Partner Retainer

Who the Partner Retainer is for

This is intentionally limited to a small number of clients. It’s a fit if:

• You’re a Founder, CEO, or C-level leader who values having a confidential, technically-minded partner to talk through the people side of strategy.

• Your environment is fast-moving — new products, new markets, AI initiatives, constant change — and you want a stable outside perspective on how your system is absorbing it.

• You’ve already done a Diagnostic or Design & Implementation engagement with Vibenometry (or equivalent work), and there is clear mutual trust and value.

What’s typically included

Retainers are customized, but often include some combination of:

• Regular executive sessions
  2–4 live sessions per month with you or your leadership team to work through current challenges, upcoming changes, decision designs, and sensitive situations.

• On-call sounding board
  As-needed async support (email, chat, or voice) for high-stakes decisions, people issues, and structural questions where you want a fast, grounded second perspective.

• Review of key artifacts
  Feedback on org changes, communication plans, incentive design, role definitions, and AI/technology rollout plans before they go live.

• Periodic pulse checks
  Light-touch conversations with selected leaders or operators to sense where friction, confusion, or drift is building before it turns into a crisis.

• Quarterly recalibration
  A more structured review every quarter: what’s changed, what’s working, what’s not, and where we should focus next.

We’ll define the exact mix based on what will actually be useful for you, not just what sounds good on paper.

How the retainer works

The goal of the Partner Retainer is to be high-impact and sustainable: deep enough to matter, lean enough not to create dependency.

At the outset we’ll define:

• Expected monthly time and availability.

• Preferred channels and rhythm (live calls, async, occasional in-person if needed).

• Boundaries around hiring/firing decisions, internal politics, and how information flows.

• What “a good use of this relationship” looks like from both sides.

Retainers are typically built on top of prior work together, so we’re not starting from scratch — we’re maintaining and evolving a system we already understand.

Pricing (example range)

Retainer pricing is built around access and scope: how often we talk, how involved you want Vibenometry to be in live initiatives, and how quickly your environment is changing.

For context, most Partner Retainers fall in the $20,000–$40,000 per month range, with an initial commitment of 3–6 months. More advisory-only setups (lighter access, fewer touchpoints) may sit below that; highly involved, high-velocity contexts may sit above.

We’ll define the rhythm, boundaries, and fee together so the retainer feels like a leveraged investment in your leadership capacity and organizational health — not an open-ended line item.

Retainer pricing is always tailored and agreed in writing after we’ve both seen enough to know there is a strong mutual fit.

When a retainer is not a fit

A Partner Retainer is probably not right if:

• What you really need is a full-time Head of People, COO, or internal executive.

• You expect a large consulting team to execute projects day-to-day.

• There is no appetite for honest, sometimes uncomfortable conversations at the top.

  
  

If you want a long-term partner to help you think about — and act on — the human side of your strategy: We’ll start with a conversation about your context, what you’re trying to build, and whether an ongoing partnership makes sense.