Senior operating leadership for companies in motion.

We help growth-stage, investor-backed and established companies solve complex challenges across technology, operations, post-sales delivery, M&A integration, AI and cost optimization.

Engage us through a defined project, strategic advisory relationship, fractional leadership or interim executive support.

Start a conversation See the operating capabilities
Operating capabilities

Operating range at depth.

Some challenges fit a defined offering. Others cross functions and require an experienced operator who can diagnose the problem, align the organization and stay through execution.

Capability 01
M&A Integration
Pre-close assessment, Day 1 readiness, 100-day planning, governance, operating-model alignment and integration execution.
Capability 02
Technology Strategy & Optimization
Technology roadmaps, application portfolios, architecture, systems selection, technical delivery, vendor strategy and investment prioritization.
Capability 03
Post-Sales & Service Delivery
Customer onboarding, implementation, professional services, support, Customer Success and scalable service-delivery operations.
Capability 04
AI, Automation & Shared Services
Workflow redesign, AI-enabled operations, automation strategy and scalable shared-service models.
Capability 05
Operating-Model Transformation
Organizational design, governance, cross-functional alignment, process improvement and performance management.
Capability 06
Vendor & Cost Optimization
Spend rationalization, contract negotiation, tool consolidation and measurable cost reduction.
How they combine These capabilities are engaged individually or in combination - the operating challenge sets the shape. Most hard problems sit across two or three of them at once, which is where range moves faster than a set of single-function specialists.
Ways to engage

The operating challenge determines the structure.

Four ways to work together. The same senior operator in each - engaged at the depth and duration the work actually requires.

Engagement 01
Fractional Leadership
Embedded executive leadership for companies that need senior operating capability without a full-time hire.
Engagement 02
Interim Leadership
Experienced coverage during a transition, major initiative, leadership gap or period of rapid change.
Engagement 03
Strategic Advisory
Ongoing access to senior judgment across technology, operations, post-sales delivery, AI, integration and cost optimization.
Engagement 04
Defined Projects
Fixed-scope, outcome-oriented engagements - a technology assessment, integration plan, operating-model redesign or service-delivery transformation.
How we show up ▸ We step in or step back as the work requires - leading directly, working alongside the existing team, or advising at the executive and board level.
The practices

Two practices.
Broader operating capability.

Two productized offerings, each addressing a recurring value-creation need with defined methods, deliverables and economics. When the challenge extends beyond them, we engage through fractional leadership, interim leadership, strategic advisory or a purpose-built project.

More EBITDA. Faster integrations. Capability that stays.
Practice 01
M&A Integration
We build and help operate your M&A integration capability - pre-close assessment through Day 1, the first 100 days and beyond, with governance, a flexible playbook and reusable methods your team keeps.
Your team runs the next deal on its own
Practice 02
Technology Optimization
We turn the technology stack into an EBITDA lever - working both sides, cost and value, across five levers rather than one, and staying in the mix until the benefits land.
Through five levers, not one
Practice 01 · M&A Integration

We build and help operate
your M&A integration capability.

Whether it's a first acquisition or a fifteenth, integration is where the deal thesis becomes realized value - or quietly leaks away. We work with strategic acquirers, corporate development teams, founder-led and investor-backed companies, and platforms executing add-on strategies. Most integration work either airlifts an army of consultants who leave nothing behind, or hands over a deck and walks away. We direct the integration end-to-end - designing the plan, sequencing the work and driving execution - then leave an integration capability your team can reuse on every deal after.

Pillar 01
Flexible Playbook
Flexes the integration to each deal's profile - right-sized every time, not one-size-fits-all.
Pillar 02
Governance & Operating Model
The right people in the right place, with decision rights that hold under deal pressure. Your team is left empowered with the frameworks to execute independently after we roll off.
Pillar 03
Structured Planning & Execution
Nothing falls through - a complete framework, deliberately scoped to each deal's lever and modifiers.
Pillar 04
Cultural Integration
Change management that combines two cultures into a stronger one - communicating the why, getting ahead of the fear.
Additional capability ▸ A senior operator leads every engagement. When an engagement requires additional capabilities, we can assemble a right-sized team of experienced operators and specialists. Every additional resource is selected for the specific need and approved by the client, and contracts with you directly. No standing bench you pay for whether you use it or not.
AI Leverage ▸ A systematized method, run with reusable AI-enabled integration skills - so integrations are more repeatable, faster, and land more reliably, with less lift on your people. The value isn't fewer bodies; it's a process built to be predictable and to get better every deal.
How it works
Start here Pre-Close Assessment - delivered before you sign. Stress-test the integration assumptions in the deal model before terms lock.
1We lead the first integration
2Capability installed in flight
3Your team takes it forward
4Every deal after, faster
Why we're different
Institutional grade. A fraction of the cost.
Big Four · one integration
Heavy · one-size-fits-all
9990 · the capability - and it stays
A fraction
↑ Deal velocity
The capability stays. The next acquisition lands faster - no rebuild.
◇ You own it
Your team inherits the method and runs the next deal - we leave you stronger, not dependent.
Take it with you
M&A Integration overview (PDF) Pre-Close Assessment overview (PDF)
Practice 02 · Technology Optimization

We turn the technology stack into an EBITDA lever.

Most spend-optimization work bends the cost line and stops there. We work both sides - cost and value - through five levers, not one.

Three cost levers
Lever 01 · Cost
Waste Recovery
Pay only for what you actually use. Unused licenses, overage on the wrong plan, shadow IT - all surfaced from SSO, usage and invoice data triangulated.
Lever 02 · Cost
Negotiation
Benchmark contracts against the market and structure each negotiation for leverage. Where you sit versus industry pricing - and what's negotiable now, not just at renewal.
Lever 03 · Cost
Consolidation
Eliminate duplication and stop paying multiple times for overlapping capabilities. Highest yield in combined entities, where redundancy is structural.
Two value levers
Lever 04 · Value
Switch
Replace tools that do not perform. The right platform at a higher price can outperform the wrong platform at a lower price - so the decision is made on total outcome, not line-item cost.
Lever 05 · Value
AI-Native Replacement
Replace appropriate purchased software and manual workflows with AI-enabled capabilities tailored to the business. We design the replacement and direct the build. Cost savings plus top-line upside.
What we deliver
The plan, then making it happen. The Technology Optimization Blueprint - your multi-year operating document, led personally by a senior operator. Then we stay in the mix as you execute against it: leading the renegotiations, specifying the AI-native replacements, and directing the projects. No deck handed over and walked away from.
How it works
The Advisory Work Ongoing · Retainer + Gain-share
1NegotiateWe lead the negotiation of your deals - renewals, new buys, or mid-contract restructures.
2SprintWe scope and direct bounded execution projects - waste recovery, consolidation, switch projects, AI-native builds.
3RealizeDocumented EBITDA, quarterly readouts against the roadmap. Until benefits land, we're not done.
Inside the practice Depth flexes with the work - leading a negotiation or directing a build, partnering alongside your team as an accelerant, or staying at strategy altitude as your advisor. Whichever the moment needs.
Typical savings
Five levers. Defended on their own.
Waste Recovery
15-20%
Negotiation
10-25%
Consolidation
5-10%
Switch
ROI-driven, case-specific
AI-Native Replacement
Variable + top-line upside
Year 1 blended
15-35%
Engagement window + Advisory activation
Multi-year blended
25-40%
Plus value-lever upside from Switch and AI-Native Replacement, case-specific
Calibrated to peer and industry benchmarks at engagement scoping. Actual ranges depend on company size, current stack maturity, category mix, and how sub-optimized existing contracts are.
Two ways to engage
Variant A · Single company
Technology Optimization
A 12-week fixed-fee engagement that produces the Technology Optimization Blueprint and identifies the highest-value opportunities across cost, capability and execution. The default entry into the practice.
12 weeks · Fixed fee
Variant B · Multi-company or investor portfolio
Cross-Company Technology Optimization
Prioritized technology and cost optimization across multiple companies, business units or an investor portfolio. The approach establishes repeatable benchmarks and sequences the highest-value company-level engagements - grounded in real footholds so the plan is executable, not theoretical.
~6-12 weeks · Fixed fee
Take it with you
Technology Optimization overview (PDF)
The founder

Depth in each function.
Range across all of them.

Dave DeMarco, Founder of 9990 Partners
Dave DeMarco Founder · 9990 Partners

Thirty years in enterprise software, most of it running the functions rather than advising them. The arc alongside wasn't planned - each role added a function instead of repeating one - which is why an engagement here can cross the boundaries that normally require a handoff.

9990 Partners is Dave DeMarco. Where this site says “we,” it means the engagement: a senior operator leading it, plus a right-sized team of specialists when the work needs more than one person - selected for the need, approved by you.

BS Mechanical Engineering, UC Santa Barbara. Former Team USA Skeleton program athlete.
Selective engagements

Let's talk.

We work with a select number of companies at a time.

If you're navigating rapid growth, a major transformation, an acquisition, a technology decision, an operating-model challenge or a post-sales organization that needs to scale, start a conversation.

We engage through fractional or interim leadership, strategic advisory and defined project work.

Or send a note directly: contact@9990partners.com

Replies usually within one business day.