Fractional cost, full impact.
Translation, not transformation.
We translate intent into execution.
If new business still runs through you, the missing piece is usually a business development function that runs without you.
Middle 3rd Solutions (M3S) is a revenue infrastructure firm delivering fractional Chief Business Development Officer (CBDO) services to privately held firms from $5M to $50M+. You already have the raw material: expertise, relationships, products, reputation. We design and develop the systems that turn it into revenue, and your team runs them.
Based in Orlando (Lake Nona), FL.
Senior judgment. Modern tools underneath.
Research, monitoring and AI systems extend what one senior operator can see and do. That’s how senior depth arrives at fractional cost. The technology runs underneath. You come to us for judgment.
// the thesis
Expertise doesn't scale. Infrastructure does.
Most growing companies have the expertise. What's missing is the business development (BD) function: it doesn't exist yet. Revenue depends on one or two key people. Partnerships happen by handshake. Pipeline lives in someone's head.
M3S lives in the Translation Layer, the space between leadership intent and frontline reality, and designs the BD function so it runs without depending on any one person.
// what we do
Three levels. Partner is the standard.
Senior business development leadership, delivered fractionally and sized to your stage.
The role goes by many names. A few you may have seen: fractional Head of Partnerships, Fractional Chief Partnership Officer, Strategic BD Advisor.
Strategic · Light touch
Counsel
A senior BD advisor on retainer, mostly in writing, with special projects added as they come up. For owners whose team runs the day-to-day and who want senior direction while the function takes shape.
Standard · Leads the function
Partner
M3S leads the design of your BD function while your team runs it, on a regular working rhythm with clear priorities.
By request · Time-boxed
Build
A focused push when a deadline means moving fast, then a step down to Partner or Counsel.
// the framework
Three pillars. One function. Fractionally delivered.
The CBDO function organizes around three pillars. We deliver each one fractionally, engineered for privately held firms, not Fortune 500.
Pillar 1
Growth Strategy
New vertical/geographic/category entry, partner-led GTM, launch planning, strategic positioning for growth motions.
- Business Development: New Markets
- Go-to-Market Strategy
Pillar 2
Partnerships
Channel partners, strategic alliances, co-sell motions, referral infrastructure, partner enablement, revenue attribution.
- Partnership Strategy & Ecosystem
- Partner Revenue Operations
Pillar 3
Corp Dev & M&A
Acquisition criteria, target evaluation, integration planning, exit readiness.
- Corporate Development
- Deal Architecture & Commercial Strategy
Beyond the three levels, we take on fixed-fee projects, organized by pillar, and strategic initiatives that cross pillars.
Research anchor: the three-pillar CBDO framework was formalized by Matt Blumberg and Ken Takahashi in Startup CXO (Wiley, 2021).
// how it works
Discovery. Assess. Design. Grow. Independence.
Every engagement (Counsel, Partner, or Build) follows the same five-stage arc. Translation, not transformation: we extend what already works and stay until the function reaches Independence.
The bookends
Stage 1 · The intro
Discovery
A first call and a free discovery session, to test fit and name the right next step. Paid work starts only when we both agree on it.
Stage 5 · The outcome
Independence
The function runs without us in the room. That’s the goal. From there, the relationship can continue as Counsel.
The working stages
Stage 2
Assess
The 20-Dimension BD Maturity Assessment. Scored across four categories, 100-point scale, calibrated to your stage. Produces a baseline you can measure against.
- Stakeholder interviews
- Scored baseline
- Prioritized roadmap
Stage 3
Design
Design and develop the specific revenue infrastructure the business is missing. Targeted at the lowest-scoring, highest-ROI dimensions. Your team executes; we lead and coach.
- Partnership architecture
- Pipeline & referral systems
- Deal structure & governance
Stage 4
Grow
The system runs, and revenue depends less on any one person. We re-score the dimensions in play at each quarterly review, until the function reaches Independence.
- Quarterly re-scores
- Function transfer & handoff
- Counsel (optional)
Two ways in
Every engagement begins with a free conversation about fit.
An ongoing engagement
Month one covers Assess and Design. Assess scores your business development function across 20 dimensions and ends with a prioritized roadmap. Design picks up from there, once we both know where you stand.
A fixed-fee first step
Not ready for an ongoing engagement? Try one piece of work on its own. The BD Maturity Diagnostic gives you a scored read of your business development function, its three biggest gaps and a 90-day plan. A Strategic Brief takes on one question you need answered now. One fee, paid up front.
// our promise
In your corner for the decade.
Most owners we meet have been burned by an advisor who was built to extract. So here are six promises you can hold us to, each one checkable, starting before you pay us a dollar.
01
You can end this at every renewal, safely.
Every engagement runs on a defined term you re-choose. And we design your BD function so it never depends on us to operate: documented, coached into your team, transferable on purpose. If the right move is a full-time hire, we'll help hire our own replacement. People stay longest where leaving is easiest. That's the design.
02
The relationship outlasts any engagement.
Between engagements, the door stays open. What you need from us will change as the business grows; we'll still be here.
03
We tell you when you need less of us.
If one focused piece of work answers your question, we won’t sell you an ongoing engagement. When your function can run on less, we’ll suggest a lighter level before you ask. And if you don't need us at all, we'll say so and point you to who you do need.
04
No pressure, at any point.
Your business will need different things at $30M than it does at $5M. We surface what's relevant when it's relevant, and stay out of your way the rest of the time. Renewal is your call, on your schedule: no countdowns, no manufactured deadlines.
05
Priced to be worth it. If it isn’t, we’ll say so.
You're paying for pattern recognition earned across the better part of two decades in business development.
06
We're not going anywhere.
Independently owned, with no outside investors, no fund timeline, and no exit to engineer. The measure of this firm is simple: ten years from now, you still call.
Six promises. Hold us to them.
// who it's for
Honest qualifiers.
This is for you if:
- Privately held firm, $5M to $50M+ in revenue, ready to systematize the BD function.
- Growth still runs through a handful of senior operators rather than through infrastructure.
- You've outgrown ad hoc partnerships, accidental referrals, and BD-by-handshake.
- Approaching an inflection point: senior BD hire, exit prep, M&A activity, or new market entry.
This is NOT for you if:
- You want a fractional sales leader, cold-outbound team, or SDR shop; that's fractional-CRO territory.
- You need marketing for a local, owner-run business. That’s Marketegy.
- You want a strategy firm that ships decks about your BD problem. M3S designs the function underneath.
- You're a Fortune 500 firm; we're engineered for the operator in the middle.
// the founder
Daniell Robertson, MBA
Founder & CBDO
"Dependency ends by design. The relationship stays."
He grew up in the professional football system in England. Signed schoolboy forms at 15, trained full-time in Birmingham City FC's academy from 16. Was 50-50 for a full professional contract and just missed out. Chose a soccer scholarship in America over part-time professional football in England. Full ride to Rollins College. Three-time All-American. Represented Great Britain in men's football at the 2007 Summer Universiade. Rollins College Athletics Hall of Fame (2016). A BA in Psychology and an MBA from Rollins and its Crummer Graduate School of Business. The pitch taught him how to compete under real pressure and what to do when the plan disappears.
The better part of two decades spent in BD, strategic partnerships & alliances, and go-to-market across domestic and international markets, from early-stage venture-backed startups to publicly traded technology companies. Experienced across the full lifecycle, from angel investing and advising at the earliest stages through to being part of a multi-hundred-million-dollar acquisition.
That range built something harder to hire than another pair of hands: knowing when the stated problem is only a symptom, and seeing the same structure inside businesses that look nothing alike. All of it taught him one thing: what separates businesses that scale from businesses that stall is the capacity to figure it out. He’s a husband and father of two daughters, and everything he builds passes through one filter: does this make our family stronger?
// the journal
Practical thinking you can put to work.
Short reads for owners of privately held firms from $5M to $50M+ on designing a business development function that runs without them.
// let's talk
See if there's a fit.
Leave your details and we’ll set up a free first conversation. If there’s a fit, we’ll point you to the right next step.
Daniell leads every engagement himself.
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Or reach out directly:
hello@middle3rd.com