We Don’t Just Advise. We Build.

Most consultants either think strategically or build technically—we do both. Founded in January 2024 by Teal Bauer, we bring 20+ years of experience spanning startups, e-commerce, digital health, and strategic consulting.

We’ve written the code, architected the systems, led the teams, presented to boards, and gotten regulatory approvals. When we recommend a solution, it’s because we’ve implemented it ourselves. We don’t hand off strategy decks—we build alongside you.

The Story

Teal Bauer founded Starsong Consulting after 20+ years building digital products and leading technical organizations:

Independent & Startup Work (2006-2015) - E-commerce platforms, translation marketplaces, open source projects. Computational linguistics background (Universität des Saarlandes) applied to real products. Hands-on engineering, design, and early technical leadership.

McKinsey & Company (2016-2020) - One of the first hires at McKinsey Digital Labs, later Experience Design Director at McKinsey Design. Helped build the product engineering, design, and agile centers of excellence from the ground up. Strategic consulting at scale while staying hands-on with implementation.

Startup CTO/CPO Roles (2020-2024) - Multiple interim leadership positions including CTO/CPO for medical device companies. Scaled teams, built products, shipped code, and dealt with EU MDD/MDR and FDA compliance. Learned that execution without strategic thinking leads to technical debt and misalignment.

Starsong Consulting (2024-Present) - Bringing both worlds together. Strategy + Design + Engineering, integrated. Because transformation fails when strategy and execution live in different worlds.

What Makes Us Different

• 500%+ performance improvements delivered through hands-on optimization and architecture work
• McKinsey Design + Digital Labs experience - strategic consulting at scale, hands-on implementation
• Multiple CTO/CPO roles - actual C-level experience, not just advisory
• SaMD certification expertise - former interim CTO for medical device companies, EU MDD/MDR and FDA compliance
• Multilingual capabilities - Native English/German plus 5 other languages
• Academic background - Computational Linguistics (Universität des Saarlandes)

Leadership Development & Coaching

Through our partnership with Lena Reinhard, we address both the technical and human sides of digital transformation—helping leaders and teams get through complex changes with strategic clarity and cultural alignment.

Our Philosophy: No Bullshit, Maximum Impact

We believe in:

• Honest assessment - We tell you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear
• Practical solutions - Every recommendation comes with an implementation path
• Knowledge transfer - We build your capabilities, not dependencies
• Measurable outcomes - Success is defined by business impact, not activity
• Sustainable change - Solutions that survive leadership changes and market shifts

Strategic Partnerships

We work with partners who share our approach:

Philipps & Byrne - For technical due diligence, we partner with Philipps & Byrne, who bring 600+ assessments and €16B+ in funding guided. Their “No Bullshit” approach combined with Starsong Consulting’s strategic depth delivers honest, actionable insights for PE/VC investors.

Lena Reinhard - For organizational transformation and executive coaching, our partnership combines technical leadership expertise with organizational psychology. We address both the technical and human dimensions of change.

Deep Expertise Where It Matters

Healthcare & Digital Health

Former interim CTO/CPO for medical device companies. We handle EU MDD/MDR compliance, FDA requirements, and GDPR/HIPAA regulations while shipping products that work. Specialized SaMD and digital therapeutics expertise for European and US markets.

Technical Due Diligence

In collaboration with Philipps & Byrne, we provide investment-grade technical assessments. Our combined approach: P&B’s proven DD methodology + Starsong Consulting’s hands-on CTO experience and McKinsey strategic background.

Fractional CTO Leadership

Part-time technical leadership for growth-stage companies. We’ve been CTOs and CPOs—we know what it takes to scale teams, build architecture, and present to boards. Strategic thinking meets hands-on execution.

Platform Engineering & Scale

We’ve delivered 500%+ performance improvements through architecture work and optimization. From startup MVP to enterprise-grade platforms—systems we built and shipped, not just advised on.

Let’s Talk

Want to discuss how we can help? Get in touch.