1216 Consulting is a strategic advisory firm helping developers, investors, government agencies, and businesses transform complex opportunities into structured, investment-ready projects, strategic partnerships, and complex transactions.
Great projects rarely fail because of vision. They fail because of structure, capital strategy, execution planning, and access to the right partners. 1216 Consulting exists to close that gap.
We work across the full arc of a transaction — from first assessment to signed agreements — with six integrated service pillars.
Capital stack strategy, investment readiness, and financing roadmaps that make projects bankable — including public-private partnership structuring.
Strategic introductions to investors, lenders, EPC firms, buyers, sellers, and government partners — plus negotiation and go-to-market support.
Early-stage packaging, feasibility support, and sponsor team formation for destination, mixed-use, energy, logistics, and smart-city projects.
Commodity and trade facilitation, buyer/seller coordination, export-import finance strategy, and international market entry.
AI strategy and implementation, capital stack optimization and workflow automation, data-driven investor matching, and software-enabled business model design.
Investor memorandums, pitch decks, financial narratives, and term sheet preparation built to institutional standards.
Most opportunities arrive incomplete. A landowner with a major asset but no development team. A sponsor with a strong project but an unclear capital stack. A government initiative in need of credible private-sector partners. A technology company ready for global markets without a route in.
1216 Consulting was built for exactly this stage — the space between raw opportunity and executable transaction. We assess what exists, define what's missing, structure the path to capital, package the opportunity to institutional standards, and bring the right partners to the table.
We don't simply produce reports — we help clients build the structure, documentation, and partnerships needed to move projects toward successful execution.
We work where projects are complex, capital-intensive, multi-stakeholder — and worth doing right.
Every engagement is measured by one standard: does it meaningfully improve the client's ability to secure partners, attract capital, and execute successfully?
Clients work directly with senior leadership and a carefully selected network of financial, legal, technical, and industry specialists — not a rotating junior team.
We speak the language of institutional capital, government stakeholders, developers, and technology founders — and translate between them.
We build the capital stack, the partnership architecture, and the documentation before outreach begins — so opportunities arrive at the table ready to be taken seriously.
Six stages. Clear deliverables at each. No ambiguity about where your project stands.
We evaluate opportunities through the lens of institutional investors, lenders, and strategic partners: the asset or concept, the project sponsor, the market logic, the stakeholders, and the realistic path to capital.
You receiveA candid opportunity assessment with a readiness evaluation and a prioritized list of gaps to close.
We define how the opportunity should be framed — the narrative, the comparable landscape, the differentiation, and the specific category of capital and partners it should target.
You receiveA positioning framework and target-counterparty profile that shapes everything built afterward.
We design the financial and partnership architecture: sources and layers of capital, sequencing, public-sector participation where relevant, and the roles each partner must fill.
You receiveA capital stack strategy, financing roadmap, and partnership architecture ready to be documented.
We produce the institutional-grade materials the strategy requires — investment memorandum, deck, executive summary, financial narrative, and supporting frameworks.
You receiveA complete, presentation-ready deal package.
We conduct targeted outreach to matched counterparties — managing sequencing, confidentiality, and follow-through.
You receiveQualified counterpart engagement, structured introductions, and managed momentum.
We support negotiation, term development, and coordination among stakeholders and professional advisors as the transaction moves toward agreement.
You receiveSenior-level deal support through term sheets, cooperation agreements, and closing coordination.
The categories of work we take on. Specific client engagements remain confidential; the examples below are representative of engagement types, not public claims of closed transactions.
Packaging, capital strategy, and partner formation for destination-scale entertainment, hospitality, and mixed-use projects.
Capital stack design, institutional targeting, and multi-party structuring across jurisdictions.
Buyer/seller coordination and trade-finance pathways for recurring commodity and logistics programs.
Data-driven processes matching capital-raising opportunities with the investor categories most likely to engage.
Projects where venues, content, and immersive technology converge into investable, revenue-generating platforms.
Structuring redevelopment initiatives that align municipal objectives with private capital, including phased de-risking.
Engagement areas above are representative of the firm's advisory practice. They do not constitute claims of specific completed transactions, guarantees of outcome, or references to identifiable clients.
1216 Consulting advises founders, developers, investors, family offices, entertainment executives, financial institutions, multinational organizations, and public-sector leaders working on complex, high-impact initiatives.
Our work focuses on early-stage strategy, institutional positioning, strategic partnerships, cross-border coordination, and project finance for opportunities requiring sophisticated execution.
Our advisory experience spans infrastructure, real estate, international trade, technology, entertainment, project finance, and cross-border strategic initiatives involving private enterprise, financial institutions, and public-sector organizations.
The firm is frequently engaged during the earliest stages of complex opportunities, helping clients strengthen positioning, align stakeholders, and prepare projects for institutional capital and strategic partnerships.
1216 Consulting was founded by Phillip Johnson (President), a strategic advisor specializing in project finance, business development, infrastructure, real estate development, international trade, and emerging technologies.
The world does not lack capital or opportunity — it lacks the structural bridge between them. 1216 Consulting was built to stand in that gap.
Institutional investors review thousands of opportunities each year, but relatively few are presented in a manner that aligns with institutional expectations. Project sponsors hold genuine opportunities they cannot yet present in institutional language. Public-sector organizations seek private partners but struggle to package initiatives credibly. Every engagement is led directly by the founder, supported by a network of financial, legal, technical, and sector specialists assembled around the needs of each project.
Founder-led engagements from strategy through execution.
Experience working alongside entrepreneurs, financial institutions, multinational organizations, and public-sector stakeholders.
Coordinating complex initiatives involving multiple jurisdictions, partners, and sources of capital.
Helping clients move from opportunity to investment readiness, partnership development, and implementation.
An opportunity shown too early is an opportunity damaged. We prepare before we present.
The capital stack, the partnership architecture, and the governance model are not paperwork — they are the deal.
We design transactions so investors, sponsors, public partners, and operators each see their interests protected and advanced.
Strategy that doesn't survive contact with counterparties isn't strategy. We stay engaged through negotiation and closing.
Serious opportunities deserve a serious first discussion. Tell us where your project stands, and we'll respond with a candid view of the path forward.
Phillip Johnson
President
Phillip@1216consulting.com
(216) 303-4553
www.1216Consulting.com
1216 Consulting engages selectively. We take on opportunities where structure, strategy, and the right partnerships can genuinely change the outcome — and we tell you honestly when we're not the right fit. If your project is real, we'd like to hear about it.