How Hex Advisory Group is Flipping the Consulting Pyramid

Sarthak Brahma has launched Hex Advisory Group as an independent, bootstrapped entity designed to disrupt the traditional management consulting model's reliance on billable hours. By carving out specialized data benchmarking and sourcing divisions in 2022, the firm aims to eliminate the inherent conflict of interest between an advisor's profit motives and a client's desire for rapid results. This shift toward engagements that are explicitly designed to end represents a significant evolution in how procurement and IT sourcing advisory services are delivered to the corporate sector.

Sarthak Brahma founded Hex Advisory Group in 2022 after orchestrating a self-funded carve-out of specialized data benchmarking and sourcing divisions he had previously built within the industry. Brahma’s decision to move toward an independent, bootstrapped model was a direct response to the structural flaws he observed in traditional management consulting, where revenue is often tied to the length of an engagement. By removing the influence of outside investors and the pressure of utilization rates, Hex aims to provide unbiased advisory services that prioritize the client’s need for speed and efficiency over the firm’s billable hours.

The firm focuses on transforming corporate procurement and IT sourcing by leveraging hard data from executed contracts and the expertise of veteran negotiators. Brahma highlights an inherent friction in the traditional consulting model: the most profitable path for a firm—prolonging a project—is rarely the best outcome for the client. Hex addresses this by creating engagements that are explicitly designed to conclude quickly, measuring success by how rapidly a client can operate independently. This approach challenges the industry standard of building massive spreadsheets and slide decks that often lead to further, unnecessary engagements.

A key differentiator for Hex Advisory Group is its commitment to immediate knowledge transfer, which shifts intelligence from the advisor to the client’s internal teams. Brahma argues that the traditional model thrives on creating long-term dependency, whereas Hex functions as an accelerator that empowers clients to handle complex sourcing issues on their own. This strategy effectively inverts the consulting pyramid by focusing on high-level expertise and data-driven results rather than the army of junior analysts typical of larger firms, positioning the firm as a disruptive force in the Consulting & Advisory sector.