Management consultants can tell you which markets to enter. They cannot design the product that gets you there.
The top-tier strategy firms — the names every board recognizes — charge €250K–500K for engagements that typically run 8–16 weeks. The output is a strategy deck: market sizing, competitive positioning, go-to-market recommendations, organizational design. The analysis is rigorous, the slides are polished, and the insights are often genuinely valuable at the corporate strategy level.
The problem arises when a hardware company needs to act on that strategy. The consultant's deck says "enter the industrial IoT gateway market" or "expand into EV charging infrastructure" — but it contains no architecture, no BOM, no feasibility assessment, and no engineering roadmap. The strategy-to-execution gap is bridged internally, usually by pulling senior engineers off production work for 4–8 weeks to explore whether the recommended direction is technically viable.
For semiconductor vendors and distributors, the mismatch is even starker. A strategy engagement might recommend "increase design-in velocity in the automotive segment" — but the deliverable is a market analysis, not a set of tailored product concepts that a sales or FAE team can present to a prospect tomorrow. The gap between strategic recommendation and executable engineering action remains unfilled.
Model T operates at a different level of the value chain. It does not produce market sizing decks or organizational recommendations. It produces architecture-level product concepts — complete with system design, preliminary BOM, competitive analysis, and business case — tailored to a specific prospect's engineering roadmap. The cost: from €15K per pursuit. The timeline: 2–3 weeks.
The 18-step pipeline, executed by a cross-functional team backed by Promwad's 100+ engineers and 500+ completed projects, delivers the artifact that management consultants cannot: a tangible engineering proof-of-concept that demonstrates technical understanding and can serve as the basis for a real project. Every concept is reviewed by a domain expert before delivery.
At 20–67x lower cost than a strategy engagement, Model T fills the gap that consulting leaves open. It does not replace strategic thinking — it replaces the months of internal engineering work required to translate strategy into executable product concepts. And it does so with a pay-on-acceptance model: if the concept doesn't meet expectations, you don't pay.
Management consulting is the right choice when the question is "which markets should we enter?" or "how should we restructure our go-to-market?" These are corporate-level strategic decisions that require broad market analysis and organizational expertise. Model T is the right choice when the question is "what should we build for this specific prospect?" or "how do we demonstrate engineering credibility before the first meeting?" The two are not competitors — they operate at different levels of the value chain. But for hardware companies that have already identified their target markets and need to convert prospects into engineering engagements, Model T delivers 20–67x more value per euro spent than a strategy engagement. The consulting deck tells you where to go. Model T builds the vehicle that gets you there.
No. Model T does not perform market sizing, organizational design, or go-to-market strategy. It produces engineering-grade product concepts for specific prospects. If you already know your target market and need to convert prospects into projects, Model T is the right tool. If you need to decide which market to enter, consult a strategist first.
Model T delivers 2–3 architecture-level concepts per pursuit. You review the deliverables before any payment is due. If the concepts do not meet the agreed quality standard, you don't pay. This eliminates the risk of a €250K+ engagement that produces unusable recommendations.
Promwad has 100+ in-house engineers with 20 years of experience across FPGA/SoC design, embedded Linux, power electronics, Edge AI, and safety-critical systems (ISO 26262, IEC 62304). The team has delivered 500+ projects with a 4.8/5 Clutch rating and ISO 9001 certification. Strategy firms employ MBA-trained generalists who excel at analysis but cannot design a PCB.
Use the strategy firm for market selection and positioning, then feed the prioritized targets into Model T for concept engineering. The total cost (€250K strategy + €75K for 5 Model T pursuits) is still comparable to a single large consulting engagement — but produces both strategic direction and actionable engineering deliverables.