Take the deal you're negotiating right now. Find the part of the fee the client is pushing back on, and work out whether they're objecting to the amount or to what it's called. If it's the name, don't defend the number. Rename it and send it back.
End State Solutions used to bill by the hour and sometimes cleared under 40% gross margin. It runs 82% to 85% now. Charlton Evans got there by moving to fixed fees plus a fee that has different names for different clients.
October 6, 2026
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1 min read
End State gets aerospace clients through FAA approvals. Hourly was the old model, and Evans describes rebuilding invoices at the kitchen table with his family, hunting anomalies across 18 people's timesheets.
The new structure is a fixed monthly fee plus a payment that triggers on milestones or outcomes. Procurement balked at the second part. A success fee read as a bonus on top of a price they had already agreed to.
So he renamed it. A holdback: money inside the fee that End State doesn't collect until it delivers. Same total, same terms, different category.
Why it matters to you.
Most founders would have argued the economics. You build the case for why the fee is fair, you show the value, you offer to walk the numbers through one more time. It feels like the honest argument. Procurement wasn't arguing about the money. It was arguing about the category. A success fee is an extra, and an extra needs a new approval. A holdback is part of a price already agreed, sitting there until you earn it. Same cash, different line, and only one of them goes back up the chain. This works because his outcome is binary. The FAA either issues the approval or it doesn't, and both sides can see which. If your outcome is a judgment call, a holdback stops being a payment term and becomes a dispute.
“The customer didn't see it as an additional fee on top of a fixed fee. They saw it as, you're not going to bill us for this unless you show us that we can achieve a certain milestone or goal. - Charlton Evans, founder and CEO, End State Solutions”
Your one thing.
Take the deal you're negotiating right now. Find the part of the fee the client is pushing back on, and work out whether they're objecting to the amount or to what it's called. If it's the name, don't defend the number. Rename it and send it back.
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