Stephenson Holdings Group LLC — Operations & Technology Consulting

01

About

We build the operational infrastructure that turns technical products into deployed, revenue-generating solutions.

Unlike traditional operations advisors who focus on efficiency and cost management, we create new revenue streams from zero. Most operations consultancies are either commercial leaders without technical depth or technical managers without P&L experience. We are both.

Our expertise is built on hands-on experience building operations from zero at Amazon Robotics, scaling global fleets at Shopify, and growing professional services revenue to $7M at Butlr — managing $300M+ in deployments across 20+ countries. We bring the operational playbook, the financial discipline, and the cross-cultural leadership to help companies accelerate timelines, maximize ROI, and mitigate risk.

01

Zero-to-One

Built multiple organizations and revenue streams from scratch, including professional services from $0 to $7M.

02

Global Scale

Deployed operations across 20+ countries and 3 continents, building vendor ecosystems from the ground up.

03

P&L Ownership

Own full P&L for services organizations, board reporting, pricing strategy, and margin targets.

02

Services

Business Strategy & Operational Excellence

Strategic planning and operational transformations
Gap analyses and remediation planning
Due diligence and technical review
Process optimization and lean implementation
Operational maturity assessment

Operations & Deployment Strategy

Zero-to-one build and launch planning
Vendor ecosystem development
Global rollout and multi-site deployment
Brownfield and live operations integration
Supply chain and logistics design

Program Management Office (PMO)

PMO design and governance frameworks
Multi-site program coordination
Critical path and risk management
Project portfolio management
Cross-functional stakeholder alignment

Professional Services & Revenue Operations

Pricing strategy and revenue recognition
Service monetization and packaging
Deal desk and quoting infrastructure
Margin expansion and cost optimization
Board reporting and financial governance

Fleet & Field Operations

Maintenance network design
SLA development and management
Fleet uptime optimization
Vendor-managed field service models
Preventative maintenance programs

Program Management & Strategic Advisory

Roadmap development and requirements decomposition
Agile transformation and execution coaching
Product-market fit and GTM alignment
Change management and org design
Executive stakeholder communication

03

Case Studies

Zero-to-One Butlr Technology

From $0 to 55% Revenue — Building Professional Services from Nothing

Situation

Butlr had no professional services function when we engaged. The company sold IoT sensors but relied on customers or internal teams to handle installation. There was no revenue stream for professional services, no partner network, no pricing model, and no delivery infrastructure.

Task

Build an entire professional services organization from zero — pricing, tools, partners, team, legal frameworks — and grow it into a revenue-generating engine.

Action

Converted the original team of Field Application Engineers into Project Managers, built a formal PMO, then evolved it to include an embedded DevOps organization. Established 3 strategic global partner networks, built automated quoting and deal desk tools, restructured legal frameworks, created installation QA tooling, and deployed remote fleet management capabilities.

Result

Grew professional services from $0 to ~$7MM annually in 18 months. Professional services now accounts for 55% of Butlr's total revenue. Mean Time to Revenue dropped from 4-6 months to 30 days. Built a scalable, repeatable delivery model across USA, Canada, EU, Australia, and Japan.

Scaling Shopify / 6 River Systems

Scaling 2X While Cutting Costs 20% and Improving Quality

Situation

Shopify was growing 2X year-over-year, deploying more robots to more fulfillment centers. Typically, growth means higher costs, longer repair times, and declining quality.

Task

Scale maintenance operations to support 2X growth across 11 countries while simultaneously reducing costs and improving quality.

Action

Led a strategic pivot from traveling SREs to a vendor-managed contractor model. Onboarded global break-fix and preventative maintenance vendors. Transitioned SREs to work-from-home roles managing contractors remotely. Built training and preventative maintenance programs. Shifted 50% of workload from reactive to proactive.

Result

Reduced Mean Time to Repair from 30-45 days to 9 days. Reduced costs 20% YoY. Maintained 96% fleet uptime. All achieved with only 1 direct employee. Recognized as Top 1% of High-Impact Employees across all of Shopify.

Crisis Prevention Shopify / 6 River Systems

Peak Season Mastery — Turning the Most Stressful Time Into a Non-Event

Situation

In ecommerce, the holiday shopping season ('Peak') is make-or-break for fulfillment companies. If automation breaks down during customers' most critical time, it's catastrophic. Competitors typically fly their entire leadership teams on-site to support operations during Peak.

Task

Ensure Peak ran smoothly across thousands of robots in 11 countries without the chaos, without flying teams on-site, and without any customer disruptions.

Action

Planned months ahead: completed all preventative maintenance and repairs the month before Peak. Coordinated on-call technicians for every customer during Peak. Staged critical components at strategic locations for next-day repairs. Built the vendor network that could respond quickly and efficiently.

Result

Peak ran so smoothly that the entire company noted how 'eerily' calm it was. When robots did break down, they were fixed quickly and efficiently through the vendor network. Zero disruptions during the most critical period.

Zero-to-One Amazon Robotics

Building Amazon's Robotics Playbook — From Kiva Acquisition to Global Scale

Situation

Amazon acquired Kiva Systems and needed to figure out how to deploy warehouse robotics at massive scale. There was no playbook, no methodology, no established process.

Task

Join the original cohort, build the first three Kiva robotic warehouses, and establish the processes, standards, and methodologies that Amazon Robotics would scale globally.

Action

Served as PM/Engineer at Amazon's R&D testing facility — received first shipments of new robots, hardware, and systems. Tested, provided feedback, and helped figure out deployment methodology. Progressed to Lead, consistently given the toughest projects. Eventually spearheaded international expansion to UK and Spain.

Result

Helped build the blueprint Amazon Robotics used to scale globally. Managed $300M+ in deployment projects across 3 countries. Led teams of 20-50 contractors with small core engineering teams. The processes built are still replicated across hundreds of facilities worldwide.

Scaling Amazon Robotics

Weekend-Only Brownfield Transitions — 50% Larger Building in 2 Days

Situation

Amazon needed to convert existing live warehouses into robotic facilities without significant downtime. Previous attempts took a full week with massive resources.

Task

Design a transition process that would shut down buildings for only a weekend regardless of size, while maintaining operational continuity.

Action

Developed a custom Microsoft Access database and application workflow to stage data for transition, enabling the software team to queue and switch all data during the physical transition. Eliminated the need for on-site scanning during the transition window. Designed the entire physical transition plan around a weekend shutdown.

Result

Transitioned a building 50% larger with fewer people in 2 days instead of a week. Eliminated the week-long shutdowns. Defined the process that became the standard for multiple other sites.

Zero-to-One Butlr Technology

Remote Installations as a Competitive Moat

Situation

All device configuration at Butlr was previously done on physical device touchscreens in the factory, creating a manufacturing bottleneck. Customers could only install on-site, and competitors also required physical presence.

Task

Eliminate the factory bottleneck and enable remote device configuration to unlock a new business model that competitors couldn't match.

Action

Developed and deployed a tool that moved device pairing from the factory floor to on-site or fully remote. Built fleet management tooling that allowed SSH access to devices, remote firmware updates, and remote configuration.

Result

Cleared a 4-month supply chain backlog overnight. Enabled remote installations, allowing customers to start small and scale. Transformed Butlr's competitive positioning and opened new go-to-market options.

04

What Clients Say

Brian has great business acumen, a rare quality in functional leaders at our current scope and size. Being able to recognize, differentiate, and communicate across the board on what we can do and what we should do in the future — is a great ability for great leadership.