About Bifrost Advisors
John Connolly – Founder & Managing Director
Most advisors in this space have done one thing: run campaigns, or worked in strategy. John Connolly has done both – and built the business in between.
He started his career in institutional asset management at BNY Mellon and The Boston Company Asset Management, where he developed deep fluency in investment processes, capital markets, and the commercial dynamics of managing institutional client relationships.
He then built the North American division of a global financial marketing agency from effectively nothing – a modest five-figure in initial investment – to a multimillion-dollar business in under five years, personally driving over 70% of revenue and maintaining client retention below 10% churn in a highly competitive market. He was subsequently appointed global CEO, leading international expansion and operational improvement across multiple regions.
That combination – institutional financial services background, operator track record, P&L ownership – is what Bifrost is built on. It's also what most consultants in this space don't have.
Recognised with the Gramercy Institute Agency of the Year award as Global CEO. Regular keynote speaker and panelist across financial services and investment management. Published thought leader on commercial strategy, growth, and financial communications. MBA, Babson College. BS, Boston University.
Why this matters to you
The firms Bifrost works with – investment management marketing agencies, boutique asset managers, specialist financial services businesses, RIAs, and B2B FinTechs – are run by smart people who have built real things. They don't need a generalist consultant telling them what a good strategy looks like in theory.
They need someone who has sat where they're sitting. Who has made payroll, managed a P&L, lost a client, rebuilt a pipeline, and figured out why the business stopped growing.
That's the advantage. Pattern recognition built from doing this, not from advising on it.
How an engagement works
Every Bifrost engagement starts with a diagnostic – a structured assessment of where commercial value is being lost or left on the table. That diagnostic shapes everything that follows.
From there, the work is hands-on and time-bounded. We don't produce reports that live in a drawer. We work alongside leadership teams until the specific problem is fixed – whether that's revenue architecture, GTM strategy, pricing, pipeline, or operational alignment.
Engagements are scoped to the problem, not sold as open-ended retainers.
Who we work with – and who we don't
Bifrost works with a specific kind of firm. Financial services and specialist B2B businesses – typically $2M–$20M in revenue – that have built something credible and hit a ceiling they can't diagnose from the inside.
We're deliberately selective. Not every engagement is the right fit, and we'd rather tell you that upfront than take a project we can't move meaningfully.
If that sounds like your situation, the right next step is a direct conversation.