Business consulting that fixes what spreadsheets can't
We work with owner-managed firms turning over £2m to £40m. Most come to us after a growth stall, a margin slide, or a founder who wants out within five years. We diagnose, we build a plan, we stay until the numbers move.
Book a 30-minute diagnostic call
How we work
Four weeks from handshake to action plan
Week 1: Financial diagnostic
We pull apart your last three years of management accounts. Gross margin by product line, overhead creep, cash conversion cycle. You get a written report, not a slide deck full of clip art.
Week 2: Operational interviews
We talk to your department heads one-on-one. The goal is to map where decisions actually get made versus where the org chart says they should. Bottlenecks show up fast.
Week 3: Strategy draft
We write a 12-month action plan with quarterly targets, named owners for each initiative, and a budget impact estimate. Nothing vague. Every line item has a deadline and a cost.
Week 4: Board presentation and go/no-go
We present to your board or partners. If you want us to stay for implementation, we scope that separately. If you want to run it in-house, we hand over everything and step back.
What we do
Five services, each priced per project
Margin recovery
When gross profit has drifted below where it should sit, we trace the leak. Common culprits: uncosted scope creep on contracts, supplier terms that haven't been renegotiated in four years, or pricing models pegged to a cost base that no longer exists. Typical engagement length is eight weeks.
Organisational restructuring
Growing from 30 to 80 staff often breaks the management layer that worked at 30. We redesign reporting lines, write role specifications, and coach newly promoted managers through their first 90 days. We have done this for logistics firms, SaaS companies, and a regional food manufacturer.
Exit and succession planning
Founders who want to sell in three to five years need the business to run without them first. We build that independence: documented processes, a leadership team that can present to buyers, clean financials that survive due diligence. Our last two clients in this area achieved sale prices 1.4x and 1.7x above initial broker valuations.
Cash-flow modelling
We build 13-week rolling cash-flow models tied to your accounting software. You see exactly when shortfalls will hit and what levers to pull: debtor chasing, stock reduction, or a facility drawdown. The model stays with you after we leave.
Board-level mentoring
Some founders don't need a full consulting project. They need someone to sit in on monthly board meetings, challenge assumptions, and hold the team accountable to its own targets. We offer this as a retained service, billed quarterly.
Proof
Outcomes from recent engagements
Midlands-based packaging distributor, £18m revenue
Gross margin rose from 22% to 33% over nine months after we renegotiated three key supplier contracts and eliminated two product lines that were losing money on every order.
SaaS company, founder exit after 14 years
The initial broker valuation was £3.6m. After 18 months of preparation with us, the founder sold for £6.2m to a PE-backed trade buyer. The difference came from reducing founder dependency and cleaning up recurring revenue reporting.
Regional construction firm, £9m turnover
Debtor days dropped from 68 to 37 after we restructured invoicing triggers and introduced staged payment milestones on contracts over £50k. Cash headroom doubled within one quarter.
Questions we hear often
Before you pick up the phone
Most of our clients turn over between £2m and £40m. Below £2m the economics of a consulting engagement rarely make sense. Above £40m you probably have an in-house strategy team already, though we do take on specific projects for larger firms when the scope is narrow.
A four-week diagnostic typically runs between £8,000 and £14,000 depending on complexity. Implementation support is scoped and priced separately. We quote fixed fees, not day rates, so you know the total before we start.
Both. The diagnostic phase usually requires two to three days on-site for interviews and observation. After that, most of the analytical work happens remotely, with weekly video calls and a shared project tracker you can see in real time.
Manufacturing, distribution, professional services, SaaS, construction, and food production make up the bulk of our project history. The analytical frameworks transfer well across sectors. Where industry-specific knowledge matters, such as regulatory compliance, we bring in a specialist associate.
At the end of the diagnostic phase, you decide whether to proceed. If the report does not give you at least three actionable changes you had not already identified, we refund half the diagnostic fee. We have offered this since 2019 and have paid it out once.
Get in touch
Book a 30-minute diagnostic call
Tell us a little about the business and what prompted you to look for help. We will reply within one working day with available times.
377 Jenkins Row, Ondrickaley, England, ET88 2LW