Essentiam

What Essentiam does

Essentiam is a privately held, woman-owned boutique strategic consultancy headquartered in Chicago. Founded by Stephanie Kusibab, who previously led the consulting team at SmithBucklin and holds a degree in organizational psychology, the firm delivers strategic planning, foresight and futures workshops, market research, team building, product and service strategy, retreat planning, and facilitation and speaking engagements. Its core methodology is the proprietary POPTIC framework (Preparation, Outcomes, Process, Team Dynamic, Individual Participation, Content), which structures meeting and process design. The firm serves three named segments — associations, businesses across more than 45 industries, and nonprofit organizations — and reports 20+ years of consulting experience across public, private, nonprofit, and governmental sectors. A six-person team includes a CEO/Chief Strategist, VP of Strategy, Project Management and Strategy lead, Operations Manager, Executive Support, and Artistic Direction roles.

The firm's go-to-market is sales-led and direct, with client acquisition through the website, blog content, referrals, and an intake path comprising contact forms, phone (+1.312.343.0996), email, and Calendly booking. Revenue comes primarily from quote-based professional services engagements structured as multi-year contracts, supplemented since September 2024 by a packaged 7-week online course ('Leading Strategy: Facilitating Conversations that Inspire Action') priced at $800 (regular $1,600) and limited to 25 participants per cohort. The firm holds strategic affiliations with the International Association for Strategy Professionals (where the founder serves as a director and contributed to the Body of Knowledge), the Northern Illinois Center for Nonprofit Excellence, and BoardSource, and maintains a network of specialist collaborators (Boyntunes, Equation Research, Zeal Consulting, WordSys Tech, The Board Builders) to flex delivery capacity.

Name

Essentiam

Legal name

Essentiam

Website

https://essentiam.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Essentiam is a Chicago-based, woman-owned boutique consultancy that provides strategic planning, facilitation, foresight workshops, and market research to associations, businesses, and nonprofits via its proprietary POPTIC framework and direct-engagement model.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Chicago

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, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Strategic Consulting Services: Professional services including strategic planning, foresight workshops, market research, team building, product/service strategy, retreat planning, and facilitation/speaking engagements.
2. Online Course: 7-week online course 'Leading Strategy: Facilitating Conversations that Inspire Action' offered at $800 (reduced from $1,600 regular price).

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Essentiam is a boutique strategic consultancy that delivers advisory and facilitation services—strategic planning, foresight and futures workshops, market research, team building, product and service strategy, retreat planning, and facilitation/speaking engagements—to associations, businesses, and nonprofits. It also sells a self-paced 7-week online course ("Leading Strategy: Facilitating Conversations That Inspire Action") that teaches its proprietary POPTIC facilitation framework. Engagement is delivered by a small senior team of facilitators and strategists working directly with client leadership.

Product overview

Essentiam is a boutique, woman-owned strategic consultancy providing advisory and facilitation services for organizations across associations, businesses, and nonprofits. The company offers a portfolio of consulting services including strategic planning, foresight workshops, market research, team building, product/service strategy, retreat planning, and facilitation & speaking engagements. Additionally, Essentiam offers one educational product: a 7-week online course on strategic facilitation. The services are delivered through direct consulting engagements while the course provides self-paced learning for individuals and organizations seeking to develop facilitation capabilities.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Strategic Planning Guides clients through a collaborative, active, and inspiring process to uncover strategic initiatives that propel organizations toward their chosen future. Designed for leadership teams of associations, businesses, and nonprofit organizations seeking clarity and a defined strategic direction.
• Foresight & Futures Workshops Helps clients see beyond current horizons and explore drivers of change that may shift how they work, including futures workshops to imagine desired futures. Targeted at leadership teams that want to expand strategic vision and stress-test assumptions about the future.
• Market Research & Analysis Engages with client communities to collect qualitative and quantitative information, revealing insights to find new opportunities and achieve better outcomes. Used by organizations that need structured intelligence to inform strategy and product/service decisions.
• Team Building Custom-designed and facilitated team-building activities that help teams find common ground while appreciating differences to unite for shared goals. Aimed at leadership teams and groups needing to strengthen alignment and collaboration.
• Product and Service Strategy Creates roadmaps and discovers new opportunities using an all-inclusive approach to ensure clients meet marketplace needs while generating appropriate investment returns. Designed for organizations refining or expanding their product/service portfolio.
• Retreat Planning Creates retreats with custom-designed agendas and skilled facilitation that balance focus on people with managing business outcomes for productive sessions. Targeted at boards, leadership teams, and organizations hosting offsites or strategy retreats.
• Facilitation & Speaking Brings people together to explore important ideas, generate opportunities, and find common ground through deliberate, dynamic interactions and brave spaces. Suited for conferences, board meetings, leadership offsites, and member/stakeholder convenings.
• Leading Strategy: Facilitating Conversations That Inspire Action 7-week online course teaching strategic facilitation skills including the POPTIC framework, covering topics such as establishing credibility, guiding team progress, maintaining momentum, and driving decisions. Designed for facilitators, strategists, and organizational leaders who want to develop in-house facilitation capabilities.

Quantifiable outcome

• Boutique, woman-owned strategic consultancy operating for over 20 years
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers3 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

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• International Association for Strategy ProfessionalscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerStephanie serves as a director for this association and contributed sections on visioning, culture, facilitation, and teamwork for its Body of Knowledge.
• Northern Illinois Center for Nonprofit Excellence (NICNE)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerStephanie consults and trains for NICNE, providing strategic planning expertise to nonprofit organizations in the Chicago region.
• BoardSourceminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerStephanie holds a Certificate of Nonprofit Board Consulting from BoardSource.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Strategy&: Strategy& is PwC's global strategy consulting business, covering corporate and business strategy, transformation, and operating models. It is comparable at the strategic-planning and facilitation level but serves a much broader enterprise market.
• Korn Ferry: Korn Ferry is a global organizational consulting firm spanning strategy, leadership, talent, and transformation. It is relevant to Essentiam's organizational alignment, leadership, and team-development work, but at substantially greater scale.
• McKinsey & Company: McKinsey advises organizations on corporate strategy, organization, operations, and transformation. It is a broad incumbent comparator for Essentiam's strategy and organizational alignment services, although its scale and scope are far larger.
• Association Management Center: Association Management Center provides outsourced association management, governance, events, and strategic services. It shares Essentiam's association and mission-driven client focus, though it is a broader management-services incumbent.
• Bain & Company: Bain & Company provides global strategy consulting across business, customer, organization, and transformation topics. It is comparable to Essentiam's strategic planning and product/service strategy work but serves much larger and more diverse clients.

Direct peers

• McKinley Advisors: McKinley Advisors provides association strategy, market research, member engagement, and technology consulting. Its association focus and mix of strategy and research services closely overlap Essentiam's association and nonprofit offerings.
• The Bridgespan Group: The Bridgespan Group provides management consulting to nonprofits and philanthropic organizations, including strategy, growth, and organizational development. It overlaps with Essentiam's mission-oriented nonprofit strategy and facilitation services.
• La Piana Consulting: La Piana Consulting advises nonprofits on strategy, organizational development, collaboration, and change. It is a strong comparison for Essentiam's nonprofit strategic planning, board-staff alignment, and team-building work.
• Tecker International: Tecker International provides strategy, governance, board, and executive-search services to associations and other mission-driven organizations. It is comparable because Essentiam also targets associations and nonprofits with strategic planning, alignment, facilitation, and training.

Emerging players

• BoardSource: BoardSource supports nonprofits with board consulting, governance training, and leadership resources. It is comparable at the nonprofit capability level, especially around board alignment and executive training, although its scope is more governance-focused.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 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 Essentiam