We Acquired a Federal Consulting Firm at What Looked Like the Worst Possible Time. Here’s Why.

Four years into building a company around helping organizations navigate disaster and disruption, we got a chance to test our own advice.

It was early 2025, and the federal consulting market was in upheaval.

Administration change. Procurements slowing down or getting canceled. Agencies not knowing what the next day would bring.

And that’s when Kate and I decided to buy a federal consulting firm—HWC, the place where we both started our careers.

On paper, it wasn’t the obvious move.

Certainly not the kind of timing that leads to great sleep.

But you can’t work in crisis and disaster for long without recognizing a few patterns.

First: disruption always creates upside—for somebody.

Not evenly. Not immediately. But it’s there.

Sometimes it shows up as a rare opening. Sometimes as the chance to build back better after something breaks. We’ve spent years helping teams identify those opportunity spaces and act on them—so that when the dust settles, they’re not just intact, they’re better positioned than before.

Second: fear distorts timing—and most people let it.

We’ve worked with clients on everything from when to run a flood insurance ad (hint: during the storm) to how to dial down fear-based public health messaging so people can actually hear it.

Fear narrows focus. It pushes people to delay, to retreat, to wait for clarity that may never come.

But moments of disruption are also when people—and markets—are most open to change. If you want to help shape what comes next, you have to be willing to move while things still feel uncertain.

Third: not everyone gets the same shot.

Disruption reshuffles access, but it doesn’t distribute it evenly.

As a small, queer-, women-owned business, Kate and I are very aware of how rare it is to be in a position to step into an opportunity like this. The federal consulting world is still a relatively small circle. Programs like WOSB and 8(a) have made progress, but the share of dollars going to those businesses is still small.

So when we were offered the chance to acquire a company with the credentials, relationships, and contract vehicles to operate in that space—we took it seriously.

And we moved.

We talk a lot with our clients about “no regrets” decisions. Not perfect decisions. Not safe ones. The kind that still make sense even if things get worse before they get better. The kind that move you toward where you actually want to go.

This was one of those.

It got us into the federal space faster than we could’ve done on our own. It strengthened relationships we care about. It gave us a seat at tables we weren’t in before.

And maybe most importantly—it forced us to stop waiting for the market to settle and start engaging with it as it is.

We don’t know yet if it was the “right” decision.

Ask us in a couple years.

But we do know it changed how we show up. We’re more active. More open. More willing to take swings in a moment where it would be very easy to focus on protecting what used to be instead of building what comes next.

And right now, that matters. To all of us.

Because even in a messy, constrained environment, there is still work worth doing. There is still a version of the federal space on the other side of this—and it’s getting shaped right now.

We’re also trying, in whatever small way we can, to advocate for leaning back in—because the civil side of this work is going to need rebuilding, and that doesn’t happen on its own.

We’d rather be part of building the next version of public impact work than waiting to see what’s left.

So if you’re in a moment where things feel like they’re shrinking, or uncertain, or just plain off—

It’s worth asking:

What’s actually ending…

and what’s just changing shape?

Where are the openings that didn’t exist six months ago?

And what would it look like to move toward those, instead of away?

We don’t have it all figured out. Not even close.

But we’re grateful for the opportunity to be early to the future we want to be part of.

To learn more about this change, visit our FAQ. Reach out if you’d like to build with us.