Sherwood Forest

What Sherwood Forest does

Sherwood Forest, Inc. is a privately held US B2B professional services firm founded in 1995 by Tim Hanson, headquartered in Hanover, Minnesota, with additional offices across ten US cities. The company provides third-party contract evaluation and negotiation services that help enterprise clients reduce spend across a defined set of expense categories — wireless and telecom, shipping, technology and cloud computing, credit card processing, treasury bank fees, insurance, marketing, waste and recycling, accounts payable audits, and specialty federal and state tax opportunities. Its core proprietary asset is a database of vendor contract pricing, terms, and conditions built over 30+ years of negotiating more than 100 contracts per year, which it uses to benchmark client contracts against best-known market terms.

The firm's commercial model is exclusively performance-based: clients pay nothing upfront and Sherwood is compensated only when measurable savings are confirmed, typically as a minority contingency share of achieved savings. Engagements are short-cycle (clients spend 5-10 hours total over several weeks) and frequently occur mid-contract using 30-day out provisions in vendor agreements. Sherwood offers three engagement modes — lead negotiator, team negotiator, and educator negotiator — and maintains ongoing monthly monitoring during the contract term. Distribution is direct enterprise sales to finance and procurement executives, supported by referrals and the firm's 30-year track record; the firm cites having served over 100 Fortune 500 companies and dozens of Fortune 100 corporations, with average client savings exceeding 20% and cumulative client savings of over $500 million in the past decade.

Operationally, Sherwood is a small firm (11-50 employees), founder-led, with no disclosed venture capital, private equity, or institutional investment. Tim Hanson serves as Founder & CEO and Todd Lindberg as President. The company has pursued no acquisitions, has no parent company, and has not pursued public capital markets. Its technology posture is that of a data-intensive human services firm — proprietary contract database plus experienced negotiators — rather than a software or AI-platform business.

Name

Sherwood Forest

Legal name

Sherwood Forest, Inc.

Website

https://sherwoodforestinc.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1995

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Sherwood Forest is a US B2B professional services firm that negotiates enterprise vendor contracts across telecom, shipping, technology, insurance, and other expense categories on a contingency fee basis, using a proprietary database of vendor pricing built over 30+ years to help Fortune 500 clients achieve average savings exceeding 20%.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Hanover

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices11 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Performance-Based Contingency Fees: Sherwood Forest operates exclusively on a 'no savings, no fee' contingency model. Clients pay nothing upfront or hourly. After renegotiating contracts, they review billing with newly negotiated pricing and provide a savings report showing before/after snapshots. The firm bills based on performance only when measurable savings are confirmed. Constant monthly monitoring during contract term with client-specific spreadsheets.
2. Contingency Fee from Discovered Savings: ROI is infinite because Sherwood is only paid for success. Clients pay out of found money discovered—money they would otherwise be paying to vendors. The firm takes a minority share of savings achieved.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

Sherwood Forest is an unbiased third-party B2B consulting firm that evaluates and renegotiates existing vendor service contracts on behalf of enterprise clients to reduce costs and recover revenue, without requiring clients to change vendors or operations. The firm operates across more than 10 expense categories — including telecom, shipping, technology/cloud, credit card processing, bank fees, tax incentives, insurance, marketing, waste/recycling, and accounts payable audits — using a proprietary database of vendor contract pricing and 30+ years of collective negotiation expertise. Services are compensated exclusively on a performance-based contingency basis ("no savings, no fee").

Product overview

Sherwood Forest is a B2B consulting firm offering contract negotiation and business intelligence services rather than a software product company. The company operates a unified service offering focused on cost reduction and revenue optimization through contract negotiations. Their core service portfolio encompasses specialized expertise across multiple expense categories: Wireless & Telecom, Shipping, Technology/Cloud Computing, Credit Card Processing, Treasury Bank Fees, Federal and State Tax Opportunities, Insurance, Marketing, Waste & Recycling, and Accounts Payable Audits. Services are delivered through three flexible engagement models: lead negotiators (representing clients directly), team negotiators (working alongside clients), or educator negotiators (advising clients on negotiation strategies). The company operates on a performance-based "no savings, no fee" model, being paid only when measurable savings are achieved. Founded in 1995, Sherwood Forest has negotiated over 100 contracts annually with average client savings exceeding 20%, serving numerous Fortune 500 companies.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Wireless & Telecom Contract Negotiation Negotiation and contract optimization services for all carriers, domestic and international, MPLS, VPN, wireless, and voice services, designed for enterprise clients seeking to reduce telecom spend without changing providers.
• Shipping Contract Negotiation Contract negotiation services for small parcel, LTL, ocean container, and post-audit shipping, securing best-in-class pricing for enterprise clients facing carrier rate increases.
• Technology & Cloud Contract Negotiation Negotiation services for application software acquisition, cloud computing, offshore services, mobile, and security contracts, with claims of reducing cloud costs by 20-40% for enterprise clients.
• Credit Card Processing / e-Payment Commerce Negotiation Negotiation services for processor and interchange fees, Visa, MasterCard, Discover, AmEx, mobile pay, and debit card processing, designed to lower merchant payment costs for enterprise clients.
• Treasury Bank Fees Negotiation Negotiation services for treasury bank fees to reduce costs for enterprise clients without disrupting banking relationships.
• Specialty Federal and State Tax Opportunities Identification and capture of sales and use tax incentives, strategic location incentives for purchasing companies, energy efficiency deductions, and employment hiring credits for enterprise clients.
• Insurance Contract Negotiation Negotiation services for both healthcare and business insurance to lower rates for enterprise clients without disrupting coverage or carrier relationships.
• Marketing Contract Negotiation Contract optimization for print, packaging, digital marketing, and trade show expenditures for enterprise marketing organizations.
• Waste & Recycling Contract Negotiation Contract negotiation services for waste management and recycling vendor agreements for enterprise clients.
• Accounts Payable Audit Auditing of accounts payable to identify billing errors and recovery opportunities for enterprise clients.
• Contract Negotiation Expertise (Engagement Program) End-to-end third-party contract negotiation program using proprietary market intelligence and a database of vendor contract pricing, delivered under flexible engagement models (lead negotiators representing clients directly, team negotiators working alongside client staff, or educator negotiators advising client teams). Compensated exclusively on a performance-based "no savings, no fee" contingency basis.

Quantifiable outcome

• Average savings exceed 20% on negotiated contracts
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Mind ShiftminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2011Mind Shift (formerly Specialisterne Midwest) was launched by Tim Hanson in 2011 as a company that matches difficult-to-fill technical jobs with skilled individuals on the autism spectrum. Sherwood Forest partners with Mind Shift for neuro-diversity hiring initiatives. Tim Hanson chairs the Mind Shift board of directors. The partnership was featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and Harvard Business Review.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Proxima: Proxima is a procurement-focused consultancy that helps large enterprises reduce third-party spend via negotiation, category strategy, and supplier management. Comparable to Sherwood in target customer (enterprise procurement leaders) and contingency-style outcomes focus.
• GEP Worldwide: GEP delivers procurement and supply chain consulting, software, and managed services to large enterprises. It directly competes with Sherwood in contract negotiation and category cost reduction, with a similar target buyer (CFO/CPO) and outcomes-based value proposition.
• The Hackett Group: Hackett provides procurement and finance benchmarking, consulting, and advisory services to Fortune-class enterprises. It overlaps with Sherwood in helping clients renegotiate vendor contracts and reduce indirect spend through market intelligence.
• Efficio: Efficio is a procurement and supply-chain consultancy serving global enterprises on cost reduction, category management, and contract renegotiation. It competes for the same Fortune 500 wallet share as Sherwood.

Broad incumbents

• WNS Procurement: WNS provides procurement BPO including category management and contract negotiation for large enterprises globally. Larger and broader in scope than Sherwood, with similar focus on indirect-spend cost reduction.
• Huron Consulting Group: Huron is a large, publicly-traded consulting firm with a procurement and operations practice serving enterprises. It competes with Sherwood on indirect-spend cost reduction but across a much broader consulting portfolio.
• KPMG (Procurement & Operations Advisory): KPMG's procurement advisory practice serves large enterprises on cost optimization, sourcing, and contract negotiation. Competes with Sherwood for Fortune 500 procurement mandates within a much larger professional services portfolio.

Emerging players

• SpendHQ: SpendHQ provides procurement analytics and consulting to support spend visibility and sourcing decisions for enterprises. Comparable client base; partial overlap with Sherwood's benchmarking-led negotiation approach.
• Corcentric: Corcentric combines procurement SaaS (sourcing, contract management) with services. Adjacent rather than direct, since its strength is technology-enabled sourcing vs. Sherwood's human negotiation-led model.
• The Smart Cube: The Smart Cube offers procurement analytics and market intelligence services for global enterprises. Overlaps with Sherwood in using external market intelligence to inform enterprise contract negotiations.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 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 Sherwood Forest