damages trust, and how strong references compound across tight professional ecosystems. The conversation also dives into what priva...
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  The Buy-and-Build Playbook: How StoicLane Is Rolling Up Professional Services and Keeping It Forever 03.06.2026 47min

  Most investors are laser-focused on the exit. StoicLane Co-founder and President Matt Foran is playing a completely different game: acquiring fragmented, founder-led businesses in finance, insurance, and real estate, and turning them into best-in-class organizations they intend to own indefinitely. In this episode, Neal sits down with Matt to explain the philosophy behind StoicLane's permanent capital model, from $300M+ deployed across 87 acquisitions to their accounting firm roll-up, Archer ...
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  New Challenges to the Big 4 and the Questionable Responses 22.05.2026 7min

  The consulting industry is entering a more volatile phase as the Big Four (Deloitte, PwC, EY, and KPMG) face a new kind of competition: former partners building well-funded firms designed to compete directly with them. As industry giants respond with aggressive legal action, they are forced to balance protecting their market share with broader risks around culture, talent, and long-term positioning. In this episode, Neal explores whether these hardball tactics could backfire, impacting ...
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  Leading from the Front: How to Build and Lead Boutique Consulting Firms 22.05.2026 52min

  Most consulting leaders say “people are our greatest asset,” then design firms where the best people burn out, stall out, or quietly leave. In this episode, Neal sits down with Jason Gandy, CEO of Performance Improvement Partners, a technology advisory and private equity–focused consulting firm, to examine what it actually looks like to lead from the front in a modern consulting business where careers, culture, and revenue all collide. Listen in as they discuss the real implications of ...
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  The Current State of the Consulting Market: What Are Private Equity Investors Saying about Deals, Fund Raising and AI? 22.05.2026 6min

  In this episode of Consulting Uncensored, Virtas Partners founder and CEO Neal McNamara provides an update from two recent private equity conferences on what investors are saying about the consulting industry with regards to deals, value creation, and the disruption being caused by AI. Neal shares what’s real, what’s noise, and what consulting and Office of the CFO leaders need to pay attention to next. To read the full show notes and explore more resources on consulting, private equity, and ...
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  Consulting Uncensored - Intro Trailer 27.04.2026 2min

  What really happens inside the world of consulting? Consulting Uncensored is a space for unfiltered conversations about the realities most people don’t talk about. Host Neal McNamara draws on decades of experience across the industry, from technical delivery and leading global teams to building and scaling a consulting firm from the ground up. This podcast will dive into leadership, strategy, culture, career growth, and industry trends—without the usual consulting speak. Expect raw insigh...