Q&A

It’s not all that complicated. The two of us worked together for about three years, quit our jobs, and then decided to launch the company in 2010.

First, we wanted a real word. No “McHeda Strategy Group” for us. Second, we wanted an available, reasonable domain (this was still in the age of “.com” being the singular domain king). And then we really liked the meaning of Naissance – a birth, origination, or growth – for a new company.

Of course we made one important miscalculation: Naissance isn’t always intuitive to pronounce. We say it flatly – NAY-sense – but have sentenced ourselves to a career of answering the pronunciation question over and over.

Yes. It had to be that way at first, of course. But over the time the opportunity to materially grow out a staff just never made it to the top of our priorities. And we want to do work, not have our time consumed by the other aspects of managing a bigger organization.

It all starts with an unanswered question. After that, we enter the picture for one of three reasons:

• There is simply not enough time or in-house resources
• An experienced, competitive perspective will help the process
• A different point-of-view and original insight is needed

Our clients are smart, busy people with a lot to get done. We help make that happen.

Always financial services firms. Mostly asset managers but sometimes retirement plan providers, advice providers, or insurance companies.

One that enjoys (and currently misses) bars. And one that cares deeply about their work and doing it well while simultaneously not taking themselves too seriously.

53 and counting, with managers ranging from $5 million in assets to over $5 trillion. And just about 70% have hired us multiple times.

How does anyone summarize their pandemic experience? Our business has been fine, and our loved ones are ok. We’ve gone from seeing each other multiple times each week to seeing each zero times over months and months. But in the grand scheme we’ve been super lucky and appreciate that fact every day.