About
One accountable partner. A bench behind him.
Big firms hand you to a junior team. Solo consultants are capped at one person's toolkit. We built FTX to sit between the two.
How engagements run
Accountability stays in one place.
Engagements are led by Christopher R. Schaber, founder of FTX Solutions. He runs the first call, sets the direction, and remains answerable for the outcome from beginning to end.
Where a problem calls for expertise beyond one person's range — a specialist in a discipline, an industry, or a transaction — we bring that person in. They are engaged for the specific problem and they leave when it is solved. What doesn't change is who answers for the result. You are never handed off, and you are never limited to what one person happens to know.
Background
Chris founded a software company in 1991, grew it from two people to more than forty, and sold it in 2006 — then stayed two years to run it through the integration, the part most owners never plan for. He went on to serve as a vice president and board member at the acquiring company, a business north of $100M in revenue, through its own sale to private equity.
Since then he has spent eleven years with Queen City Angels on screening committees and due diligence teams, and more than a decade as Entrepreneur in Residence at the University of Cincinnati's commercialization accelerator. He holds an MBA in Information Systems and a BA in Operations Management from the University of Cincinnati. The short version: he has been the owner making these decisions, the executive implementing them, and the investor judging them from the other side of the table.
Where we work
FTX Solutions is based in the Cincinnati area and works with businesses across the country. We're on site when being in the room moves the work forward, and remote when it doesn't — the engagement is built around the problem, not the map.
How we're paid
Every engagement is scoped before work begins, and the fee structure is chosen to fit it — a fixed fee where the work is well defined, hourly or a retainer where it isn't. Whatever the structure, you'll know it and agree to it before anything starts. And the risk-free week is exactly that — one problem, worked across a week, and no invoice if you don't believe it delivered.
The short version
Owner, executive, and investor — he has sat in all three chairs.
Most advisors have occupied one of those chairs. The difference shows up in the first week.
Next step
Have a conversation before you decide anything.
Thirty minutes, no cost, no obligation, and an honest answer about whether this is a fit.