A reflection on a key milestone: What worked, what didn’t, and what’s next for rural telecom consulting
This past week marked five years since I launched Sunstone Associates. Five years since I stepped away from a long corporate career to build something of my own.
The goal was simple, at least on paper: create a rural telecom consulting firm that brings high-end strategic thinking to rural telecommunications companies and cooperatives, the organizations that are, frankly, the backbone of connectivity in small-town America.
I’ll be honest: there are moments when I look back on that decision and think, “What were you thinking?” There are many more moments where I think, “I can’t believe this actually works.” Both are true, and both are part of what makes entrepreneurship remarkable.
Five years feels like the right moment to pause and reflect, and to validate that the leap I took in 2021 wasn’t completely delusional. The evidence so far? Not perfect. But pretty good.
What Sunstone Was Built to Do
When I started Sunstone, I followed a piece of advice from a mentor: I wrote a Vivid Vision — an idea popularized by Cameron Herold’s book. It wasn’t a traditional business plan filled with spreadsheets (I had plenty of those, and most of them were wrong). Instead, it was a clear picture of what the firm would look like when it succeeded.
Looking back now, it’s striking how much of that vision has actually come to life.
“Ancient seafarers used a crystal called a ‘sunstone’ to help navigate in rough waters when the path was obscured with clouds, haze, and storms. Thus, like the navigators of old, we help the owners and leaders of rural telecommunications companies and cooperatives navigate industry change and complexities to create long-term growth and viability of their businesses in their communities.”
That metaphor wasn’t just a clever name — it became our purpose. Rural telcos and cooperatives serve communities that rarely get the same attention as big markets. Their leaders face real complexity: federal funding transformations, spectrum transitions, 5G decisions, new competitive threats.
They’re smart, committed people, but they’re often navigating without the kind of strategic support that large carriers take for granted. That’s the gap we exist to fill.
Here’s another piece of the vision that surprised me with how directly it came true:
“We expand on this awareness through our quarterly newsletter with cogent, data-driven analysis of topical issues which has become ‘must read’ material in the industry… our analysis is quoted in major trade journals and press articles further expanding our distribution.”
Check and check.
This newsletter started as an ambitious weekly email, which, in hindsight, was a big ask for people who already have full-time jobs. Over time, it found its rhythm.
Today, more than 1,000 subscribers read it every two weeks (or monthly via email), and our analysis has been cited in publications like FierceNetworks. It works because it doesn’t just report facts, it offers perspective. That’s the same thing clients come to us for.
Where Sunstone Stands Today
Five years in, we’re doing the work.
Sunstone has completed roughly 50 engagements — about 10 per year. That may sound modest, but in most corporate roles, you might touch that many projects over an entire career — and usually only see a small piece of each. Here, we own the full problem. That’s something I didn’t fully appreciate until I experienced it firsthand.
Those 50 rural telecom consulting engagements span the full range of high-impact decisions: major funding raises and grant programs, preparing companies for sale, turnarounds, transformative investments, and long-term strategic planning.
Along the way:
- We’ve helped clients secure more than $27M in incremental funding
- We’ve supported investors in making smart multi-million-dollar decisions
- We’ve helped leadership teams build plans they can actually execute, not just present
Our clients trust us because we’ve been on the inside. We’ve sat in the rooms where these decisions get made.
We don’t just deliver analysis. We tell clients what we actually think, even when the answer is uncomfortable. That combination of candor and practical experience is what differentiates a rural telecommunications strategy firm from a generic consulting practice in a market where many consultants are better at selling work than delivering it.
We’re also recognized more broadly than I imagined five years ago. Investors and larger industry players increasingly seek us out —for spectrum strategy, wireless technology decisions, and rural broadband consulting— because these are complex, high-stakes problems that require real expertise, not just a framework. We’ve built a reputation for cutting through the noise.
The long-term vision I’ve always had for Sunstone —a high-end strategic advisory firm that doesn’t just support clients, but helps transform them at pivotal moments— is still ahead of us. But five years in, we’re clearly on that path.
I’m very aware of how far there still is to go, but that’s what keeps this interesting.
5 Lessons from 5 Years Running a Telecom Strategy Firm
Starting a business will humble you in ways you don’t expect. Here are five lessons that apply broadly whether you’re running a rural telecom company, building a business, or navigating a major strategic decision.
1. Mindset and Identity Are the Foundation of Everything
This took me longer to learn than I’d like to admit. It’s easy to assume that success comes down to strategy and execution. And eventually, it does. But those things flow downstream from something more fundamental: how you see yourself.
When I stopped operating like a corporate executive who happened to own a firm, and started thinking and acting like an owner, my decisions became clearer: What I chose to invest in, what I said no to, how I approached risk. The identity came first. The behavior followed.
I see the same dynamic with clients. Many are navigating a generational transition — from a stable, regulated environment to a fast-moving, competitive one. That’s not just a strategy challenge. It’s an identity shift. The leaders who navigate it well have usually done that internal work first.
2. Time Is the One Resource You Can Never Raise More Of
Early on, I focused heavily on managing costs. That’s natural, capital is finite, and discipline matters. But that focus can obscure a more important constraint: time.
Time is finite in a way capital isn’t. You can raise more money. You cannot create more time. Once I started treating time as the primary resource —evaluating where I was getting the highest return and cutting what wasn’t— everything became sharper.
Habits changed. Obligations were reevaluated. Investments that compounded over time became the priority. The math is simple. The discipline is not.
3. You Have a Team from Day One — Build It on Purpose
There’s a moment most solo founders experience early on: the corporate infrastructure you relied on is gone, and your gaps become very clear, often uncomfortably so. For me, that was both humbling and educational. Mostly humbling.
The answer isn’t to fill every gap yourself. Instead, build the right team, even if that team includes vendors, subcontractors, coaches, and partners rather than full-time employees. Focus your time where your value is highest. Surround everything else with the right support.
I apply the same principle with clients. Organizational effectiveness isn’t about having every capability in-house. It’s about knowing where your competitive advantage lies and structuring everything else to support it.
4. Consistency Beats Intensity
One of the most humbling aspects of entrepreneurship is how long meaningful progress actually takes, and how easy it is to confuse activity with progress. Without the scale of a large organization, you can’t outspend or outmuscle challenges. What you can do is be more deliberate and more consistent than anyone else.
The things that have compounded the most for Sunstone —client relationships, industry reputation, this newsletter, referral networks —didn’t happen quickly. They were built through sustained, intentional effort over time.
Progress over perfection. Every time.
5. Find Advisors Who Have Actually Done What You’re Trying to Do
When you start something new, advice is everywhere. Much of it is well-intentioned. Some of it is genuinely useful. And a fair amount comes from people who have never done what you’re trying to do, which doesn’t stop them from having strong opinions.
The real challenge is volume. Too many inputs —often conflicting— can slow your thinking more than they help.
What made a difference for me was becoming more selective. I stopped relying on general entrepreneurship advice and started seeking out people who had specifically built what I was trying to build, and done it well.
When I found the right coaching relationship, things started to click. Not because the advice was better in theory, but because it was grounded in direct experience with the actual problem.
For clients, it’s the same principle. There’s no shortage of opinions about rural telecom strategy. The real question is: who has actually navigated your specific situation —the market dynamics, regulatory constraints, and capital realities— and delivered results?
What’s Next and How We’re Navigating It
Five years in, I’m more committed to this work than when I started.
The telecom industry is at a real inflection point. Federal funding programs, competitive pressure, spectrum decisions, and technology transitions are creating high-stakes choices that will shape companies for the next decade.
These aren’t challenges that can be solved with generic advice or polished slide decks. They require deep expertise, sound judgment, and a willingness to say what needs to be said.
That’s what Sunstone is built for. Whether that means helping a rural cooperative navigate its next chapter, advising an investor on a complex market, or working through spectrum strategy with a regional operator, the approach is the same: Understand the problem clearly. Build the right analysis. Make a decision you can execute.
To every client who trusted us with something that mattered — thank you.
To every partner, collaborator, and subcontractor who helped us deliver — thank you.
And to everyone who has supported us along the way — that has meant more than you know. This is a long game. And having people in your corner makes it a lot more rewarding to play.