First San Francisco Partners

What First San Francisco Partners does

First San Francisco Partners (FSFP) is a privately held, founder-owned data consulting firm founded in 2007 by Kelle O'Neal and headquartered in Oakland, California, operating a senior-consultant-led, remote delivery model. The firm targets enterprise organizations with revenue from $500M to $10B+ across financial services, healthcare and life sciences, insurance, manufacturing, education, and technology, and has accumulated hundreds of implementations with Fortune 1000 clients over nearly two decades. Its service portfolio covers the full data management lifecycle — data strategy, data governance, metadata management, data quality, master and reference data management, data architecture, data privacy, AI enablement, and AI governance consulting — delivered through proprietary frameworks including a five-component Data Governance Framework, the four-pillar Modern Data and AI Enablement Framework, a Semantic Intelligence Approach to metadata-driven classification, and a Decision Stewardship capability for AI accountability.

FSFP operates a tool-agnostic implementation model anchored by strategic partnerships with Collibra and Salesforce (including Agentforce) as core platforms, and supporting partnerships with Informatica, Alation, Snowflake, OneTrust, and BigID, enabling it to deploy governance on top of clients' existing data and AI investments rather than pushing proprietary technology. Revenue is generated through quote-based professional services engagements ranging from short-term advisory to long-term managed services, typically structured as multi-year contracts, with every engagement paired to organizational change management and impact measurement. Distribution is sales-led: direct enterprise engagement initiated via website contact forms, supplemented by a content engine spanning blog, white papers, the AI Governance Playbook, the AIGOV webinar series, and industry event sponsorship (DATAVERSITY). The firm currently operates without external institutional investment.

Name

First San Francisco Partners

Legal name

First San Francisco Partners

Website

https://firstsanfranciscopartners.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2007

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

First San Francisco Partners (FSFP) is a privately held, founder-owned data consulting firm founded in 2007 that provides enterprise organizations with data governance, AI governance, metadata management, and data strategy consulting services. It serves Fortune 1000 clients across financial services, healthcare, insurance, manufacturing, and education via senior-led engagements.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Operations

Revenue model

1. Professional Data Consulting Services: FSFP generates revenue through consulting engagements that span from short-term advisory to long-term managed services. Engagements include governance program design, implementation support, tool optimization, and ongoing managed services. The firm pairs organizational change management with impact measurements to ensure strategies drive client success.
2. AI Governance Consulting: Specialized consulting for AI governance strategy, roadmapping, risk tiering, use-case governance, semantic layer governance, agentic AI governance, and AI governance as managed service.
3. AI Enablement Services: AI readiness assessments, data strategy, governance optimization, and compliance preparation services that help organizations integrate AI successfully.
4. Managed Services: Ongoing governance and AI governance managed services that bring expert stewardship, program management, and semantic intelligence oversight without clients building entirely in-house.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

First San Francisco Partners is a data consulting firm that helps enterprises design, implement, and operate data governance, AI governance, metadata management, data quality, data privacy, data architecture, master data management, and overall data strategy programs. Engagements range from short-term advisory to long-term managed services and embed organizational change management with impact measurement to make governance stick and prepare clients for trusted AI.

Product overview

First San Francisco Partners (FSFP) is a data consulting firm offering a comprehensive portfolio of advisory and implementation services organized around data governance, AI enablement, and enterprise data management. The core service offerings include AI Governance Consulting, AI Enablement Consulting, Data Governance Consulting, Metadata Management, Data Privacy, Data Quality, Data Strategy, Data Architecture, and Master Data Management consulting. These services are delivered through a Technology Partners program including certified expertise with platforms like Collibra and Salesforce. FSFP's approach embeds organizational change management into every engagement and pairs strategy with technical delivery. The firm operates with an Agile-within-a-Predictable-Plan methodology and emphasizes governance-first frameworks that connect people, processes, data, and technology to enable trusted, actionable AI and data-driven decision-making.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• AI Governance Consulting Services Helps enterprise organizations build accountability structures, semantic intelligence, and stewardship capabilities needed to govern AI responsibly at scale, covering use-case visibility, risk tiering, decision rights, and evidence-based accountability.
• AI Enablement Consulting Services Prepares organizations to successfully integrate AI by assessing data readiness, developing strategy, optimizing governance, and ensuring compliance, using a four-pillar framework covering People & Participation, Technology Infrastructure, Policy & Governance, and Process Optimization.
• Data Governance Consulting Services Helps organizations build governance foundations for reliable insights, confident decisions, and AI readiness, including governance program design, operating models, AI governance integration, and AI & analytics enablement.
• Metadata Management Consulting Services Enhances metadata practices to improve discoverability, support compliance, and enable scalable AI initiatives, covering strategy and framework development, tool optimization, technical metadata management, business glossary development, and lineage mapping.
• Data Privacy Consulting Services Builds governance-first data privacy capabilities that adapt to evolving regulations, accelerate AI adoption, and manage increasing data complexity, including sensitive-data discovery, AI risk assessments, and semantic intelligence data classification.
• Data Quality Consulting Services Ensures data is fit for purpose, trusted, timely, and ready to deliver business value, including data profiling, cleansing, tool selection, observability, automation, and governance alignment.
• Data Strategy Consulting Services Aligns business goals and objectives to required data capabilities using a five-step approach covering participation, purpose, picture, plan, and vision to build clarity, trust, and enterprise-wide data alignment.
• Data Architecture Consulting Services Establishes sustainable, scalable data architecture foundations for governance, analytics, and innovation, covering current-state assessment, future-state visioning, integration design, and technology guidance.
• Master & Reference Data Management Consulting Services Creates unified 360-degree views of data and single sources of truth, covering MDM operating models, implementation planning, domain prioritization, and reference data management methodology.
• Data Management Consulting Services Creates strong data management foundations that improve quality, reduce risk, and ensure information can be trusted and used at scale, encompassing data quality, master data management, and metadata management under an integrated framework.
• Collibra Implementation & Adoption Consulting Provides operational strategy and technical solutions for holistic data governance, metadata, and Collibra platform implementation success, covering strategy alignment, platform optimization, and user enablement.
• AI Advisory Services Advisory services packaged for AI readiness and governance advisory support, delivered through the firm's technology partners program including Collibra and Salesforce certified implementation, optimization, and consulting services.

Quantifiable outcome

• 10% reduction in time needed for data wrangling
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers18 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration7 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• CollibracoreTechnology or IntegrationFSFP is a trusted Collibra Partner providing operational strategy and technical solutions for holistic data governance, metadata and Collibra implementation success. The partnership involves Collibra implementation and adoption consulting, helping organizations optimize their Collibra environments for data quality, observability, and AI governance.
• SalesforcecoreTechnology or IntegrationFSFP is a Salesforce Consulting Partner with expertise in optimizing Salesforce strategies, ensuring customer and operational data is accurate, harmonized, connected and AI-ready. The partnership includes expertise in Salesforce Agentforce implementation.
• DATAVERSITYminorGTM or Marketing PartnerFSFP partners with DATAVERSITY for industry events and education on data governance and AI topics. The company sponsors DATAVERSITY events as part of its marketing and lead generation activities.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Slalom: Slalom is a US-focused boutique consulting firm with a sizeable data, analytics, and AI governance practice serving enterprise clients. Like FSFP, Slalom combines strategy, implementation, and managed services and competes for similar Fortune 1000 data governance mandates.
• West Monroe Partners: West Monroe is a US-based technology and management consulting firm with dedicated data and analytics practices serving mid-market and enterprise clients. It overlaps with FSFP in data strategy, governance, and analytics enablement engagements.
• Sagence: Sagence is a boutique data and analytics consulting firm focused on enterprise data strategy, governance, and AI enablement. It competes with FSFP for similar enterprise buyers seeking pure-play data advisory.
• Credera: Credera is a boutique technology and data consulting firm (part of Omnicom) with strong data governance, analytics, and AI practices. It competes with FSFP for enterprise data transformation engagements.

Broad incumbents

• Deloitte: Deloitte operates a large global data and AI governance practice within its consulting business, serving the same Fortune 1000 buyers as FSFP but with vastly larger bench, broader transformation offerings, and global delivery.
• Accenture: Accenture provides enterprise-wide data governance and AI services alongside broader digital transformation capabilities. It frequently competes with boutique firms like FSFP when enterprise clients consolidate vendors.
• KPMG: KPMG's advisory practice includes data and analytics governance offerings for regulated industries, particularly financial services and healthcare, overlapping directly with FSFP's strongest verticals.
• EY: EY provides data governance, analytics, and AI risk services as part of its consulting portfolio, often competing with FSFP on enterprise engagements especially in financial services and life sciences.
• Capgemini: Capgemini's Insights & Data practice delivers data governance and AI enablement at global scale, often pitching against boutique firms like FSFP on large multi-year transformation programs.
• Cognizant: Cognizant offers enterprise data modernization and AI services that frequently include governance workstreams, positioning it as a broader-scope alternative to boutique advisors like FSFP.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@firstsanfranciscopartners
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/first-san-francisco-partners
• Xx.com/1stsanfrancisco

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A1 record

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about First San Francisco Partners