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Keel

Keel

Keel

A calm, exact brand and site for a boutique strategy firm that sells senior attention, not headcount.

Landed

· Strategy consulting

· 2026

· Brand, Web

Visit the live site

Keel project cover: brand and site

The brief

Keel is twelve people: three partners and nine consultants who left Bain and PE operating teams to do strategy work for $20M–$500M companies. Their old site looked like every consulting site, with stock handshakes, “holistic transformation” and a contact form that went nowhere.

Their buyers are CEOs and PE operating partners with one large decision on the table. Dana put the bar simply: “Our decks are careful. The site should look as careful as our decks, and answer the questions a CEO asks in the first meeting.”

What I did

Three legs, in the order we flew them.

Weeks 1–3

Graphite and steel

We tested three directions and picked the quietest: graphite grounds, near-white type and a cool steel accent instead of the usual consulting gold. It works in light and dark mode, because partners read on phones at 11 pm and in boardrooms at 8 am.

Keel: Graphite and steel

Weeks 1–3

Graphite and steel

We tested three directions and picked the quietest: graphite grounds, near-white type and a cool steel accent instead of the usual consulting gold. It works in light and dark mode, because partners read on phones at 11 pm and in boardrooms at 8 am.

Keel: Graphite and steel

Weeks 4–6

Every service answered on one page

Each service became a "one-page answer": the question a CEO brings, what Keel does in which week, what they get at the end, and a sample memo. The memos are designed as real documents, exported at a fixed size, so they look like what a client actually receives.

Keel: Every service answered on one page

Weeks 4–6

Every service answered on one page

Each service became a "one-page answer": the question a CEO brings, what Keel does in which week, what they get at the end, and a sample memo. The memos are designed as real documents, exported at a fixed size, so they look like what a client actually receives.

Keel: Every service answered on one page

Weeks 7–10

A results ledger, not a logo wall

Instead of logos, the homepage shows a ledger: client type, the decision, one metric before and after, and the weeks it took. Six case studies sit in a CMS with the same fields, so the partners add new ones in a form, not a layout.

Keel: A results ledger, not a logo wall

Weeks 7–10

A results ledger, not a logo wall

Instead of logos, the homepage shows a ledger: client type, the decision, one metric before and after, and the weeks it took. Six case studies sit in a CMS with the same fields, so the partners add new ones in a form, not a layout.

Keel: A results ledger, not a logo wall

Outcome

Keel launched in October, ahead of the year-end planning cycle. Partners now send the one-page answer for the relevant service before a first call, and prospects arrive having read it. Calls are shorter and start further along.

Past results, not a promise.

After launchPast results
First calls bookedfrom the site, first quarter
Shorter first meetingspartners' estimate

“Clients tell us the site reads like our work. That's the highest compliment a firm like ours can get, and it's why our first meetings now start with the real problem.”

Dana Whitlock

Dana Whitlock

Founding partner, Keel Partners

Up next

A clean, product-like site for a short-form video studio, where the videos bring all the color.

See next project

Playframe project cover: site with a built-in player

Up next

A clean, product-like site for a short-form video studio, where the videos bring all the color.

See next project

Playframe project cover: site with a built-in player

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