WHY MENLO & OAK

We've done what we advise on.

Most advisory firms sell expertise they've read about. We sell experience we've lived — building brands, running operations, deploying AI, and growing businesses from the inside.

THE OPERATOR DIFFERENCE

Two kinds of advisory firms.

The market is full of smart people with great frameworks. The difference is whether they've tested those frameworks under real operating pressure — with real P&L consequences.

Traditional Consultants
Menlo & Oak

Advise on AI strategy from research papers and vendor demos. Recommend tools they've never deployed at scale.

Built and deployed AI inside a $240M retail operation — chatbots querying SAP, demand forecasting, automated workflows. Plus a 30+ module Marketing OS now in production.

Study retail trends from industry reports. Benchmark against public data. Deliver a strategy deck.

Run 158+ stores across 15+ brands. Open stores, close underperformers, integrate acquisitions, and manage omnichannel daily.

Offer brand strategy based on agency experience. Focus on creative campaigns and messaging frameworks.

Led brand communications for Latin America's largest airline across 6+ countries during Chapter 11 — one of the most complex brand challenges in regional history.

Advise on M&A from financial models. Build pitch decks. Facilitate introductions.

Built Chile's second-largest multi-brand retail group through a series of acquisitions — from deal sourcing to post-merger integration. We've been on the buy side.

Coach executives with frameworks from textbooks and certifications. Generic advice for generic problems.

Coach from lived experience — turnarounds, board pressure, scaling teams, Chapter 11 navigation, and building operations across two continents.

BY THE NUMBERS

The proof is in the operating history.

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OUR BACKGROUNDS

Not bios. Credentials.

The Team page has our bios. This is about what we've actually built, broken, fixed, and scaled.

Sebastian Gebhardt
CEO, Yaneken · Stanford GSB

CEO of Chile's second-largest multi-brand retail group. $240M in revenue, 158+ stores, 15 brands. Led the M&A roll-up strategy, digital transformation, and AI deployment across the entire group. Stanford GSB MBA, Arjay Miller Scholar. Built Andrea's 30+ module Marketing OS as a solo technical founder. Engineers and operates, doesn't just advise.

Andrea De Vivo
Ex Chief of Brand, LATAM Airlines

Born in Barranquilla, Colombia. Former Chief of Brand & Global Communications at LATAM Airlines — the largest airline in Latin America. Led brand strategy across 6+ countries during the airline's most transformative era, including Chapter 11. Recognized as one of LATAM's top 44 leaders out of 700. Now leads global marketing for Ronald McDonald House Charities. BBA, Universidad de Los Andes (Bogotá); Erasmus, Bocconi.

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