About ElevIT Ventures
Strategy and Planning. Grounded in Real Experience.
Clarity of objective. Honest assessment of where you are. A realistic plan to close the gap. That standard applies whether the challenge is an enterprise IT transformation or a 14,000-foot mountain expedition.
The Story Behind the Firm
ElevIT Ventures was founded after 25 years of leading enterprise technology from the inside, not advising on it from the outside.
The distinction matters. Sitting in the CIO chair at Yahoo, the questions that kept coming back weren't about frameworks or methodology. They were about reality: what actually works when you're the one accountable for the outcome? What does a technology roadmap look like when you have to execute it, not just present it? What does it cost to cut a third of an IT budget without cutting the capability the business depends on?
Those questions, and the experience of answering them under real pressure, are the foundation of every ElevIT Ventures engagement.
The outdoor side of the practice has the same origin. During active corporate delivery, the commute was 15 miles each way by bicycle through Los Angeles, Valley to Coast. The outdoors was never separate from the work. It was where the thinking happened, where the decisions clarified, and where the discipline that mattered most got built mile by mile on the trail.
After completing multi-day hike-a-bike expeditions through Kings Canyon, 14,000-foot mountain bike summits in Bishop, and 26-mile point-to-point Sierra traverses, the connection between outdoor planning and strategic advisory became impossible to ignore. Both require the same thing: intentional preparation, honest assessment of current conditions, and a realistic plan for the terrain ahead.
ElevIT Ventures exists because both deserve to be done well.
Ian C. Tervet - Founder & Managing Director
Ian brings 25 years of enterprise technology leadership to every ElevIT Ventures engagement, spanning Big 4 consulting, the CIO chair at Yahoo, and M&A technical due diligence for PE-backed transactions.
As CIO at Yahoo, he ran a global IT organization across an $85M budget and delivered over 30% in cost reduction within 12 months, without cutting the operational capability the business depended on. His M&A work spanned the full transaction lifecycle, and his AI deployment work includes a company-wide Glean and RAG rollout that generated measurable productivity improvement, alongside the cross-functional governance framework that let the organization adopt AI tools responsibly rather than reactively.
Before Yahoo, Ian built his foundation at Andersen Consulting, Capgemini, and Ernst & Young, working across technology strategy and transformation in media, technology, and financial services. That Big 4 foundation, layered on top of two decades of operating inside the organizations he now advises, is what makes the advice grounded in delivery reality rather than inherited frameworks.
His philosophy is simple: the best outcomes come from internal teams who own their initiatives, supported by outside expertise where it creates leverage, not where it extends the engagement. Every ElevIT Ventures project is scoped to a defined outcome and structured so your team can execute without us in the room when it's done.
Outside of client work, Ian logs 100+ miles a week on bike and trail across the LA basin and Eastern Sierras. The same preparation discipline that goes into a 26-mile point-to-point Sierra traverse or a multi-day hike-a-bike through Kings Canyon is the same discipline that goes into every client engagement. That's not a metaphor — it's the operating model.
What Makes this Different
Five things that distinguish an ElevIT Ventures IT advisory engagement from a typical consulting firm. And from generalist independents.
01 — Operator experience, not theoretical frameworks.
Every recommendation comes from someone who has led the implementation, not just advised on it. Yahoo CIO. Fifteen years of M&A activity from inside the organization. Company-wide AI deployment from pilot to full rollout. The advice you receive is grounded in what actually works when you're the one accountable for the outcome, not what looks good in a presentation. There is no junior team running your engagement while a senior partner reviews the deck. One senior operator. Your engagement.
02 — Fixed fees. Defined scope. No meter running.
All project engagements are structured as fixed-fee with a defined Statement of Work before work begins. You know exactly what you're getting and what it costs before work starts. No scope creep conversations. No surprise invoices at the end of the month. The Fractional CIO retainer is the one exception, a monthly retainer with a defined scope and a 3-month minimum.
03 — Fast delivery. Weeks, not quarters.
Most ElevIT Ventures project engagements deliver in 2 to 4 weeks from signed agreement, assuming reasonable client availability and access to key stakeholders. Technology advisory should move at the speed of your business decisions, not at the pace of a large firm managing multiple client teams. If you have a board meeting in six weeks or an M&A process closing in four, the timeline works around your reality.
04 — Strategy layer only. No implementation conflict.
ElevIT Ventures operates at the strategy and advisory layer, above implementation. The work we do defines what to build, what to buy, what to retire, and what to prioritize. The deliverable is a clear strategic recommendation, a prioritized roadmap, and the context your team needs to move into execution: an internal initiative, a vendor RFP, or selecting an implementation partner. We have no financial stake in which implementation path you choose because we are not an implementation firm. That independence is the point.
05 — Built to transfer, not retain.
Strategies are designed to be owned and driven by your internal team. Every engagement is structured to ensure recommendations translate into actionable next steps, preparing for a vendor RFP, selecting a technology partner, or equipping your team to own execution. When the engagement ends, the work continues without us. That is what success looks like.
Ready to Start?
Whether you're exploring IT strategy or planning an outdoor objective, reach out and tell us what you're working on.