In this rapidly changing market landscape, businesses are constantly seeking innovative strategies to propel their top-line growth and boost their bottom line.
Amidst this landscape, Alec Hudnut, Managing Partner at Vici Partners, has emerged as a visionary leader, transforming the consulting industry with a refreshing approach to organizational effectiveness. With a focus on harnessing untapped potential within a company, Vici is unlocking changes within large corporations resulting in remarkable earnings growth.
Vici Partners, a boutique consulting firm renowned for its ability to help companies enhance revenue streams and reduce operational costs, is leading the charge in revolutionizing the consulting world. By prioritizing a more human-centered approach to organizational efficiency, the firm has crafted a unique business model and a critically important mission: to empower large corporations to achieve unprecedented growth and earnings.
Traditionally, consulting firms have relied on external market analysis and surface-level recommendations to drive business success. However, Vici’s visionary leadership has challenged this status quo, pushing for a deep introspection within organizations. Alec Hudnut recognizes that the key to unlocking sustainable growth lies within the company itself—its culture, its people, and its processes.
Earnings Growth
Vici Partners has carved out a distinctive niche for itself in the consulting market. While most firms offer a broad spectrum of services, Vici focuses exclusively on helping clients achieve earnings growth.
Moreover, Vici stands out for its payment model that aligns its fees to the results the firm delivers. This result-driven approach enables Vici Partners to focus on tangible outcomes and builds trust among its clients.
Alec points out that the company doesn’t have any junior consultants in its team. Instead, he has brought in team members with significant experience in running companies of different scales.
These measures have enabled Vici to drive impeccable results for its clients, typically improving their profitability by 25% within 2-3 years.
Entrepreneurial Mindset
Alec’s journey as a leader and entrepreneur traces back to his childhood. He recalls at the age of 11 making a unique one-page flyer. He went around his neighborhood grocery stores and noted down the prices for all the staple items. Using a mimeograph, he printed all the pricing information to create a grocery price list flyer.
Alec remembers, “I walked up and down the back staircase in our family’s NY apartment and sold the grocery price list flyer to the neighbors for $0.25. Since my grade school had paper and a mimeograph machine that the secretary let me use, the costs were zero.”
Although the venture didn’t attract many customers (other than his mother’s good friends), it laid the foundation for his future as a leader and a problem solver.
Since then, the Harvard Business School graduate, has accumulated more than 30 years of experience in executive level management and strategic consulting. During this time, he has worked with some great companies and firms. This includes names like Goldman, Sachs & Co., Idealab, Green Dot Bank, Evolution Robotics, Inc., and McKinsey & Co.
Today, as the Managing Partner at Vici Partners, Alec’s day-to-day role involves supporting the existing clients of the firm, bringing in new business, and continually working alongside other partners to refine the overall process of the company.
Learnings along the Way
Reflecting on his journey thus far, Alec acknowledges the fortune of starting his career at some of the most established companies and firms.
Along with his partners, Alec Hudnut has gathered invaluable knowledge and experience, and seeks to instill the same into his clients.
Three key perspectives underpin their approach to serving clients:
1/ Ask clients to treat the company as if it was your own money. Once you do that, you will make different decisions, and they will be better for the customer, the brand, and the long-term economic success of the business.
2/ When you are trying to get something done at your business, the buy-in for the idea is just as important as the quality of the business case. Spend just as much time building consensus as you do building the business case.
3/ Have a beginner’s mind. Imagine you were approaching the business with a clean sheet of paper, not knowing anything about the product, the customers, the industry. What questions would you ask? Don’t be afraid to be a beginner, we often find that the best way to refine a process, or improve a product, or support a customer comes from asking the most basic questions.
Staying Updated
As the business landscape evolves at a rapid pace, Vici Partners and Alec remain committed to providing their clients with the most relevant and impactful advice. To him, staying updated with the latest trends and technologies is crucial.
However, he cautions against hasty application without proper groundwork. Rather than adopting the latest technologies indiscriminately, Alec advises businesses to first simplify their processes, refine their offerings, and then judiciously apply technologies like generative AI.
Exeleon Shorts
One Book Entrepreneurs must read – Marie Kondo, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying-Up. And why that book? A tidy desk and tidy life equals a tidy business. Start with cleaning yourself up first. It will help your business.
One Productivity Tool / App that you use – The iPhone Files, app. So that I can have all the documents on my desktop and phone.
One Movie / Show to Suggest – Game of Thrones. Because if you think corporate politics is any less vicious, you are wrong. There are just fewer swords and dragons.
One Quote that Motivates you the most – “Peace is every step” by Thich Nhat Hahn. What does that mean? It means no matter how upset, anxious, or stressed you are, those feelings are just a choice. Choose to be something different in the next step and you can feel something different. Try it!
One Investment Advice that you follow – The most important variable in investing is time. The longer you can hold something, the less you will be forced to sell when you don’t want to. Long-term holds equal wealth.
Result-based Consultancy
Vici Partners has served clients across diverse industries and continents, providing tailored solutions to their unique challenges.
In recent years, the firm has witnessed significant demand from the technology sector, assisting growth-focused companies in achieving profitable revenue growth. Additionally, they have been instrumental in helping manufacturers expand into services and solutions, offsetting rising costs that are difficult to pass on entirely.
Looking ahead, Hudnut envisions a new era of consulting where clients can measure the results generated and pay consultants based on their impact. Vici Partners is spearheading this shift, offering transparent consulting services that directly improve operating income.
Alec mentions, “Gone are the days of the fancy presentation that can’t be easily implemented. Or the consultants vanishing just when the hard part begins – which is implementing the ideas.”
He continues, “We, at Vici Partners, are doing consulting that the clients can measure and that has meaningful impact on improving operating income.”
Alec Hudnut’s journey and Vici Partners’ innovative consulting approach serves as an inspiration to the industry. By prioritizing tangible results, simplicity, and continuous improvement, Vici Partners has set a new standard for consulting firms.
