Working with Strata
Every Strata engagement is built the same way: an unsentimental read of your situation through all six layers, foresight to partnerships; a strategy the numbers can defend; and counsel that can be at the table while the work gets done.
Who we work with
The titles below differ. The bet is the same: a small place, taken seriously.
A special word for the champions: the people who love their place out loud and refuse to let it drift. They’re usually the first to call us, and the reason the work succeeds. If that’s you, you’re in the right place.
How an engagement works
It starts with a call not a scope of work. You talk, we ask, and we both find out whether we can help. If we can’t, we’ll say so, and point you somewhere useful. Together we figure out how we can be most impactful.
We take your situation through all six layers, from what the market will support to who must be at the table. It’s grounded in what the MoxieTowns research keeps showing, in the open, about how small towns are growing now.
Strategy. Specific, sequenced, and built to be executed by real people with real budgets, not a binder that retires to a shelf.
Advice doesn’t need to end at the deliverable. We can be at the table as the plan meets reality, because it always meets reality. Often that means collaborating with your DDA or downtown organization, because they’re the ones who carry the plan forward.
Ways to work with us
One day on one question, read through all six layers and answered in plain language you can act on.
We read the plans and studies you already own, find what deserves to go first, and show which efforts build on each other. Together we craft a realistic roadmap.
A high-level read of your town against up to three peers: where you stand, where you stand out, and what would move the needle. A MoxieTowns report, presented by Strata. For investors, the same lens, pointed at your target market.
A working collaborator for DDA boards, Main Street leads, and investors. Bring the idea, the block, or the deal; we bring market support and insight, a read of your competitive markets, and a seasoned voice to test thinking against. We’ve sat on your side of the table.
A working session that pushes what’s possible. Change is coming either way; the encounter is where a town decides its part in how. What to keep, because your charm and scale are the magic. What to reach for, because more is now possible than most towns have been told.
A structured read of your Main Street: what’s working, what is still to come, and what it will take to be ready for the people and investment looking your way. Everyone visits first, and a vibrant, healthy Main Street heart says: we are ready to welcome you.
Deliberate programs to identify, court, and land the people and businesses your town actually supports: storefronts, remote workers, and founders alike.
Vision to catalytic priorities, public-private partnership guidance and strategic structuring, including special situations, from data centers arriving next door to big-tract rezonings that have to be woven into town. We know who is knocking on your door.
A retained expert to call on: counsel on decisions as they come, a second set of eyes on complicated deals, the six-layer read when it matters.
A MoxieTowns series, offered by Strata: pick two or four pre-scoped sessions with branding, retail, and restaurant specialists. It’s the expertise Main Street businesses rarely get to hire alone.
Every way in carries the same level of expertise. Some just take a day.
The MoxieTowns advantage
MoxieTowns is Strata’s growing atlas of the most remarkable small towns, set on a community driven discovery platform: a town-by-town record of what each place offers, organized around the three questions. AI-powered exploration is on the way, so anyone will be able to ask for towns that meet their criteria. The data behind it runs deeper than the profiles, of more interest to an advisor than a visitor. Profiling each town means recording what it offers, what is still to come, and what has moved places like it forward. When Strata advises a town, all of that depth comes to the table, matched against the town’s vision. No other advisor arrives with it, because no one else built it.
How small towns get discovered: the qualities and stories that put a place on the map.
How local economies actually grow: main streets, small business, and investment that fits.
What makes a town worth calling home: housing, character, and community.
We built it because this is bigger than consulting. We’re all in for small towns and small places.
A word about fit