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Why we publish a won't-do list

Most consultancies will take any work that pays. Publishing the work we decline is the clearest signal we can send about the work we do.

Mike Barrera  ·   ·  4 min read

On the Boutique page there is a section listing what Alegris will not do. No cargo. No MRO. No UX agency work. No generic AI center of excellence. No SLA-style managed services. People ask why a young firm would publish a list of revenue it is turning away. The answer is that the list is not turning away revenue. It is attracting the right kind.

A won't-do list is a confidence signal

A firm that will do anything is telling you it has no center. The work it does for you will be staffed by whoever is free, learning your problem on your budget. A firm that publishes the edges of its competence is telling you there is a center, that the people who show up will have done this specific thing before, and that it would rather decline than dilute.

Most consultancies dare not publish a won't-do list. That reluctance is the tell.

The buyers we want read the list and recognize themselves in the work we keep, not the work we decline. The buyers who would have been a bad fit self-select out before the first call. Both outcomes are good. The list does in public what a good qualification conversation does in private, just faster, and with more confidence.

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