See where your decision is exposed, before you commit.
AI-powered scenario analysis. Human-led judgement.
We use AI-driven scenario analysis to test your decision before you commit the money, with every finding challenged and interpreted by a senior principal.
Fixed scope. Fixed price.
Three packages for the decisions most businesses face. Light on your time, built for real-world data, and delivered by a senior principal.
See packages →Scoped to your decision.
Capital, investment and multi-party decisions for boards, councils, iwi and larger organisations, tested across every dimension that matters.
Know what you’re buying, and what it costs.
Three clearly scoped packages for the decisions most businesses face. Light on your time, built for real-world data, and delivered by a senior principal. Every report shows the evidence behind each finding and how confident we are in it.
Three Ways Forward
Something needs to change. Which improvement should you tackle first?
- A snapshot of where the business stands
- Three improvement pathways, compared against doing nothing
- What to do first, and why
- Plain-English report and findings session
Stop the Hidden Leaks
Busy but not profitable? Find where time and money are being lost.
- A map of where delays, rework and waste occur
- Up to three fixes, each with a realistic savings range
- A scenario roadmap: quick wins, bigger changes, key risks
- Plain-English report and findings session
Grow With Confidence
Weighing a real investment? Test it before you commit the money.
- Up to three options, including staging or waiting
- Expected and downside scenarios for each
- Cash flow, break-even and the assumptions that matter most
- Recommendation and executive presentation
Scoped to your decision.
When a decision is too big, too complex or too contested for a package, we scope the work around it. One decision modelled in depth, or several connected ones, with an agreed investment before any work begins.
Decisions where the cost of being wrong is significant.
Boards, councils, Crown entities, iwi and larger organisations facing capital, investment, partnership or policy decisions that are hard to reverse.
- Capital and investment decisions measured in years or decades
- Public sector, council and iwi decisions with community consequences
- Multi-party and partnership decisions where power and interests differ
- Kaupapa Māori approach where Māori interests, data or Te Tiriti apply
- Ongoing monitoring once the decision is made
Know if you can absorb it
Whether your operation has the capacity to take this on, or whether it stretches you past the point of return.
See the real return
What it’s likely to cost, what it’s likely to make, and how much confidence you can actually put on those numbers.
Know the risks in advance
What could go wrong, how likely it is, how it shifts over time, and who ends up carrying it if it does.
Have alternatives ready
The other routes available, and the safeguards that protect your return, so one plan isn’t the only plan.
See who really decides
Where the decision-making power actually sits, who’s affected, and where the blind spots are.
Protect your people
What the change asks of the people who live with it: workload, capability, safety and morale.
Every custom engagement starts with a free Exposure Check, so we both know the decision and the fit before anything is scoped.
Discuss a custom engagement →Not sure what the real problem is?
Nine quick questions, about four minutes. See where your decision is exposed, what doing nothing might cost, and which next step fits. You’ll get an honest read on where the decision is solid and where it’s exposed. If it’s well set, we’ll tell you that too.
The kind of decisions we model.
Representative decisions from the sectors we focus on, and what the modelling tends to surface. Illustrative of the method, not specific client engagements. Select your industry for the full picture.
Expansion looks obvious. But will the volume still be there when the debt is?
A grower-packer weighing a multi-million-dollar coolstore and packhouse expansion, funded by two strong years and rising gold kiwifruit volumes.
Whether projected grower supply actually fills the new capacity, how the numbers hold if returns soften, and the labour and staging risks a confident forecast tends to gloss over.
The payout is strong. But does the deal still work when it isn’t?
A dairy operation considering a land purchase and added debt during a strong-payout year, to lift production and consolidate.
Whether the decision survives a softer payout and higher farm working expenses, the debt-servicing headroom under several scenarios, and the strain on people and infrastructure.
Prices are strong. But will the investment survive the turn?
A red meat business weighing investment in processing capacity and new export channels, with confidence high and schedules favourable.
How the investment performs when prices turn, the exposure across different market-access and FTA scenarios, and whether throughput justifies the capacity over the cycle, not just the peak.
The commercial case may work. But does it protect what the whenua must carry?
An iwi or Māori entity weighing a development or partnership decision on collective assets, where commercial return and kaitiakitanga both carry weight.
The commercial case and the cultural obligations tested as one: return and risk modelled alongside data sovereignty, long-horizon collective value and intergenerational impact.
The growth story looks good. But will the market actually pay for it?
An FMCG exporter deciding whether to commit capital to a new nutritional product and the plant capacity to make it.
Market-acceptance and demand scenarios, the payback under different exchange-rate and channel assumptions, and the regulatory and capacity risks that decide whether it’s a go.
The asset will last decades. Will the assumptions?
A generator or network business weighing an irreversible capital decision on generation, network or grid-transition assets measured in decades.
How the risk moves across the life of the asset, the return under different demand, regulatory and technology scenarios, and the consenting and community-consequence exposure.
Three things that rarely sit together.
Most advisers give you one of these. We bring all three to the same decision, which is what makes the answer both rigorous and usable. You work directly with a principal: no juniors, no subcontractors, no account managers.
AI-driven scenario analysis
Proprietary forecasting and scenario-analysis tools, built specifically for this work. They research, quantify and compare everything bearing on the decision, then generate and test multiple scenarios.
- Multiple modelled scenarios
- Evidence-weighted findings
- Confidence shown on every finding
Senior judgement
Decades of business and consulting experience directing the work. Every finding is challenged for weak evidence, alternative explanations and downside cases, then interpreted by the people who are accountable for it.
- Principal-led throughout
- Independent challenge before release
- No juniors, no handoffs
A wider view
Where the power sits, who’s affected, and what the change does to the people who have to live with it. The part of a decision that spreadsheets miss and implementations trip over.
- Decision visibility and power
- People, capability and wellbeing
- Kaupapa Māori where it applies
AI-driven scenario analysis. Independent challenge. Human-led judgement. You’re not buying software, and you’re not buying one consultant’s hunch. You’re getting modelled, evidence-weighted scenarios that senior people interpret into a decision you can act on. AI helps us see further and faster; the judgement stays human, and so does the accountability.
Senior judgement. Structured process. Clear commitment.
Explore possible futures. Test assumptions. Understand risks and consequences before committing. Every engagement starts with a straight conversation about the decision.
Exposure Check
A free 30-minute session with a principal. We look at where your decision is exposed and recommend the right next step, even if that is “you don’t need us”.
Choose a package
Fixed price, fixed scope. A short questionnaire and the data you already have. We check it is enough within two working days, before any analysis starts.
Analysis and challenge
Our AI-driven tools model the scenarios. A senior principal reviews, challenges and interprets every finding before anything reaches you.
Findings and next steps
A plain-English report and a findings session. If you want help making your chosen scenario happen, we will point you to the right people.
Two senior people. No handoffs.
Every engagement has a lead principal, and the work is divided by best fit between us. Based in Taranaki and Whanganui, working with organisations across New Zealand and Australia.
Steve Wilson
PrincipalMore than 30 years in consultancy, contracting and digital projects, including over 20 years as a senior business analyst across government and regulated industries. NZ AI Ambassador. Leads scenario modelling, evidence and analysis.
Danielle Hodson
Principal, Governance and AI AnalystLeads governance, stakeholder engagement, decision power and the impact of change on people, including kaupapa Māori considerations where they apply.
The straight answers.
The things people usually want to know before booking an Exposure Check.
So what actually is Pūtake Labs: software or consultants?
Consultants. You engage senior people, not a product. Our own AI-driven forecasting and scenario-analysis tools do much of the heavy modelling, and experienced principals challenge and interpret it. You never log into anything; you get a decision you can act on.
How does AI fit in?
AI-driven scenario analysis lets us research, model and compare options far faster than a traditional consultancy. Every finding is then reviewed, challenged and interpreted by a principal. AI helps us see further and faster; the judgement stays human, and so does the accountability.
What does it cost, and how do I pay?
Packages are fixed price: $3,500, $4,500 or $6,500 + GST. You pay 50% to start, 30% at a set milestone and 20% before your report is released. The Exposure Check is free and commits you to nothing. Larger or more complex work is quoted as a custom engagement.
Our data is a mess. Is that a problem?
No. Most businesses have patchy data. Tidying and reconciling it is included. Where data is missing we use public benchmarks and show wider ranges, and every finding carries a confidence rating. We check your data within two working days and tell you before work starts if it isn’t enough.
How much of my time will it take?
Between about 2.5 and 4 hours in total, depending on the package: a kickoff, one or two short conversations, and a findings session.
Do you implement the recommendations?
No. Pūtake Labs tests what could be. If you want help making a scenario happen, we can suggest providers, including Changeable, which is also run by one of our principals. You’re free to use anyone, and our findings never depend on who you choose.
Is my information safe?
Your data is used only for your engagement, shared through a private folder, handled under confidentiality, and deleted 90 days after delivery unless you book a follow-on package.
Test the decision before it gets expensive.
Book a free 30-minute Exposure Check with a principal. We’ll look at where your decision is exposed, and afterwards send a one-page summary with the next step we recommend.
Book your Exposure Check
Online, or in person in Taranaki or Whanganui. Choose who you’d like to meet.
Free, confidential, no obligation.