Ingauge
Ingauge works inside your operation, not above it. We improve how work gets done, bring in technology and AI where they pay off, and put a number on every change.
Expertise
Involved at the working level. Present in the work, not reviewing it from a distance.
A tool for precise measurement. To measure something precisely.
To be inside the work and measure it, so the results are known and not assumed.
Benjamin “Benji” Varner · Founder
Benji is an operating executive with more than 20 years of operations, commercial and P&L leadership in technology, energy and industrial services. As Chief Operating Officer of Karpel Solutions, a private equity-backed software company serving prosecutors and government agencies in 35 states, he directed an operational restructuring that grew revenue from $20 million to $31 million, and doubled the client base to more than 800 organizations; throughout his tenure, Karpel maintained client retention north of 97 percent. He built the operating metrics behind the company’s sale to private equity, then led the divestiture of its managed services division in 90 days with no client attrition.
Before software, he spent seven years at Arch Resources managing a $40 to $80 million portfolio of utilities, in regulated and unregulated markets, and multi-national industrial producers. Earlier, at HPC Industrial, he ran a branch P&L anchored by refinery and chemical plant contracts, delivering 500,000 man-hours of work without an OSHA recordable and negotiating a union agreement with no work stoppages.
Benji served as a Sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps with 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines during Operation Iraqi Freedom. He holds an MBA and a master’s degree in organizational leadership, is a SHRM Certified Professional, and is certified in executive coaching and conflict mediation. He works from the St. Louis area.
Services
Each engagement is hands-on from the first week. We bring the tools, work with your team, and leave you with processes that hold. Work is scoped in phases with a fixed fee, so you know the cost before we start.
Process design, workflow repair and delivery management, run alongside your team until the new way of working holds without us.
After growth or acquisitions, most organizations run on more platforms than they need. We inventory what you have, decide what to keep and retire, plan the transition, and build the workflows that make the remaining systems work together.
Practical use cases, platform choices and rollout plans that account for the people who have to use them, including in regulated environments.
Operating metrics, KPIs and board reporting that show what changed and by how much. For owners preparing for a sale, diligence or a carve-out, we build the numbers buyers will ask for before they ask.
Approach
We learn how the work actually runs before we touch it: the systems, the handoffs, the reports, and the history behind them.
We put direct questions to the people who do the work and the people who depend on it, from the front line to the board.
We take the answers seriously. The team already knows where the friction is; our job is to hear it and not assume.
We set the baseline in numbers: volumes, cycle times, error rates, and cost, so progress is a figure and not an impression.
We work next to your team on the changes that matter, with owners named, decisions made in the room, and results measured against the baseline.
About
Ingauge is led by Benjamin “Benji” Varner, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and operating executive with more than 20 years of operations, commercial and P&L leadership, most recently as Chief Operating Officer of a private equity-backed software company.
His background spans military operations, industrial services, mining, and software, with a focus on compliance and complexity. Benji’s expertise leverages technology and leadership to align operational execution with financial performance.
Contact
Send a few lines about the problem. I'll reply with how I would approach it, what we would measure, and a phased proposal with a fixed fee.