Skunk Works

What Skunk Works does

Skunk Works Fund is a solo-practitioner executive consulting firm founded in 2019 by Steve Kropper, providing business development and leadership advisory services across the Cleantech, Telecom, and Government sectors. The firm operates as a one-person entity based in Lincoln, Massachusetts, offering senior advisory services including growth strategy, turnaround management, competitive emulation, capital raising, and campaign support to early-stage and high-risk ventures. The business model is founder-led and project-based, with no recurring subscription, platform, or productized offering currently visible.

Name

Skunk Works

Legal name

Skunk Works

Website

https://skunkworksfund.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Solo executive consulting firm founded in 2019 by Steve Kropper, providing business development, turnaround, and capital-raising advisory across Cleantech, Telecom, and Government sectors.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Maussane

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Professional Services and Consulting: Advisory and consulting fees for turnaround, growth, and strategic guidance services. Revenue derived from project-based engagements, retained advisory roles, and short-term mandates.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

Skunk Works Fund is a solo consulting practice that provides executive leadership and business development advisory services to companies and government entities across Cleantech, Telecom, and Government sectors. The firm helps clients turn around distressed businesses, accelerate growth, raise capital, navigate regulatory requirements, and deploy large-scale networks such as LTE/5G wireless and public safety systems, drawing on the founder's 25+ years of experience and personal relationships with tower operators, carriers, federal legislators, and top financial institutions.

Product overview

Skunk Works Fund is a business consulting and advisory firm offering executive leadership services across Cleantech, Telecom, and Government sectors. The firm provides integrated service offerings including growth strategy, turnaround management, competitive emulation, funding services, and campaign support. The company specializes in technology-intensive ventures, having supported wind power financing projects, cellular infrastructure deals, and public safety network deployments.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Skunk Works Fund Advisory Services Executive leadership and business development advisory services for companies and government entities in Cleantech, Telecom, and Government sectors; covers turnarounds, growth strategy, capital raising, deadline management, and regulatory navigation.
• Growth Services Consulting for fast, managed business growth including strategic planning, leadership hiring, and growth acceleration for technology ventures such as Parallel Wireless (grown from 5 to 450+ staff).
• Turnaround and Hostage Extraction Crisis management and company rescue services when leadership falters or companies run out of money, including advisory board work, recapitalization, and operational cleanup to prepare for the next funding round.
• Funding Services Capital raising services for established companies, turnarounds, and startups, leveraging Kropper's network with five of the top ten US financial institutions.
• Competitive Emulation Strategic bidding and competitive analysis services, originally developed for defense contractors (Martin-Marietta) bidding on civilian telecom deals; includes daily competitive strategy work such as the Bell Canada national flag carrier engagement.
• Campaign Services Political and advocacy campaign support including field work, strategic guidance, and election campaign management; experience covers every US presidential election since 1976 and a 2018 US House seat turnover.
• Wind Power Finance Consulting Wind project finance consulting involving lease option negotiation with American Tower, Crown Castle, and Verizon (covering 12,000+ towers over 80 meters high), meteorological data generation, and sale of that data to wind power developers for grid integration and project finance.
• Cellular Solutions (CSL) Property Owner Representation Property owner representation in negotiations with cellular carriers for rooftop antenna sites, lease rights management, and revenue optimization; tracked CSL gross revenue of over $1,000,000 over a fortnight in October 2021.
• Public Safety Network Deployment Emergency communications network deployment for public safety events, including the Republican Convention in Cleveland (delivered in 21 days at the Governor of Ohio's request) and high-profile deployments at Super Bowl, Rose Bowl, Indy Speedway, and Lollapalooza.
• Cell Tower Transaction Services Tower sale and lease services including prospectus writing, auction management, and lease option negotiation with major tower companies; includes a documented sale of a single cell tower for over $2 million through a managed auction process.

Quantifiable outcome

• Grew Parallel Wireless from 5 to 450+ employees
• +6 more outcomes

Named customers9 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability1 record

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• American TowercoreOthersNegotiated lease options covering thousands of towers over 80 meters high for wind project finance and renewable energy development.
• Crown CastlecoreOthersLease option negotiations for tower infrastructure supporting wind project financing.
• VerizonminorOthersLease negotiations for tower infrastructure deployments.
• Northeast Clean Energy CouncilminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSteve Kropper is a Founding Fellow in the Northeast Clean Energy Council and participated in the first class of 11 Fellows.
• WindPole VenturesminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFounded by Steve Kropper as a venture focused on wind and energy data.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• AlixPartners: Global turnaround, restructuring, and performance-improvement consultancy serving distressed and high-stakes engagements. Directly comparable to Skunk Works Fund's 'Turnaround and Hostage Extraction' offerings and executive-level intervention work.
• FTI Consulting: Professional services firm with deep telecom, energy, and government advisory practices including restructuring, strategic communications, and regulated-industry consulting. Overlaps with Skunk Works Fund's Cleantech, Telecom, and Government verticals.
• Teneo: Strategic advisory to CEOs and boards across telecom, media, financial services, and government-related sectors. Comparable executive-level advisory model with political, regulatory, and capital-raising orientation.
• ghSMART: Boutique leadership advisory firm specializing in CEO coaching, executive team development, and growth-stage advisory. Comparable in scale and orientation toward founder-led, high-stakes engagements.
• West Monroe Partners: Management and technology consultancy with strong telecom and energy practices. Comparable mid-sized advisory positioning and industry overlap in wireless infrastructure and regulated utilities.

Broad incumbents

• Bain & Company: Global management consultancy with practices spanning telecom, energy, and government services. Operates in adjacent strategic advisory space but at much larger scale and broader scope.
• McKinsey & Company: Largest global management consulting firm serving telecom, cleantech, and public-sector clients. Comparable advisory mandate types but at fundamentally different scale, brand, and breadth.
• KPMG Advisory: Big Four advisory practice serving telecom, energy, and government clients with strategy, operations, and risk consulting. Overlapping sector coverage and project-based advisory model, though at far larger scale.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/SkunkWorksFund
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/in/kropper

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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

M&A

Investments

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

Frequently asked questions about Skunk Works