Thirty Ink Case Study: Building Strategic Planning Infrastructure

Strategic Planning Infrastructure for a Purpose-Driven Business Collective

A Three-Year Partnership with ACV Consulting & Being Human  |  2023 - 2025

Published: October 6th, 2026.

This Thirty Ink case study explores how ACV Consulting and Being Human developed a strategic planning framework to strengthen coordination, accountability, financial planning, and long-range decision-making across a purpose-driven business collective.

The Challenge

Thirty Ink had built an impressive portfolio of businesses, media ventures, youth sports programs, and philanthropic initiatives - all united by a mission of creating equity, access, and opportunity. The ambition was real. The momentum was strong. But as the organization expanded across multiple business units, growth began to outpace the strategic planning infrastructure needed to support it.

Business units were operating with limited coordination. Long-range financial planning lacked consistency. And the time and brand equity of the individual at the center were being allocated reactively rather than strategically. ACV was invited to work on this in partnership with Being Human, a Bay Area executive coaching and brand strategy practices.

When rapid growth outpaces infrastructure, even successful celebrity-led enterprises can feel the strain. The work is building the systems that support sustainable growth.

The Solution: Building a Strategic Planning Framework

A Common Planning Framework

Over three years, ACV Consulting partnered with Being Human and Thirty Ink leadership to establish a common strategic planning framework across the collective's diverse portfolio. The engagement developed strategic planning templates, facilitated annual planning sessions, introduced quarterly business reviews, and strengthened financial forecasting tied explicitly to long-range goals.

Strategic Priority and Time Allocation

A structured approach to managing the organization's most critical and finite resource - the individual at the center - was developed to ensure time and priorities were allocated strategically.

Nonprofit Governance Alignment

Special attention was given throughout to Eat. Learn. Play., the foundation co-founded by Stephen and Ayesha Curry, with planning and governance support designed to maintain alignment with the foundation's mission.

The Results

The strategic planning framework gave Thirty Ink a more consistent structure for aligning priorities, accountability, financial planning, and long-range growth across the collective.

Key outputs delivered:

• Strategic plans established across major business units with documented goals and resource allocation.
  
  
• Quarterly leadership review processes creating a consistent accountability cadence across the collective.
  
  
• A structured approach to managing organizational priorities and time allocation.
  
  
• Multi-year revenue and valuation planning tied to long-range growth objectives.
  
  
• Updated planning and governance frameworks supporting Eat. Learn. Play.

Key Insight

For celebrity-led enterprises, infrastructure challenges can emerge before their effects become obvious. Early-stage organizations often rely heavily on relationships with trust and founder judgment - and that works beautifully until the organization reaches a scale where no single person can hold all the threads. Getting ahead of that inflection point is what allows an enterprise to grow beyond the individual at its center. A shared strategic planning framework helps make that transition possible by turning individual judgment into repeatable organizational processes.

Sustainable growth depends on decision-making frameworks that allow an organization to operate beyond any one individual.

ACV Consulting | Leadership. Innovation. Purpose.