We help good people do hard things that matter

SidePorch is a senior advisory firm.

We work with leaders of companies, universities, foundations, and nonprofits at the moment the tools that got them here won’t carry them to what’s next.

Who we are

Since 2015, we have worked like a board chair and embedded like a chief of staff: outside perspective and network access, paired with the operational fluency to stay in the room and help build the thing.

We are not a traditional consulting firm.

There is no bench of junior analysts and no standard playbook.

We put small senior teams around a specific problem, and the people you meet are the people doing the work.

Selected work

Client names shared on request

An aerial imaging company, opening new markets

Venture-backed · Go-to-market and partnerships
We built and launched a go-to-market effort in commercial sectors beyond the company's first market. The introduction came from one of its investors.
More than $5M in qualified pipeline in six months, roughly doubling the near-term commercial funnel ahead of the next raise.
A fusion energy company, from a university lab to a company

Venture-backed · Company building and capital

A team of scientists needed to turn a lab breakthrough into a company. We worked with the founders on their ethos, business plan and investment strategy, then on KPIs, key leadership hires and global fundraising.
The company has since raised more than $4B.
A global hardware company, building a new business

Corporate · New business launch
The company wanted to move past selling devices into classrooms. The work began when its CEO connected us with the leader of the new division. We built an education business group anchored by university research partnerships.
A full business group serving higher education and K-12.
A large research university, competing for federal energy hubs

University · Federal funding strategy
We built the plans and business models behind the university's Department of Energy hub applications, including the community benefit plans. Our work there runs from 2018 to today.
Named collaborator on two federally backed regional hubs, one with $11.2M in federal funding.
An organization support digital access in rural communities

Nonprofit · Ethos and growth strategy
The organization runs community technology spaces across Arizona and in Ireland. We first worked with its team on the ethos behind the work, built on dignity, belonging, opportunity and agency. In 2026 we made that ethos the screen for expansion decisions and built the donor cultivation and fundraising materials that every new site depends on.
A growth strategy that screens every new site against the organization's own
A 150-year-old youth-serving network

Large NGO · Five-year strategy
We built its five-year strategic plan in 2020. In 2026, facing a changed social, political and economic reality, it hired us again to develop the next five-year strategy across 78 affiliates in the US and Canada.
Two consecutive five-year strategies.
Global mental health nonprofit defining leadership

Nonprofit · Strategy and measurement
At a point of growth, SidePorch built the strategic, measurement, and operations plans to support the incoming executive director.
A life sciences AI company, keeping operations running through a leadership gap

Venture-backed · Interim operations leadership
The company builds AI for life sciences, turning global regulatory and clinical data on medical devices and drugs into intelligence for medtech and pharma teams. When it needed someone to run operations on short notice, we stepped in as interim COO in 2022, held the seat through 2023 and still support its team today.
Four years alongside a life sciences AI company, from the interim COO seat to ongoing operations support.

Organizations We’ve Worked With

Annenberg Foundation Arizona State University CALSTART California Community Foundation CFK Africa Commonwealth Fusion Systems County of Santa Clara Democracy Fund East Carolina University Elemental Estabrook Carbon GE Ventures Girls Inc. Google.org Healthy Minds Innovations Hephaestus IDIA LACI LAEDC Liminal Collective Logitech Mayor's Fund for LA MiraDX Near Space Labs. Nyquist AI Photon Marine Phylagen Red Bull RMI Santa Clara University Shield T3 Sutter Health The Engine Thrive Center at Georgetown Tides Foundation USAID USC Usona Institute YMCA of LA

Key People

Sean Knierim, Ph.D.

Founder and Partner
Taught at the university and secondary level, then held executive roles at the Jeff Skoll Group and the MacArthur Foundation, ran a global multi-strategy fund of funds as CEO and portfolio manager, and helped build Logitech's human performance company. Founded SidePorch in 2015.
LinkedIn
Andy Yu Riemer

Partner
Works with leaders at inflection points in climate, health and education, from post-disaster recovery and energy transitions to nonprofit mergers. Before SidePorch, focused on mental health, intentional technology, and translating research into services for nonprofits and corporations. Played professional soccer.
LinkedIn
Jacqui Battaglia

Operations Manager
Joined SidePorch in 2019 after a career in hospitality operations. Co-founded the BBB Kids Fund, which supports 50 children through primary to higher education.
Anna Costello-Dougherty

Principal
Served in the Obama administration at the Department of Energy, the White House Domestic Policy Council and the Treasury. Worked at Mercer, as chief of staff at a climate tech advisory firm, and in portfolio operations at a climate venture fund.
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Doreen Lorenzo

Senior Advisor
Former president, frog design.
Has advised Fortune 100 companies on innovation, strategy and growth for decades. Co-founded the video insights firm Vidlet and founded the School of Design and Creative Technologies at the University of Texas at Austin.
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Joe Takai

Senior Advisor
Former Partner, McKinsey & Company
Led a global team focused on building new businesses and growth for major organizations. Previously Partner and Managing Director of BCG Digital Ventures, with director-level roles at Lucasfilm, Industrial Light + Magic, Warner Bros. and Digital Domain.
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Allan Marks

President of the Los Angeles Board of Water and Power Commissioners and Senior Fellow at Columbia’s Center on Sustainable Investment; advises companies, investors and governments internationally on energy and infrastructure.
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Andrea Foggy-Paxton

Former member of the Los Angeles County Board of Education; led partner strategy at The Broad Center and spent six years as an education program officer at the Gates Foundation.
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Dave Baiocchi, Ph.D.

Teaches at the RAND School of Public Policy, where he coordinated the redesign of its Ph.D. program, and has led AI adoption across several organizations and institutions.
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John Kobara

Founder and chief facilitator of Random Acts of Progress; former COO of the California Community Foundation and UCLA vice chancellor.
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Matt James

Former executive vice president of the Kaiser Family Foundation, where he helped launch Kaiser Health News; later worked to grow funding for health and climate change as a visiting scholar at the Packard Foundation.
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Ted White

Founder of Estabrook Investors, former board chair of RMI, and co-chair of the Advanced Energy Group at Fennemore; serves on the board of the Advanced Energy Institute.
LinkedIn