Executive Advisory  ·  Tampa, Florida  ·  tinamou.ai

Strategic
counsel for
ambitious
enterprises.

Tinamou Advisory brings decades of enterprise transformation experience to the leaders, companies, and investors who are building what comes next in AI, data, SaaS, and workforce technology.

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The most consequential decisions a company makes — how to commercialize, how to scale, how to transform. These decisions deserve counsel built on real experience, not theory.

Tinamou

About

Experience that
compounds over
decades.

Tinamou Advisory was founded by Ian Sexton — an enterprise growth and strategy executive with a career spanning AI, data products, SaaS, workforce technology, retail technology, and financial services.

Ian has served as CEO, CRO, and senior strategy executive, repeatedly recruited to commercialize emerging technologies, lead organizational transformation, and build enterprise growth engines from startup through Fortune 500 scale.

Most recently, Ian led strategy for Instacart's enterprise Data Products business and served as CRO at Tickr, where he built AI-enabled revenue from zero to $3M+ in three months.

The name Tinamou carries a quiet personal meaning — and a philosophy. Build for the long term. Stay grounded. Adapt.

— Ian Sexton, Founder

Advisory Focus

Where Tinamou
adds the most value.

Tinamou Advisory works with a selective group of companies and investors at the intersection of enterprise growth, technology commercialization, and strategic transformation.

I

AI & Data Commercialization

Helping AI, data, and analytics companies translate technical capability into enterprise revenue: through pricing, positioning, GTM strategy, and commercial execution.

II

Enterprise GTM Transformation

Rebuilding go-to-market motion for companies that have outgrown their original sales model. From repositioning to pipeline architecture to partnership strategy.

III

SaaS Growth Strategy

Accelerating recurring revenue growth for enterprise SaaS businesses — from early commercial traction through mature, scalable operations.

IV

Workforce Technology

Deep operating expertise in HCM, workforce management, payroll, and labor optimization. Advising workforce tech companies on commercialization, positioning, and enterprise growth.

V

PE Operating Advisory

Supporting private equity firms and portfolio companies with commercial transformation, GTM professionalization, and revenue acceleration mandates.

VI

Strategic Partnerships

Building and scaling enterprise partnership ecosystems that generate durable, compounding revenue across technology, data, and distribution channels.

Track Record

Built across
industries.
Proven at scale.

Ian's experience spans the full arc of enterprise technology, from founding a pioneering hosted software business in 1993 to leading AI commercialization at Instacart in 2025. He has navigated five startup-to-exit journeys, giving him rare insight into what it takes to build, scale, and realize enterprise value.

Across four decades, he has built growth engines, led turnarounds, closed transformational agreements, and repeatedly been recruited to solve the hardest commercialization challenges in enterprise software.

30+
Years enterprise leadership
5
Startup to exit journeys
1000%
Revenue growth, year one at Stromberg
F500
Enterprise client experience

Selected Experience

B.Sc. Mathematics & Economics · University of Birmingham  ·  University of Liverpool

How We Work

Selective. Relationship-driven.
Focused on what matters.

Tinamou Advisory works with a small number of clients at any given time. That is intentional. Depth over breadth, always.

01

Discovery

Every engagement begins with a genuine conversation, understanding the business, the challenge, the people, and what success actually looks like.

02

Alignment

We define the scope together. Advisory retainers, project engagements, interim executive roles, or board advisory, structured for the situation, not a template.

03

Execution

Practical, experienced counsel delivered directly by Ian, not delegated to a junior team. Strategy that can be implemented, not just presented.

Insights

Perspectives on enterprise
growth and transformation.

Practical thinking on AI commercialization, GTM strategy, private equity, and the lessons of building and exiting technology businesses.

Startup to Exit

The exit is not the moment
you think it is.

I've been through five startup-to-exit journeys. The first one nearly broke me. The fifth one felt almost calm. Here's the most important thing I learned: the exit is not the moment you think it is. Everyone builds toward it. The term sheet, the close, the wire. It feels like the finish line. It isn't. It's a transition. And how you manage the 90 days after the deal closes matters more than almost anything that happened before it.

Read more

May 2026

AI & Data

Most AI companies don't have a technology problem. They have a commercialization problem.

Enterprise buyers don't buy AI. They buy outcomes. The companies winning right now are the ones who've stopped leading with their model architecture and started leading with the business problem they solve.

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May 2026

GTM Strategy

A great enterprise sales leader cannot create a market. They can only scale one.

I've built sales organizations from scratch six times. The number one mistake I see every time: hiring senior sales talent before finding the GTM motion. A great CRO cannot create a market. They can scale one.

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May 2026

PE & Investors

PE firms are good at financial engineering. The ones that outperform will master commercial engineering too.

The value creation playbook is well understood on the cost side. The revenue side is harder and less systematic. And that's where the real upside sits.

Read more

May 2026

Contact

Start with
a conversation.

Tinamou Advisory is selective about the engagements it takes on. If you're leading a company, investing in one, or navigating a significant strategic inflection: reach out. The right fit matters more than volume.

Email [email protected]
Phone 321.578.7321
Location Tampa, Florida  ·  Remote
LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/iansexton