Section · About
A lever. A tradition. A commitment to place.
Palanca is a New Orleans technology practice grounded in three ideas — mechanical leverage, a tradition of deliberate support, and a commitment to the region we serve. Each one shapes how the business works.
The lever
Palanca is Spanish for lever. A lever is the simplest force multiplier in the physical world — a small input, applied at the right point, moves a large load. Archimedes famously said: give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world. That is the business model. Focused paid engagements are the small input. The organizations we support — and the community programs we fund — are the load.
The tradition
In the Jesuit Kairos retreat tradition, a palanca is a letter of support — written in advance, given at a critical moment, and kept afterward as a physical reminder that someone believed in the recipient. The word carries both meanings into the brand: mechanical leverage, and a deliberate, given, physical act of support for an organization doing meaningful work.
Every engagement closes with a Lift Report, delivered in person. It is the tangible version of the idea: focused work, finished, handed over as something the organization can hold onto.
The commitment
Palanca is built for Greater New Orleans organizations and delivered locally. The Spanish name reflects the city's multilingual history and the practice's deliberate rootedness in the region. Engagements begin with a conversation, typically in person, with the people whose organizations make a real difference for this area.
Values
Five commitments that don't move.
Show up
We go to where the work is. We sit at kitchen tables. We show up in neighborhoods that other consultants drive around. We keep appointments. We answer email.
Show our work
Every engagement ends with a Lift Report. No black boxes, no hand-waving. The craft speaks for itself, and the record proves it.
Respect the work already being done
Our aesthetic is grounded, not decorative. Our language is plain, not preachy. We show up to support the work the organization is already doing well — not to reinvent it on our terms.
End on time
Every paid engagement has a defined end. We do not run permanent retainers. Trust is built in endings, not in indefinite dependencies.
Lift the lifters
We serve the organizations that serve the community. The leverage is one step removed — which is what makes it leverage.
The founder
Mike Cousin.
Michael Cousin (Mike) is the founder of Palanca. Over twenty years in technology leadership: Director of National Sales at Opti-Com Manufacturing Network, CTO at Sunbelt Innovative Plastics, and disaster-recovery work following Hurricane Katrina. Helped scale a family manufacturing business from roughly $15M to $50M in revenue, implementing enterprise SaaS stacks (Microsoft Dynamics, Salesforce, MaintainX, Zenefits, Odoo) and overseeing $20M in machinery acquisition along the way.
BSE in Computer Engineering and MBA in Finance, Tulane University. Based in Greater New Orleans, Louisiana.
Palanca is the practice he built on top of that experience — a deliberate, small, well-placed lever for the organizations that need one.