Economic Development Consulting for Organizations That Want to Compete
Built on the site selector's playbook — because Devin has been on both sides of that table.
The site selector's perspective, applied to your community
Most EDO consultants tell you what a good community looks like from the outside. Devin has spent years inside the process — managing RFI responses, evaluating sites, and recommending locations to corporate clients investing $50M to $3B or more. He knows the eliminator checklist. He knows which data points site selectors actually use and which ones they quietly ignore. He knows what “shovel-ready” means when a real estate VP is asking hard questions versus what it means in a marketing brochure.
When we evaluate your sites, we run the same analysis a site selector would run against your community. When we build a target industry strategy, we work backward from the decision criteria that actually drive location choices. The result is advisory work that prepares you for the deal, not just the pitch.
These are the eliminators — fail one, and the rest of your pitch is irrelevant.
What We Do for Economic Development Organizations
Eight service areas. All principal-led. Each one designed to close the gap between your community's potential and how site selectors see it.
Certified Site & Economic Development Strategy
6–9 moStrengthens site readiness, sharpens strategic positioning, and gives your community a credible, defensible story for corporate prospects. We assess what you have, close the gaps that matter, and build the infrastructure — data, documentation, narrative — that moves your sites from consideration to finalist.
Target Industry Study
6–10 wkIdentifies which industries your assets are genuinely competitive to win — not just aspirationally attractive. We examine your labor market, infrastructure, incentive capacity, and cost profile against real location criteria, then tell you where to focus.
Regional Utilities Study
8–12 wkInfrastructure capacity assessment for utility ED teams and communities preparing for industrial growth. We evaluate power availability, substation capacity, dual-feed options, and grid readiness against projected demand — so you know what you can credibly offer a major power user before they ask.
Land Development Strategy
6–10 wkHighest and best use analysis, development constraints mapping, and a go-to-market approach for strategic parcels without a clear path forward. We position the site correctly for the right buyer — whether that is a regional distributor, light industrial user, or something more specialized.
Advisory Retainer
OngoingSenior-level access for EDOs managing active projects and live prospects. No junior handoffs, no waiting for a scheduled call. When a deal is moving and you need an objective read on your competitive position or negotiating posture, Devin is available.
Community Profile & Marketing
4–8 wkPositioning and marketing materials that reflect how site selectors actually evaluate communities — specific, data-backed, and honest about strengths without overselling gaps. Built for a skeptical, time-pressed audience.
Business Recruitment Support
Per eventOn-the-ground support for trade shows, FAM tours, and recruitment events. We help your team prepare, present, and follow up in ways that advance deals — not just generate contacts.
Workforce Assessment
4–8 wkLabor market analysis built for economic development pitches. Skill availability, wage benchmarks, commute sheds, and training pipeline — translated into the specific metrics site selectors and HR teams actually use.
How an Engagement Works
Discovery
A focused conversation about your current position, where your pipeline comes from, and where deals have slipped away. This is how we decide if an engagement makes sense — and what kind would move the needle.
Assessment
Direct analysis of your sites, strategic plan, target industries, workforce data, or infrastructure — from primary sources, using the same framework a site selector would apply to your community.
Recommendations
Specific, prioritized guidance tied to real decisions a prospect would make about your community. Every gap identified is one that costs you deals.
Implementation Support
For clients who want it: reviewing materials, advising on active prospects, pressure-testing your negotiating position, and adjusting strategy as conditions change.
The 400+ Acre Challenge
A major Midwest economic development corporation needed to transform a 400+ acre undeveloped site into a high-value, shovel-ready industrial asset. Our 4-phase strategic analysis identified EV Battery Component Manufacturing as the optimal use — with potential for $500M–$1B in capital investment and 1,000–2,000 high-wage jobs.
Why Economic Development Directors Hire Hyphen Strategies
The Inside Track
Devin has been the consultant advising corporations on which communities make the cut — running RFI responses, walking sites, and making final-round recommendations on projects worth billions. When he advises your EDO, that experience is in the room.
Principal-Led, Every Engagement
No bait-and-switch. The person you talk to in the proposal meeting is the person doing the work. For EDOs managing high-stakes projects and sensitive timelines, that consistency matters.
Objective by Design
Hyphen is paid by its clients — not by communities or utilities it recommends. That independence keeps the analysis honest. When we say your site is competitive, you can say so with confidence.
Common Questions
Our EDO already has a strategic plan. Why would we need this?
Most strategic plans are built for internal alignment and board presentations — not designed to hold up against the criteria a site selector uses. If your current plan doesn't tell you which industries your labor force and infrastructure are positioned to win, or what a site selector finds when they run due diligence on your flagship park, it isn't doing the work you need.
How is this different from a traditional economic development consulting firm?
Most EDO consultants approach your community from the public sector side. What is harder to find is someone who has also managed the private side: evaluating communities, responding to RFIs on behalf of companies, and recommending where a corporation should put its money. Devin has done both, on projects at the scale your major prospects are running.
We are a smaller community with a limited budget. Is Hyphen the right fit?
It depends on what you are trying to accomplish. Hyphen's work is most effective when a community has a real pipeline and a genuine competitive position to build on. If budget is a constraint, the Advisory Retainer or a focused Target Industry Study may be the right entry point. We are direct about fit during the discovery conversation.
What does a typical engagement timeline look like?
A Workforce Assessment or Target Industry Study can be completed in 6–10 weeks. A Certified Sites program or comprehensive strategic engagement runs 6–9 months. Advisory Retainer clients work with us on an ongoing monthly basis. Milestones and deliverables are defined upfront.
Start the Conversation
Preparing for a major recruitment push, working through site readiness issues, or trying to understand why deals that looked strong ended up somewhere else — this is the conversation worth having.
No pitch deck required.
Schedule a Discovery CallOr email [email protected]