Badger Consulting

What Badger Consulting does

Badger Consulting is a student-run pro-bono consulting organization at the University of Wisconsin-Madison that delivers advisory work — industry research, consumer insights, marketing analytics, and financial viability analyses — to small businesses primarily in Madison and Dane County, Wisconsin. The organization is embedded in the Wisconsin School of Business (WSB) and operates under the formal supervision and mentorship of the Wisconsin Small Business Development Center (WI SBDC) at UW-Madison, which channels client referrals and provides oversight. Membership is drawn from 28 different majors, and the leadership team comprises student Project Managers and a 13-person Leadership Board led by President Megan Mayhew, with separate Vice Presidents for External and Internal Relations plus functional directors covering Professional Development, DEI, Member Relations, Project Management, Compliance, Finance, Mentorship and Alumni, and Marketing.

The "product" is structured, supervised student consulting work rather than a commercial software platform or proprietary methodology. Service delivery is organized around project teams led by Project Managers, with all projects screened through the SBDC pipeline; named client engagements include Rooted in Red (agriculture/sustainable farming) and Abloh (early-stage venture). Alongside client work, the organization runs a professional development stack: an Analyst Training Program (ATP) launched in Fall 2020 as a five-week curriculum and expanded to eight weeks in Fall 2024 with a case project and competition; a semesterly Career Trek launched Spring 2024 that visits firms such as Bain, Deloitte, Accenture, Spaulding Ridge, and Efficio; an annual Case Competition; DEI Workshops; and a member Mentorship Program.

The economic model is explicitly non-commercial. Badger Consulting provides its consulting services free of charge to small-business clients, functions as a student club rather than a revenue-generating business, and discloses no revenue, no pricing model, and no venture or private equity backing in the source material. The economics that do exist are indirect: student placement into consulting and adjacent roles (alumni employers named across the source include Accenture, Deloitte, Amazon, McKinsey, Bain, EY, Baker Tilly, Aon, and Gibson Consulting) and a community-level economic contribution through pro-bono support to Dane County small businesses, which the WI SBDC framed in 2020 as 498 clients served, 30 new businesses started, and $13.33 million in capital obtained by those clients.

Name

Badger Consulting

Website

https://badgerconsultinguw.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Badger Consulting is a student-run pro-bono consulting organization at the University of Wisconsin-Madison that delivers industry research, consumer insights, marketing analytics, and financial viability analyses to small businesses in Madison and Dane County, Wisconsin, while training student members for consulting careers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Management Consulting Services

NAICS

Other Management Consulting Services (541618), Management Consulting Services (54161)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYBPAHACAA

Strategy & Corporate Development Consulting

Business & Public Services/Professional Services (Legal, Accounting, Consulting)/Management Consulting

Keywords

• Management consulting services
• Market research consulting
• Consumer insights consulting
• Financial viability analysis
• Marketing analytics consulting

Headquarters

HQ city

Madison

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Pro-bono Consulting Services: Badger Consulting provides free pro-bono consulting services to small businesses. As a student-run university organization, they do not charge clients for their services. The organization is supervised by the Wisconsin Small Business Development Center (WI SBDC) and operates as a professional development vehicle for student members.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Badger Consulting is a student-run consulting group at the University of Wisconsin-Madison that delivers pro-bono consulting services to local small businesses in the Madison/Dane County area. Its project work covers industry research, consumer insights, marketing analytics, and financial viability analyses, with service delivery managed by student Project Managers and supervised by the Wisconsin Small Business Development Center (WI SBDC).

Product overview

Badger Consulting is a student-run consulting organization at the University of Wisconsin-Madison that offers a portfolio of pro-bono consulting services for small businesses, centered on its core Real-World Consulting Projects (delivering industry research, consumer insights, marketing analytics, and financial analyses). The organization supplements its consulting services with professional development programs including the Analyst Training Program (ATP), Career Trek, Case Competition, DEI Workshops, and Mentorship. Badger Consulting operates under the supervision of the Wisconsin Small Business Development Center (WI SBDC) and is proudly affiliated with the Wisconsin School of Business.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Pro-Bono Consulting Services Pro-bono consulting engagements delivered by student Project Managers and analysts to small businesses in Madison and Dane County, covering industry research, consumer insights, marketing analytics, and financial viability analyses. Supervised by the Wisconsin Small Business Development Center (WI SBDC).

Quantifiable outcome

• 100% internship placement for Junior Class of 2024
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

13 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Wisconsin Small Business Development Center (WI SBDC) at UW-MadisoncoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerWI SBDC serves as the supervising and mentoring organization for Badger Consulting. The WI SBDC provides no-cost consulting and non-credit courses to help businesses from start-up through growth. Badger Consulting is grateful to be supervised and mentored by the Wisconsin Small Business Development Center, with their office continuing to be impressed by the professionalism and quality of work the students bring to clients.
• Wisconsin School of Business (WSB)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBadger Consulting is proudly affiliated with the Wisconsin School of Business at UW-Madison. The organization operates within the WSB student community and recruits members from the school.
• AccentureminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAccenture works with Badger Consulting to provide members with an in-depth look at the consulting career path and tools to help them on their journey. Alumni from Badger Consulting work at Accenture.
• McKinsey & CompanyminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMcKinsey works with Badger Consulting to provide members with an in-depth look at the consulting career path and tools to help them on their journey.
• Bain & CompanyminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerBain works with Badger Consulting to provide members with an in-depth look at the consulting career path and tools to help them on their journey. Badger Consulting also visits Bain firms during its semesterly career trek.
• Baker TillyminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerBaker Tilly works with Badger Consulting to provide members with an in-depth look at the consulting career path and tools to help them on their journey.
• EY (Ernst & Young)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEY works with Badger Consulting to provide members with an in-depth look at the consulting career path and tools to help them on their journey.
• AonminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAon works with Badger Consulting to provide members with an in-depth look at the consulting career path and tools to help them on their journey.
• Gibson ConsultingminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerGibson Consulting works with Badger Consulting to provide members with an in-depth look at the consulting career path and tools to help them on their journey.
• DeloitteminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAlumni from Badger Consulting work at Deloitte. Deloitte is one of the top firms where recent graduates are employed.
• AmazonminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAlumni from Badger Consulting work at Amazon. Chad Hendricks, UW Class of 2018, is an Associate Vendor Manager at Amazon.
• Rooted in RedminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerRooted in Red is a small business client that received pro-bono consulting services from Badger Consulting. The client was extremely thankful for the opportunity and appreciated the extensive detail paid to their company's goals and insightful data-based recommendations provided.
• AblohminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerAbloh is a co-founded company that received phenomenal collegiate consulting services from Badger Consulting. The team was thoroughly impressed by the quality of work executed.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Others

• SCORE: SCORE is a national nonprofit network providing free mentoring and resources to small businesses—the dominant pro-bono small-business advisory service in the U.S. and a key alternative/supplier of demand for the same small-business segment Badger targets.
• Wisconsin Small Business Development Center (SBDC): The SBDC at UW-Madison is Badger's supervising/mentoring organization and the broader statewide network of SBDCs that delivers free consulting to Wisconsin small businesses—an enabling partner that also competes for the same pro-bono client segment.

Direct peers

• Michigan Ross Consulting Club: University of Michigan Ross School of Business student consulting club with similar focus on pro-bono small-business engagements, formal training pipeline, and recruiting partnerships with top consulting firms—parallel to Badger's structure at UW-Madison's Wisconsin School of Business.
• Bruin Consulting Group (UCLA): UCLA's student-run pro-bono consulting organization that delivers strategy and operations consulting to small businesses, nonprofits, and startups—matching Badger's Big Ten/peer-R1 student consulting model, training program, and alumni network emphasis.
• Illinois Business Consulting: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign's pro-bono student consulting organization that provides strategy, operations, and analytics consulting to clients including small businesses—another Big Ten student consulting group with similar structure and offerings to Badger.
• 180 Degrees Consulting: 180 Degrees Consulting is a global student-run pro-bono consulting nonprofit that provides consulting services to nonprofits and social enterprises—directly comparable in mission, student-organization structure, and pro-bono delivery model to Badger Consulting.

Emerging players

• Net Impact (student chapters): Net Impact operates university chapters that engage students in pro-bono consulting and social-impact projects with nonprofits and small businesses—comparable in student-led consulting mission and outreach to community-based clients.
• Kellogg Management Consulting Club (Northwestern): Northwestern Kellogg's student consulting club that conducts consulting engagements and case prep; relevant as a Big-Ten-adjacent peer model for how student consulting organizations are structured and grown, though its primary focus is recruiting prep rather than pro-bono delivery.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/BadgerConsulting
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/badgerconsulting
• Instagraminstagram.com/BadgerConsulting
• Xx.com/bcwisc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

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 Badger Consulting