What We Do
If you are an entrepreneur or leading an early-stage company, Varia can help you establish your company, commercialize your idea, refine your strategic direction, identify and secure critical resources, and access capital.
If you are a later-stage or family-owned business, we can help you ensure your business is structured for long-term (generational) success—or positioned for a successful sale. Our services include succession planning, teambuilding, conflict resolution, and entrepreneurship.
Our Approach
Our management consulting platform has been developed through years of interdisciplinary experience and is based on best practices and informed by law, business, investment and science (including positive psychology). We provide a comprehensive assessment and customized plan to suit our clients’ needs. We focus on the people, business and ownership with a sharp focus on innovation and organizational dynamics.
Our Services
Strategy
“It’s much easier to tame a wild idea than invigorate one that has no life in the first place.” Today, more than ever, an innovative strategy is critical to success. Our multidisciplinary team helps our clients develop or rethink their visions, focus their resources, and scale their businesses in new and innovative ways.
Business Law
Our team has over five decades of experience advising thousands of companies, from startup, through growth, through succession, or exit. We have developed cost-efficient startup packages for bootstrapping entrepreneurs, to niched experience navigating the complexities of multi-generational family businesses, to M&A experience.
Teambuilding
From sourcing and recruiting assistance to compensation planning strategy, we (directly or through our partners) help our clients identify the right talent at the right price.
Diligence-as-a-Service (“DaaS”)™
Leveraging our deep venture experience, robust network of experts and corporate partners, and technology platform, we help organizations identify diligence and value innovations from around the Globe.
Fundraising-as-a-Service (“FaaS”)™
Do you need an extra hand managing your fundraising process and investors, pitching your financing, and getting your deal closed? We bundle a full suite of services that simplify, expedite and consolidate the process—from helping you identify the right strategy and refining your pitch deck and storytelling skills, to managing the fundraising process through our proprietary network of investors. At the end, you have your cash in hand, one entity investor on your cap table, and a limited investor relations burden. A win-win-win.
Finance
Our highly experienced finance professionals, who act as an extension of our own team, provide a broad array of bookkeeping, accounting, taxes, financial modeling, financial projections, investment modeling, capitalization tables, etc.
User Acquisition & Business Development
Through our decades of experience working as lawyers and advisors, and through our developing corporate and institutional partner networks, we have cultivated deep relationships with companies around the World, many of whom are interested in supporting our clients and utilizing their innovative products and services.
Technology & Product Development
We help our clients identify, implement and leverage innovative technology infrastructure and solutions to create competitive advantages and optimize business growth.
Branding & Marketing
Our partners help develop and elevate our client’s brand strategy, and then help market it through effective public relations, media, digital and social media strategies.
Healthcare
We work closely with physicians, medical groups, affinity groups, early-stage companies and others on a wide range of projects—from helping to commercialize new innovations, develop new practices, establish new innovation centers, and develop telemedicine platforms, to establishing and managing investment vehicles to invest in cutting-edge technologies and devices.
Family Businesses, Closely-Held Businesses & Partnerships
“A leader’s lasting value is measured by successor.” [John C. Maxwell] We help our family-owned businesses, closely-held businesses and partnerships adapt to change, resolve conflicts and stimulate business growth through innovative strategies and people-focused solutions, structuring them for long-term (generational) success. From succession planning, teambuilding, leadership coaching, entrepreneurship, conflict resolution and philanthropy to family therapy, our focus on qualitative and quantitative metrics help our clients find practical and realistic strategies to address their business and personal challenges.”
Transition-as-a-Service (“TaaS”)™
We bundle a suite of services to assist you with positioning your company for the next stage—whether succession or exit. From people planning, to financial planning, we help you develop your strategy, implement and communicate your plan, value your business, and prepare for your next chapter.
Succession Planning
Transitioning your business to the next generation is one of the most important undertakings a family business takes, but often feels insurmountable. Our project team works with our clients to begin, guide and complete transitions smoothly.
Conflict Resolution
Family business conflicts are complex. We help our family business clients successfully navigate conflict through strategies that are rooted in positive psychology, social neuroscience and, when necessary, mediation (and other alternative dispute resolution approaches).
Innovation / Entrepreneurship
Today, more than ever, remaining entrepreneurial is critical to success. Our multidisciplinary team helps our clients develop or rethink their visions, focus their resources and scale their businesses in new and innovative ways.
Philanthropy
We assist family businesses with establishing family offices, launching their own funds, and establishing not-for-profits and family foundations to invest in the companies and causes that are aligned with their passions, interests and goals.
Family Therapy
No one would deny that there is a financial side to every successful business venture. No less important, however, is the emotional side of families in business together. We assist individuals and families with counseling to address a broad spectrum of emotional needs.
Culture
We help our clients develop plans, policies and systems that create or continue to nurture a culture that functions in an entirely principled manner.
Governance
We help families in business together establish effective governance—from assisting with the formation of a board, developing criteria for board participation, and identifying the right directors—to coaching family members on good governance practices.
Personality & Leadership Assessments
We use psychometric assessments to help families understand and assess human capabilities, match talents to tasks and optimize organizational culture and performance.
Executive Roles, Responsibilities & Compensation
We help business owners and managers with getting the right people in the right jobs—from selecting highly qualified team members, coaching for accountability and high performance, to linking pay and rewards with performance.
Leadership Development & Coaching
We help our clients develop as leaders through coaching, teambuilding and providing advice on wellbeing, mental health and resilience.
Trusts & Estates Planning
Our creative planners help you ensure your estate, retirement and financial plans meet your personal, family and business needs. We can help you with everything from drafting a will to a succession plan that will help ensure your legacy over the generations.
Ethical Wills
Beyond simply transitioning material belongings, we help our clients transition knowledge, thoughts and feelings through an “ethical will” that can be shared with loved ones into perpetuity.
Growth, Spin-Off & Exit Transactions
We help family businesses identify funding sources for new innovations, spin-off existing divisions or exit to financial or strategic buyers.
Real Estate
We collaborate with organizational leaders on processes, strategies, and facilities to create the ideal environment for their teams.
Our Process
1
Chemistry Meeting
This is free of charge.
We meet to learn more about your vision, business and goals, and share our experience, process and team.
2
Discovery Phase
Fees are either project- or retainer-based.
We review and discuss your personal and business goals in order to help you identify opportunities to achieve those. Whether it’s a new idea you’d like to develop, a startup that you’re looking to scale or a business you’d like to transition, our team will help you develop, refine or refocus your strategy. This phase concludes with our recommendations and a customized roadmap to help guide your next steps.
3
Resource ID
Fees are either project- or retainer-based.
We will help you identify any additional resources (i.e., talent, vendors, strategic partners, capital, etc.) needed to execute on our recommendations that you decide to implement. In this phase, we work with you and the selected resources to develop a scope of work, budget and timeline for delivery.
4
Project Management
Fees are either project- or retainer-based.
If desired, we will help you with ongoing project management to assist in your assessment of progress and performance.
