The next Comparative Advantage Isn’t Data — It’s Clarity
Zero Point Strategy helps growth-minded leaders make smarter, faster decisions through foresight, insight, and applied AI, transforming uncertainty into direction.
Jake Sherman
President & Founder
For over a decade, Jake Sherman has helped organizations — from global industrial manufacturers to Fortune 500 pharmaceutical brands — design and execute smarter growth strategies.
His work blends market foresight, innovation systems, and applied AI to help teams make faster, safer, and more strategic decisions.
ZPS combines the precision of a consulting firm with the agility and customization of an agency — giving you big-firm clarity, boutique speed, and AI-enabled foresight.
“Jake quickly immersed himself in our business, asked the right questions, and delivered strong, actionable output. He combined deep expertise with a professional, patient approach that made the engagement both productive and enjoyable.”
— Managing Director, Strategy & Innovation, The Society of Actuaries
trusted by leaders who want real results, not a slide deck
Experience
Growth, Foresight, & Innovation
Industrial manufacturing, consumer brands, B2B services, healthcare innovation
AI adoption, market expansion, brand strategy, and new product strategy
Executive facilitation & decision architecture
Frameworks
Zero Point Growth System™
Insight → Foresight → Action pathway
Zero Point Growth Map™ for 90‑day execution
Evidence‑led portfolio & ROI governance and best practices
Focus
Clarity as Competitive Advantage
De‑risked investment decisions developed in award-winning book, Risk-Free Innovation: 10 Ways to Manage Uncertainty (see below)
Faster leadership alignment
Practical AI usage as an amplifier and accelerator, not the product
“I had the pleasure of working with Jake on several innovation projects. He brings deep expertise, sharp strategy, and a contagious passion for bold ideas. Jake doesn’t just talk innovation — he makes it actionable.”
— Co-Founder & CEO, NIUMI & Former VP, Innovation, Alfa
Published Books
Risk-Free Innovation: 10 Ways to Manage Uncertainty
BookEnds Publishing (2023)
Risk is all around us. All organizations deal with risk on a daily basis. They deliver services that fall short. They create marketing initiatives that fail to resonate with customers. Their everyday actions are littered with risks, yet they continue to operate. Why should the risks related to innovation be treated differently?
Risk-Free Innovation dismantles the fear of risk-taking in innovation by providing a framework to help companies confidently manage uncertainty. Co-authors Jake Sherman and Tom Kuczmarski blend their combined expertise with virtual content to deliver their ten innovation risk reducers in a dynamic, insight-rich combination of text and augmented reality.
The authors have gathered the best kept secrets from 40 years of innovation experience and streamlined the information into a simple, ten step formula for readers to utilize to their advantage.
“What a great approach to the topic of risk - organized, direct, and process-oriented. You’re taking a lot of the risk out of dealing with risk!”
- Terry Savage, Nationally Syndicated Finance Expert
Rising together: the story of Chicago’s innovation ecosystem
BookEnds Publishing (2020)
What is an innovation ecosystem? It is a blueprint for the city of the future. An environment that not only supports innovation, but makes it inevitable. Over the last twenty years, Chicago has seen a revolutionary change in business culture and success, largely in part to the formation of an ecosystem of innovation and entrepreneurship. The city has become a top-ten global innovation hub, and leads the country in diversity of industry and foreign direct investment.
Rising Together shares the story of the people, organizations, and culture that led to this regional growth, as told through the lens of those who lived it. Combining insights from over thirty industry leaders and founders playing outsized roles in its development, the authors weave together a narrative of the formation, growth, and potential future of the Chicago innovation ecosystem.
“Rising Together artfully demonstrates how Chicago came to offer consistent national leadership in new ideas proving that this city s inclusive, collegial approach to innovation is here to stay.”
- J.B. Pritzker, Governor of Illinois