Strategy and development at the intersection of business and government.
Full Value Potential is a strategic development practice in New York. We help developers, companies, and mission-driven organizations grow in competitive, regulated, and political markets, with the planning, the relationships, and the public and private funding strategy that move serious work forward.
Trusted by leaders across New York's public and private sectors
The problem
Standing out takes more than good work.
You operate in a market that is competitive, political, and full of noise, across both the public and private sectors. The executives, leaders, and officials who shape your outcomes are overwhelmed with information, priorities, and decisions.
Building your brand and advancing your project takes more than strong work. It takes strategic planning and development: trusted relationships with the people who matter, careful and tactical choices day to day, and a clear read on how you fit into the market around you. That's the work we do with you.
What we do
Strategy, development, and growth in one practice.
We work with you step by step and run these three areas in an iterative process: build the plan, confirm the capacity to deliver it, bring it to the right stakeholders, take in the feedback, and refine. Most engagements go around more than once.
Strategy
The plan and the case for it. Business and strategic planning, financial modeling, market and competitive analysis, positioning and narrative, organizational design, and board governance. This is also where the funding work is written: funding strategy, grant proposals, and funding proposals.
The deliverable is a clear plan, a real financial model, and proposals ready to move.
Development
The build: what turns a plan into something real. Operations and systems, team and partnership building, risk management, and project and program management that moves work through its milestones and approvals.
The deliverable is the structure and capacity to execute, the part funders and agencies trust.
Growth
The outreach: getting the plan in front of the right people in the right order. Stakeholder mapping and sequencing, government affairs and agency engagement, and building the brand champions and project advocates who carry your work forward.
The deliverable is relationships, advocates, and the momentum that turns a strong plan into funding and approvals.
The team behind your project
In alliance with Urban Strategies.
Full Value Potential works in alliance with Urban Strategies, a government affairs and strategic advisory firm led by Mike Klein. Together we cover both sides of the table, government and the private sector, and coordinate the strategy, funding, and relationships a project needs, so the work runs as one path instead of stalling between separate advisors.
Who we serve
Who we work with.
Real estate, development & AEC
Serving developers, owners, architects, engineers, contractors, and subcontractors.
Nonprofit & mission-driven organizations
Serving boards, executive directors, management, and development teams.
Energy
Serving renewable energy, energy storage, natural gas, utility, and infrastructure project leaders.
Environmental & circular economy
Serving sustainability and circular-economy ventures, and environmental solutions providers.
Regulated & emerging companies
Serving founders and operators in telecom, transportation, aviation, defense, and advanced manufacturing.
Technology
Serving founders, CEOs, entrepreneurs, and operators in AI, cybersecurity, gov-tech, prop-tech, ad-tech, health-tech, weapons detection, surveillance, and intelligence.
Small business
Serving owners and operators with a real business and the drive to grow it.
Lifestyle & consumer brands
Serving food, beverage, product, wellness, and hospitality brands.
Services
Ways to work with us.
The best way to work with us is an ongoing monthly relationship: a retained partner who keeps serving you as you develop and grow, with fees you can cancel at any time. If you'd rather start smaller, we also run a handful of fast, fixed-fee deliverables, scoped and quoted to your situation, as a low-commitment way to begin together.
Start on your own
Market Network Exchange.
We built our own intelligence platform for New York's public and civic markets. Search every RFP, award, appropriation, contract, and policy across the state, and see the offices and officials who decide, fund, and buy. When you want the strategy without a retainer, a Market Network Strategic Plan maps your organization against that landscape for a fixed fee: who funds work like yours, who already holds the contracts, which offices to engage, and the sequenced steps to take.
How we work
A weekly rhythm that compounds.
The weekly rhythm is for clients who want an ongoing partner. We meet on a regular cadence and work strategy, development, and growth operations together, reviewing weekly updates and prioritizing activities and direction in real time, in sync with market conditions and your goals.
Carve out the time
We set aside time on a regular basis to work on strategy and performance, not just in it.
Start with an assessment
We learn the true state of the business or project and the strategy as it stands today.
Focus and prioritize
We organize and rank practical, grounded action items, backed by strategy.
Follow up, week over week
We review strategy, funding, operations, and growth week after week, so the work moves.
The team
The people behind the work.
Sam Friedman
Sam Friedman brings a founder's instinct for growth and real fluency in how New York government works. An entrepreneur who has scaled an ice cream brand into Whole Foods and Sprouts nationwide, built a FinTech tool, advised Wall Street banks and foreign governments, and built food relief and workforce programs for his city. He learned through his experiences and in the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program. Now he advises companies and mission-driven organizations on strategy, development, and growth. When a client wants a partner to help them grow forward with confidence, they choose Sam, and when they need the right introduction, he usually knows the person to call.
Mike Klein
Mike Klein is president and CEO of Urban Strategies, Full Value Potential's government affairs alliance, with more than 30 years across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. He has served in senior roles for leaders including Governor Mario Cuomo and Congressman Charles Rangel, as deputy county executive in Nassau County, as a chief at NYC Parks and Recreation, and as a principal at the global law firm Dentons. Named to City & State's Power 100, he works across infrastructure, aviation, energy, real estate, transportation, and technology. For Full Value Potential clients, he brings relationships built across government over three decades and a strategist's read on the political and regulatory risks that shape a project's path.
Francesca Iodice
Francesca Iodice is chief of staff at Urban Strategies, where she runs client relations, project execution, and the stakeholder engagement that carries work forward. She came up through the New York State Senate, the New York City Council, and the nonprofit sector, and graduated magna cum laude from Baruch College's Marxe School of Public and International Affairs. She is sharp on New York regulatory and policy matters and on building the coalitions and partnerships a project depends on. For FVP clients, she keeps the moving parts coordinated and the right people at the table.
Christian DiPalermo
Christian DiPalermo leads CDD Strategies, a government affairs and strategic-planning firm, and is a founding partner at the land use and municipal law firm Marks DiPalermo Wilson. He works alongside Full Value Potential where energy, transportation, land use, and the law meet, bringing three decades at the intersection of politics, policy, and law and the relationships across New York that move this work forward.
Results
Leaders we've worked alongside.
I started working with Sam because I needed help in my business to find other opportunities to expand. Sam found out about an opportunity and connected us with a large organization heading a new initiative that led us into expanding our prepared meal company into medically tailored meals and found a channel for us to pursue with a new program launched by New York State.
We were facing a plateau in our revenue growth and needed fresh perspectives to move forward. Sam quickly identified areas we had overlooked, particularly around our sales approach, hiring strategy, and mindset. He offered creative, outside the box ideas that helped us reframe the way we were thinking about growth. Thanks to Sam's guidance, we began implementing new sales strategies and made more intentional hiring decisions. His introductions to key people also opened unexpected doors. Sam's ability to connect the dots and bring the right people together created meaningful momentum for our business.
I've known Sam since 2017, and in that time he has been an invaluable part of my business, Seriatim, Inc., particularly with digital transformation strategy. He helped me bring together and make sense of many disparate data points, ultimately allowing me to identify KPIs and hire the right vendors to translate them into a dashboard I could understand and actually use. Sam was truly instrumental in that process. He is an idea-generator and conversation-starter who sparks meaningful, big-picture thinking. Beyond his strategic expertise, Sam is a loyal friend, dependable, and a great listener, someone who can take a single idea and help you see it from multiple new angles. I have complete confidence that he can help any business owner or CEO implement ideas that create real impact. They would be fortunate to have him.
Sam is more than just a consultant. He's a powerhouse of insight, energy, and support. With a proven knack for community building and a sharp eye for identifying opportunities in new markets, Sam brings a fresh, cross-industry perspective that pushes ideas forward. He's the person who always shows up, generous with his time, relentless in his encouragement, and fully invested in your success. Simply put, Sam is your biggest cheerleader and a strategic asset every step of the way.
Sam's intellect and persistent approach is exactly why I choose to work with him. This combination gives us the ability to tackle significant challenges our clients face and create clear roadmaps for their success. What sets Sam apart is his ability to see value and potential that others miss completely. I recommend Sam's advisory services to any client who needs to think outside the box and discover possibilities they haven't considered. His unique perspective consistently reveals opportunities that make all the difference.
I have worked with more than 5,000 companies closely over my 15+ years working in international trade for the U.S. Department of Commerce covering every sector imaginable and I can say that I have met very few leaders as dedicated, knowledgeable and driven as Sam Friedman. Sam is that added secret sauce that every global business and innovative company needs to achieve success. Sam has unlimited potential to achieve greatness in his companies, but more importantly, well balanced with integrity and human compassion in the workplace. These are real qualities needed in our current times. It has been a pleasure working and learning from Sam Friedman. Bravo Sam!
Our work
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Take stock of where you stand
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Book your discovery call.
A focused 30-minute call with Sam. Mornings, Monday through Thursday. We'll find your highest-return next move and whether we're the right partner to get you there.