Marketing and business consultancy
Yourbusinesshasoutgrowntheroleyou'restillplayinginit.
Private advisory for owners of six to eight figure companies, and training for the people who run the business day to day.
- General Assembly
- Broward County Libraries
- Florida Department of Health
- Chevrolet
- Fiverr
- University of Miami
- Pérez Art Museum Miami
- The Miami Foundation
- Capital One
- Dell
- NBCUniversal
- Code.org
- Adrienne Arsht Center
- Capital One
- Dell
- NBCUniversal
- Code.org
- Adrienne Arsht Center
Proof
01 Proof
The work is measured in owners moved out of the bottleneck, teams that hold a standard after the room empties, and numbers that moved.
Three recent outcomes
- Healthcare
Medical center, 20 staff. Owner installed a manager to hold customer service standards and was ready to open a second location within four months.
- The trades
HVAC company, Australia. Owner took over the family business to retire his father, rescued a $50,000 contract, and hit $87K in sales by the 18th of the month. His crew now takes direction from him as the leader, not the owner's son.
- Real estate
Real estate investor, $5M gross. His agent told him to take a $20,000 loss on a flip; he held and sold $5,000 over asking. Rewrote his annual target from $500K net to $5M, sourced his first off-market commercial deal, and exited a side business for roughly $300K net.
"Same amount of time, but bigger deals. Why spend it on smaller deals? He expanded me."
Real estate investor, $5M gross
"Business-wise I'm a lot more confident. I now realize I'm sitting on a gold mine. Sky's the limit with it."
Owner, HVAC company, Australia
02 Sound familiar
Where owners get stuck
The company is usually fine on paper. What stopped working is the owner's position inside it. Pick the one that's yours and it starts your application.
- 01
Every decision still routes through you, including the ones you hired people to make.
Start here - 02
The managers you promoted can't move their people, so you move them yourself.
Start here - 03
The growth plan you wrote a year ago is still in a drawer, and you can't fully explain why.
Start here - 04
Revenue is fine. Your week isn't.
Start here - 05
The team knows what to do and keeps waiting for you anyway.
Start here - 06
You want out of daily operations without selling the company to get there.
Start here
Drag or scroll
03 Services
Services
Engagements are scoped in conversation and priced in writing. One owner, one team, or one institution at a time. Open a row for the details.
- Intensives from $15,000
Two-day intensives and three-month engagements for owners who want growth, or want out of daily operations. In person in Crystal River or remote.
Apply for this- Intensive
- Two days, one owner. In person in Crystal River, Florida, or remote. From $15,000.
- Engagement
- Three months of private work after the intensive. The intensive fee is credited toward it within 30 days.
- Produces
- A written diagnosis before the first session and a written record after every one.
Scope, dates and the full fee are set in writing after the diagnosis.
- Priced by scope
Positioning and channel strategy for established businesses, and the authority platforms their owners front. Strategy and build-out; your people run it.
Apply for this- For
- Established companies that need positioning and a channel plan, and owners building an authority platform in front of the business.
- Format
- Strategy and build-out with your team. Your people run it after handover.
- Price
- By scope, in writing, after the diagnosis.
- Priced by scope
Half-day and full-day sessions for owner-led companies, company teams and leadership groups of 20 to 100, with the routines that keep standards in place after the room empties.
Apply for this- Topics
- Leadership influence. Conflict resolution in high-stress teams. Customer service. Sales. Social media marketing.
- Format
- Half-day or full-day, on site. Groups of 20 to 100: owner-led companies, company teams, or the leadership group alone.
- Price
- By scope, in writing.
- Priced by scope
Design and delivery of entrepreneurship and workforce programs for institutions and organizations.
Apply for this- For
- Libraries, foundations, universities and public agencies running entrepreneurship or workforce programs.
- Record
- Built in Broward: a year-long partnership with General Assembly and Broward County Libraries, 1,428 people served in year one.
- Price
- By scope, in writing.
- By request
Talks and panels for companies and universities, and for rooms full of founders.
Request a date- Stages
- Chevrolet, Fiverr, the University of Miami and the Pérez Art Museum Miami, among others.
- Topics
- Leadership influence, owner-led growth, social media and marketing, diversity in technology.
04 Process
How an engagement runs
Four steps. Each one produces something in writing, so you always know where you stand.
- 01
Apply
A few lines about the business and the decision you have been sitting on. I read every application myself.
- 02
Written diagnosis
Before any session, you get my read on where the business is stuck and what I would do first. If it isn't a fit, this is where I say so.
- 03
Engagement letter
Scope, price and dates in writing within 48 hours of our conversation. Nothing is sold in the room.
- 04
The work
Intensive or engagement, every session ends with a written record of what was decided and who owns it.
05 The firm
The firm's work
In 2020 Black Valley Digital launched Built in Broward, a year-long program partnership with General Assembly and the Broward County Library system, backed by a $123,000 Google.org grant through the American Library Association. It was one of 13 programs selected nationally for the Libraries Build Business initiative, and served 1,428 entrepreneurs and career-changers in its first year.
Earlier workshop series ran with Broward County Libraries and Venture Café Miami. Before the firm, programs the principal ran reached more than 4,000 entrepreneurs and students, and a coding game he built with NBCUniversal for Code.org's Hour of Code has reached over 3 million students.
Workshops and stages
06 Principal
Ryan Hall
Founder of the firm. Every engagement is led by me.
I work with owners whose business has outrun the way they run it.
Usually the company is fine on paper. Six figures to eight. A team of eight, or twenty, or well over a hundred. What has stopped working is the owner's position inside it. Every decision still routes through you. The managers you hired can't move their people. The growth plan you wrote a year ago is still in a drawer, and you can't fully explain why.
That last part is what I'm hired for. The plan was never the problem.
Before this firm I spent years inside Miami's startup ecosystem, running programs for NBCUniversal, the Knight Foundation, Capital One and Dell at what is now the Center for Black Innovation, producing Black Tech Week, and sitting across from founders before their exits and after. You learn what separates the ones who get out of their own way from the ones who never do.
Since 2019 I have put that to work for 186 clients: owners in professional services, the trades, healthcare and digital businesses, several of whom crossed seven figures during our engagement, and leadership teams at owner-led companies, including managers who came up on Fortune 500 floors.
Every engagement is led by me. It starts with a written diagnosis before the first session and produces a written record after every one. Nothing about you or your company appears anywhere without your consent.
Chevrolet, Fiverr, the University of Miami and the Pérez Art Museum have put me on their stages, and The Miami Foundation has funded my work directly. Those are easy to check.
The harder question is whether the thing stopping you is one I've seen before. After seven years of this, it almost always is.
07 Apply
Tell me the decision you've been sitting on.
A few lines about the business and what you want changed. I read every application myself. If it isn't a fit, I'll say so and point you somewhere better.
[email protected]
Form not loading? Email [email protected] with a few lines about the business.