Forknell Consulting provides business and management consulting to private and private equity-backed firms. Our work spans artificial intelligence (AI) transformation, sales, marketing, product development and management, partnerships, corporate alliances, operations, profit and loss (P&L) management, mergers and acquisitions (M&A).
Seven areas of focus. Most engagements start in one of them and widen as priorities shift, and they are frequently combined.
AI transformation
Most artificial intelligence (AI) efforts stall after the pilot. The technology works, and then the way people actually do their jobs never changes. We start with the workflows where AI can carry real weight, rebuild those processes around it, and see the change through adoption. That means training, measurement, and holding the new way in place until it becomes the normal way. What you are left with is AI running inside the business, not a roadmap describing where it could go.
Go-to-market strategy and commercial execution
Growth slows when the sales model that worked at one size stops working at the next. We look at how you reach the market, what you charge, how the team is built, where deals are being lost. Then we rebuild what needs rebuilding, whether that is territory design, pricing, sales leadership, or the balance between direct and channel. What you are left with is a commercial engine that produces predictable revenue instead of heroic quarters.
Product development and management
Product portfolios accumulate. Roadmaps fill with commitments nobody can trace back to a customer or a margin, and the cost of maintaining yesterday’s decisions crowds out tomorrow’s. We assess what the portfolio actually earns, retire or reposition what it does not, and put a decision process in place for what gets built next. We lead the product organization through that change rather than handing over a recommendation. This is product leadership, not software development.
Partnerships and alliances
Companies whose growth has outrun their direct sales force often have a partner program in name only. We build programs that produce revenue: the right partner profile, economics that make participation worth someone’s time, enablement that lets partners sell without constant hand-holding, and the discipline to measure what the channel actually returns. What you are left with is partner-sourced revenue that shows up in the forecast.
Operations and operational excellence
When every decision routes through one or two people, the business cannot grow past them. We map how work actually moves, find where it stalls, and redesign the operating model around what we find. Then we install the cadence that keeps it running: clear ownership, metrics that mean something, a meeting rhythm that surfaces problems while they are still small. We stay until the new structure holds without us.
Profit and loss management
Revenue growth and profitable growth are different problems, and solving the first does not solve the second. We work the profit and loss (P&L) line by line: pricing, cost structure, where margin leaks, which parts of the business earn the capital they consume. What comes out of it is a clear view of what drives earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA), and a plan to improve it that your leadership team can actually run.
Mergers and acquisitions
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) succeed or fail after the close. We support commercial diligence before the deal, then do the harder work that follows: the first 100 days, combining teams and systems, deciding what survives from each side, holding the integration together while the business keeps running. For companies heading toward a sale, we prepare the operation so it holds up under a buyer’s scrutiny.
Forknell Consulting is led by Jon Forknell, MBA, President and Chief Executive Officer. He spent nearly three decades at Atlas Business Solutions, a Fargo software company, moving from Vice President of Marketing to Vice President, General Manager, Partner, with responsibility across sales, marketing, customer service, support, development.
Atlas Business Solutions was acquired by TCP Software in 2022. He led the integration of the acquired product line, then ran strategic partnerships, then served as Vice President and General Manager of TCP’s small and medium-sized business segment. The services this firm offers were not assembled from research. They are the work he has done.
How engagements work
Embedded
We take ownership of a function or an initiative and run it. This is the default. You get a senior operator inside the business, accountable for the outcome, present for the decisions that determine whether it works.
Project
A defined scope with a defined end. A post-merger integration, commercial diligence, a pricing rebuild, a partner program launch. Clear deliverables, a finish line, no open-ended retainer.
Advisory
Ongoing counsel while your team owns execution. This fits when the internal capability is already there and what is missing is judgment from someone who has seen the situation before.
Recognition
Young Entrepreneur of the YearU.S. Small Business Administration2001
Atlas Business Solutions, Software 500Software Magazine, six years2010-2018
Atlas Business Solutions, Top 100 Software CompanySoftware Magazine2020
Partner Leader of the YearTCP Software2023
Based in Fargo, North Dakota. Serving clients nationwide.
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Frequently asked questions
What does Forknell Consulting do?
Forknell Consulting provides business and management consulting to private and private equity-backed firms. We work across artificial intelligence (AI) transformation, sales and marketing, product development and management, partnerships and corporate alliances, operations, profit and loss (P&L) management, mergers and acquisitions (M&A). Every engagement is led by a senior operator with direct experience running these functions inside a growing company.
What kinds of companies does Forknell Consulting work with?
We work with medium to large businesses, both privately held and private equity-backed. The common thread is scale rather than industry. Enough revenue and headcount that decisions carry real consequences, and enough complexity that the leadership team cannot personally cover every function. We work with owners, boards, chief executives, private equity sponsors, portfolio company management teams.
How is this different from hiring a large consulting firm?
The person you meet is the person doing the work. Large firms sell you a partner and staff the engagement with consultants earlier in their careers, which is how that model has to work at scale. We take a small number of engagements at a time and run each one directly. When specialist capability is needed, we bring in people we know and manage them ourselves rather than handing you a team to supervise.
Does Forknell Consulting advise, or execute?
Both, though execution is where most engagements land. We can take ownership of a function and run it, deliver a defined project with a clear finish line, or serve as ongoing counsel while your team executes. What we work to avoid is the outcome where a recommendation gets delivered and nothing actually changes, which is the most common way consulting engagements fail.
How are engagements typically structured?
Three ways. Embedded, where we take ownership of a function or initiative and run it. Project, where scope and finish line are set in advance, such as a post-merger integration or a pricing rebuild. Advisory, where your team executes and we provide judgment along the way. Most engagements start with a conversation about the situation, and the right structure usually becomes obvious quickly.
When should a company bring in outside operating help?
A few situations come up repeatedly. You have just closed an acquisition and the integration needs someone accountable for it. A function has outgrown the person currently leading it. Growth has slowed and the reason is not visible from inside. The board or sponsor wants a plan executed rather than presented. You are preparing for a sale and the operation needs to hold up under a buyer’s review.
What does AI transformation mean for an established business?
It means changing how work gets done, not buying tools. Most artificial intelligence (AI) projects fail at adoption rather than at technology. The model performs, the pilot succeeds, and then the organization quietly goes back to working the way it always has. Transformation that holds starts with a workflow that matters, rebuilds it around what AI can genuinely carry, and stays with it until the new way is simply the way.
What happens in the first 100 days after an acquisition?
The first 100 days set the tone for everything after. The work usually includes deciding which systems and processes survive from each side, combining teams and clarifying who owns what, protecting customer relationships while internal attention is turned inward, and standing up the reporting the new owner needs. The most common failure is treating integration as an administrative exercise and losing the operating momentum that made the business worth buying.
Do you work with companies outside the region?
Yes. We are based in Fargo, North Dakota and work with clients nationwide. Engagements run on a mix of on-site time and remote work, with travel scheduled around what the situation actually requires. Some engagements need regular presence in the building. Others run largely by video and phone. We will be direct with you about which one yours is.
How does an engagement begin?
With a conversation. Tell us what you are working on using the form on this page and we will follow up with meeting options to talk it through. That first discussion is about understanding the situation and whether we are the right fit for it, not a sales presentation. If we are not the right fit, we will tell you.
