By using this website or buying from us, you accept these terms. The text, photographs, designs, and code on this site are our property unless we credit someone else. You may not republish them without our permission. Prices, stock, hours, and what's on offer can change without notice; we'll honour any order at the price displayed when you placed it. We reserve the right to refuse or cancel an order at our discretion (we'll refund you in full if we do). Anything we deliver carries the consumer-protection rights your jurisdiction provides; if a product or service fails to meet a reasonable standard, write to us and we'll repair, replace, or refund. We're not liable for damages outside of what was directly purchased. These terms are governed by the laws of the country where we are based.
Each engagement is scoped in a letter before work begins: the question, the cadence, the deliverables, the fee. Advice is prepared for the named client and the situation described at the time; it is not transferable to other companies or later circumstances, and forwarding a decision memo to a third party does not make Spruce Crestpath their adviser. Fees are invoiced monthly and payable within 30 days.
A free 30-minute call is a conversation, not consultancy. Nothing said in it constitutes advice you should act on without the analysis an engagement exists to provide.
Liability for any engagement is capped at the fees paid for it, except where law does not allow such a cap. Both sides keep the other's confidential information confidential for five years after the engagement ends. These terms are governed by Japanese law; the Nagoya District Court, Okazaki branch, has exclusive jurisdiction.
If a clause of these terms proves unenforceable, the remainder stand. Changes are posted on this page thirty days before taking effect.
Workshop dates are set in the engagement letter. A client may move a date once without charge with ten working days notice; later moves are charged at half the day rate, because a cleared diary has a cost. Marcus leads every engagement personally — substitution of another consultant never happens without prior written agreement, which is most of the reason engagements are capped in number.
Neither side is liable for delay caused by events genuinely outside its control; the affected obligation pauses, the fee clock pauses with it, and both sides talk within five working days about what happens next.
Frameworks and diagnostic models used in engagements remain the practice's intellectual property; clients may use them internally without limit, but repackaging them into a competing consulting offer is outside the licence. Articles in the notes section are general commentary — they carry the same 'education, not advice' status as a conference talk, and citing them in a board paper does not make this practice responsible for the decision.
Testimonials and named references appear only with written permission, reviewed annually so nobody stays a reference by inertia.
If any provision of these terms is held invalid, the remainder continue in full force. Headings aid navigation only. The governing version is the one published here, dated at the foot of the page.
Formal notices under an engagement go to the named contacts in the engagement letter, by email with confirmation of receipt. Day-to-day scheduling is not a formal notice and moves at conversation speed.
Before an engagement begins, current clients are checked for direct competitive conflict. Where two companies compete head-on, the practice serves one at a time in that arena — the second enquiry is told a conflict exists, though never who the conflict is. A waiting list is kept for conflicted enquiries, offered in order when the arena clears. Engagement papers are archived on the schedule the privacy policy sets out, and a closing memo lists every document returned or destroyed.