About

An operator perspective — not a consulting framework.

ClearBearing is led by Friedrich Wahnschaffe — a commercial operator who has held P&L responsibility at all three levels of the IT channel: vendor, distributor, and partner.

That perspective is rare. Most channel consultants come from one side — they understand vendors, or distribution, or the partner landscape. Friedrich has operated across all three, with direct revenue responsibility at each level.

In distribution, revenue volume and actual profitability often tell very different stories. The vendors that generate the most top-line revenue are not necessarily the ones that drive the most efficient margin. Understanding this disconnect — from the inside — is what separates structural channel advice from surface-level analysis.

The path

The early career was shaped by Oracle and Microsoft — first managing Oracle's CX SaaS territory across Germany and Switzerland from Amsterdam, then as a Customer Success Manager driving Azure adoption at Microsoft in Dublin. These roles built the vendor-side understanding of how cloud revenue is created, measured, and defended.

The next phase moved into distribution. At ALSO Group Germany, Friedrich led sales teams and Cloud Solution Architects, scaling Microsoft Cloud revenue significantly within two years across SaaS, IaaS, and PaaS. At KOMSA, he built the Cloud distribution business from the ground up, with full P&L responsibility.

In between, a role at The Henson Group — a US-based Microsoft partner — provided the partner-level perspective: building and scaling a new European territory with a lean, cross-border team.

What ClearBearing is — and what it is not

ClearBearing is an independent advisory practice — not a consulting firm and not a tool integrator. The core role is architectural: helping leadership teams see structural problems in their channel and portfolio model, and supporting the decisions that follow.

"I help decide whether and what should be built — and where to focus resources for maximum channel impact."

ClearBearing operates at the decision layer — between the board and the channel organisation. No enablement delivery, no vendor or tool selection. Clear scope, clear boundaries.

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