Built for sponsors. Tuned to the trades.
Sheppard exists because the marketing function inside most PE-backed home services platforms is structurally under-built — and because most agencies and consultants aren't equipped to fix it. We bring sponsor-grade rigor and software-grade execution to a function that has historically had neither.
Founder & Principal
Chris Sheppard
Two decades inside marketing organizations — in-house leadership, agency partnerships, and performance frameworks built from the ground up. The throughline: every marketing problem worth solving is an operating problem first, and an operating problem is solved with software.
After watching too many platform investments compound the same marketing mistakes across portco after portco — disconnected attribution, vendor sprawl, brand erosion through roll-up — Chris built Sheppard to fix them. Not with a deck. With production systems and a working function.
Sheppard does not sell creative. We do not pitch retainers against unclear briefs. We do not chase impressions. We design the operating model, build the software underneath it, and run it inside the portco.
Based
Chicago, IL
Tenure
20+ years in marketing leadership
Reach
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Sheppard Consulting Group
Operating Principles
How we work, and what you can count on.
Sponsor-grade rigor.
Every recommendation is one we'd defend in a board pack — tied to EBITDA, sourced revenue, or operating cadence. If we wouldn't run it ourselves, we don't bring it.
One operating model, platform-wide.
We don't run portcos as silos. We run the platform. The dashboards, the playbooks, and the vendor map are one system.
Operator respect.
The CEOs and integrators running these portcos aren't the problem — they've been handed a marketing function nobody equipped them to run. We arm them, we don't second-guess them.
No vendor protection.
We're not an agency rolling up. We have no incentive to keep the wrong vendor in the chair. We will consolidate, cut, or recommend in-house — whatever the unit economics demand.
Exit-aware from Day 1.
Every system we build is designed for transfer. The next sponsor inherits dashboards that work, a vendor map that's clean, and a data room that supports the growth narrative.
We answer the phone.
We work with three to five platforms at a time, on purpose. We are not a high-volume agency — we're a small senior team that operates inside your business.
Frequently Asked