Your Trusted Advisor
I work with a small number of founders and CEOs at any one time. You make the call. I sit in the second chair beside you: close to the numbers, independent of the outcome, and honest about both.
Founder-led businesses of [£2m to £50m revenue], raising or stewarding [£1m to £20m]. Including social enterprises and purpose-led businesses raising impact investment.
Most founders arrive with something tangled. It usually sits in one of three places.
Scaling
People, structure, and leading a bigger business.
The business has outgrown the team, or the team has outgrown the structure. Growth looks like success, which makes it hard to say out loud.
Raising capital
Whether to raise, how much, from whom, and on what terms.
The raise is starting because the runway is shortening, not because the business is ready. Or the term sheets are on the table and the pitch isn't landing.
Stewardship
Leading after the raise. Investors, the board, and where the money goes.
A new board, new reporting, and pressure to spend money you'd rather protect.
One decision. The long run. The whole room.
Most clients start with a Decision Review. Whatever the route, the decision stays yours.
Decision Review
The numbers, the assumptions underneath them, and the people who feel they have a say. You leave with a clear, written recommendation.
Typically used for: whether to raise now or wait · choosing between term sheets · what the money should and shouldn't fund
Start with a Decision ReviewRetained Advisory
A senior, independent adviser beside you through the raise and the year after it. Issues surface earlier, and patterns become visible.
Typically used for: the founder-to-CEO shift · leading a new board · the decisions that keep coming back
Talk about Retained AdvisoryExecutive Facilitation
For the people who have to own the decision with you. How the group thinks together, how challenge is held, and how decisions get made under the new structure.
Rather work it through with other founders? The Mastermind is six months in one confidential room, with an Impact edition for purpose-led CEOs.
Numbers. Story. Decisions.
The numbers
I started in management accounts. I read yours the way an investor will.
The story
Years of presentation coaching, applied to the pitch and the board paper.
The decisions
The BRAVE Model as the lens. Bold, Resilient, Agile, Visionary and Ethical under pressure. See the frameworks →
- 1
Describe what you're carrying
A short form. No biography needed.
- 2
A diagnostic conversation
The real decision, what's in the way, and whether I'm the right fit.
- 3
A recommendation, not a proposal
One clear option. If I'm not the right person, I'll say so and point you to someone who is.
- 4
Work begins
Scope, timeline and investment agreed in writing. Confidential unless you say otherwise.
"David helped us understand our decision thinking, long before we presented to the boards. That clarity was crucial to our growth."
"David worked with our executive team helping us to scale not just the company but our leadership capacity"
Questions founders ask
Do you take a success fee?
No. I work on a fixed fee, so my advice is never tied to whether a deal closes. Where you need formal corporate finance support, I work alongside regulated advisers.
Will you introduce me to investors?
I'll help you build and work your target list. The relationships are yours to own.
Is it confidential?
Completely. Nothing leaves the room without your say-so.
Do you work with impact and social investment raises?
Yes. Social enterprises, charities and purpose-led businesses, across the same three areas.
If a capital decision is taking up the most space in your head,
describe what you're carrying and we'll go from there. No pitch, no proposal in advance. I reply within two to three days.