Dennis Hildebrand · Decision Architect
I find where your business loses money. And stop it.
In your business, many people build: team, sales, marketing, software, suppliers. Each their own part, each sensible on its own. I tell you what of it carries and what can go.
I am a Decision Architect. An architect settles what gets built before it gets built. And then leads the build. That is what I do for your business: together with you, I set what money and time are spent on, before team, sales, marketing and suppliers get going. Then I make sure everyone builds in that direction.
Everyone builds to their own plan. If nobody holds the direction, the business loses money, time and what it has built up over years.
On a building site without site management, the plumber lays the pipe wherever it seems sensible to him. Neatly done, in the wrong place. Later the wall gets opened up again.
It is the same in a business. The agency has a plan, sales has one, the software has a roadmap. Everyone works neatly in their own place, and nobody says which plan applies when they contradict each other. Then the brand tells a different story at every point, and customers recognise you less easily. Winning new customers gets more expensive. And the time that goes into coordination and rework does not come back.
It’s running. But something’s off.
More revenue? More visibility? Less dependence? Before we discuss the measure, we settle the decision that comes before it.
More revenue“Lots of quotes, few orders.”
Whoever offers a lot and sells little has an offer nobody needs. More sales won’t sell it either.
More visibility“Nobody finds us.” “We need a new website.”
Visibility amplifies what’s there. Whoever is blurry just gets louder and blurrier.
More marketing“We spend more and more, and it no longer comes back.”
Marketing amplifies a decision. Without one, the budget buys activity.
More profit“Revenue is there. Nothing stays at the bottom.”
Then somewhere in the business, work is being done that nobody pays for. That’s where I start.
Less complexity“We grew, and got slower.”
Everything that came with growth is still running. Much of it nobody needs any more. Which part is the decision.
Less dependence“The business depends on me. I want to step back.” “The one position is vacant, or filled by the wrong person.”
Everything lands on you because nowhere does it say what may be decided without you. That’s a sheet of paper, not a second management level.
Competitors overtaking“Competitors are pulling past us.”
Rarely has the other one got faster. Usually he has decided what he stands for. You haven’t yet.
New direction“This can’t go on as it is.” “In three years, I want to sell.”
Before a new strategy, the direction has to stand. Otherwise the strategy is just one more measure.
Introducing AI“We need to use AI now or we’ll fall behind.” “Our strategy has already been written by AI.”
AI accelerates what has been decided. Where nothing has been decided, it accelerates the mistake.
Direction comes before the build.
An area underperforms, costs rise, processes get heavy. So the fix goes where it’s visible. The cause usually sits one level down: in decisions that made sense one by one and no longer fit as a whole. That’s why I read the whole business before anything gets built anywhere.
Every big decision rests on one made earlier: about the core, direction and shape of the business. That is the decision before. It is made with the first thought, mostly unnoticed. Then everyone builds to their own plan.
To do that, I settle the questions that come before all others: What does the business actually earn its money with? What do its customers actually pay for? Where is the whole thing headed, and does the model carry that far? Where does money leak out while nobody is looking? Who holds the key positions?
And above all: What can simply go?
A positioning is built, too. Usually, one more lamp gets screwed on top. I check the foundation.
Four positions to read:
What you get.
Three things, as in building. Each ends in a document you work with straight away.
The survey.
Where your business carries, where it breaks and where money is lost, with a figure on it.
The loss is known. The decision behind it isn’t yet.
The Forensic. Two to three weeks. Afterwards the Report, handed over bound.
The direction.
What gets built, what doesn’t, and in what order.
The decision is known. It’s stuck.
The Consultation, for a single decision: one conversation, afterwards the Decision Letter. The Rebuild, for the whole business: eight to twelve weeks, afterwards the Architecture and an operating manual for each system built.
Site management.
That team, sales, marketing and suppliers build in that direction.
The Direction Mandate. Quarter by quarter, a Decision Letter each quarter. One page: do, drop, measure.
Everything stays. When a supplier proposes the next project, you test it with four questions: Does it fit the direction? What does it cost to leave it? Who carries it? What does it change elsewhere?
I examine businesses. Preferably before things catch fire.
One euro found is worth ten sold.
The visible problem changes. The work behind it doesn’t.
One of ten: one goal, two years, over €400,000. The loss ended the same day.
A broad budget, many channels, and nobody knows what carries.
Case 01 · €180,000 a year released
Came with: “We spend more every year and don’t know what any of it does.”
Underneath: The budget was spread across channels before anyone had decided which offer should grow.
Decision: Channels consolidated, initiatives stopped. Budget only on what carries.
Effect: €180,000 of annual budget released, same visibility.
Optimised for years, and still something is off.
Case 02 · €80,000 of misspending stopped
Came with: “The account has been optimised for years and delivers less anyway.”
Underneath: A flaw in the basic assumption that agency, team and suppliers had overlooked for years.
Decision: The assumption corrected. The account rebuilt on it.
Effect: €80,000 of further misspending stopped.
AI bought before anyone had decided what for.
Case 03 · €25,000 for a process that no longer existed six months later
Came with: “We need to use AI now or we’ll fall behind.”
Underneath: A vendor was faster than the decision. What got automated was what happened to be running, not what was meant to carry.
Decision: First the foundation examined, then talk of tools. The automated process no longer belonged. Cut without replacement, tool included.
Effect: One process less, one tool less, no running costs for it. Since then the rule in the business: first the use case, then the tool.
A goal pursued for two years. And nobody asks whether it still holds.
Case 04 · Over €400,000 sunk. The loss ended the same day.
Came with: “We’re just not getting closer to our goal.”
Underneath: A goal nobody had questioned in two years.
Decision: The goal stopped. The direction reset.
Effect: Not one more euro into a goal that had cost over €400,000. The loss ended the same day.
The website is moving, and everyone expects a loss.
Case 05 · No loss, rankings up
Came with: “We’re changing domain and will lose visibility. The question is how much.”
Underneath: The site’s structure had never been settled. A move would have carried it over.
Decision: Structure settled before the move. Only what carries was moved.
Effect: No loss. Rankings up.
Five target groups, four channels, and nothing takes hold.
Case 06 · Prices 30 percent higher, margin up
Came with: “We’re on everything, and nothing takes hold.”
Underneath: One offer for five target groups, clear to none. Four channels, none with weight.
Decision: Three target groups and two channels cut. Prices raised by 30 percent.
Effect: Better clients, a focused team, higher margin. Within one quarter.
The business runs well. Only nobody knows any more where the customers come from.
Case 07 · 35% more revenue, same team
Came with: “It’s running. But we no longer know where the customers actually come from.”
Underneath: A separate path through website and sales for every target group and every offer. None with the full weight.
Decision: Two paths. The entire budget behind them.
Effect: 35% more revenue, same team.
Marketing reports straight to the managing director.
Case 08 · Demand for the company’s own name up 70%
Came with: “Marketing isn’t delivering, and there are good people in there.”
Underneath: The position between management and team had never been filled: a control function that sets when what gets done.
Decision: The position defined and filled. The team set on a few things.
Effect: After six months, market leadership extended, demand for the company’s own name up 70%.
The business depends on the owner.
Case 09 · Ready to hand over
Came with: “I want to hand over in a few years. Today nothing works without me.”
Underneath: Roles, processes and structures hung on people. Who does what, and why, was written nowhere.
Decision: Every role, every process, every structure set down: who does what, why, and what it contributes to revenue.
Effect: A business that runs without its owner and can be handed over.
One piece of content that has been selling for years, and nobody knows it.
Case 10 · Number one for five years, at no running cost
Came with: “We need to get ahead on Google, and it costs us every month.”
Underneath: Visibility was being bought because nobody had decided what the business should be found for.
Decision: One search term. One piece of content, built right.
Effect: Number one for the most important search term, for five years, without re-optimisation. Exactly this kind of content is the first thing an unexamined relaunch loses.
Even the best business loses money somewhere. The good ones suspect it. The very good ones have it found.
I judge. The decision is yours.
As on a building site: the architect draws, the client signs. I say what carries and what can go, and I name what it costs if it stays. You sign the decision. After that, I lead the build. No workshops, no series of meetings. Reading, a few conversations, one document.
IN SHORT
I am a Decision Architect. In businesses, I find the decision that has to be made before a costly measure, and I say what carries and what can go. Then I accompany the rebuild and hold the direction. For owners and managing directors whose decisions carry a lot of money.
You run a business.
I find where your business loses money. And stop it. I read the business before anything gets built anywhere, and I say which decision has to be made first. Then I accompany the rebuild until what was decided has been built. The first step is a fit call, twenty minutes.
You work for a business, as an agency or supplier.
You build. I hold the direction it gets built in. When I work in a business you work for, you get a decision your brief can be measured against: what gets built, what doesn’t, and in what order. That saves the loops in which everyone involved follows a different plan.
You want to refer me.
One sentence is enough: “He finds where the business loses money.” It fits in three moments. When a project is coming up that costs a lot of money: a relaunch, more ad budget, AI, a new role. Then the conversation pays off before anything gets built. When a decision has been stuck for weeks. And when an owner says: it’s running, but nothing stays at the bottom. Anyone who wants to name a business to me sends an email: name of the business, contact person, one sentence on the occasion.
I am Dennis Hildebrand.
I see early which decision will get expensive later.
I was selling at ten, because it suited me. Since then: a print publisher, agencies from performance to branding, my own products and brands, a vending business, adult education. Always for companies with culture: their own ideas, real force, a signature.
Some of it grew large. Some was expensive tuition. Both are my tools today: My work often starts where a decision still looks small and its consequences can’t be seen yet. Most people know one world. I know the pattern that runs through all of them. I know businesses from the owner’s chair.
“He finds what’s wrong before you know something is wrong.”An owner I work with.
resultart.
resultart is my decision architecture practice. It finds where a business loses energy, money and direction. Founded in Hamburg, for owners and managing directors whose decisions carry a lot of money.
The entry stays small: first the fit call, then the Consultation. What follows comes out of the findings.
Some decisions concern the owner before they concern the business. For those, Katharina Beer works at resultart as Private Decision Architect. With people, she builds the measure they judge their decisions by.
The craft beneath it I have practised for years: the digital systems through which businesses get found.
Let’s find the decision that’s due now.
The fit call: 20 minutes. You tell me where you stand. I listen. We both check the fit. Afterwards we know whether a next step is worth it, and where the real lever lies.
I take on few mandates at a time. Each is read and judged by one person: me.