At 20 people the founder holds the whole business in their head. At 60 there is a Head of Operations, an ERP and a CRM, and still the same questions arrive by email every morning. At 150 there is an investor who wants a view the systems do not give. In every case the first project is small: one problem, one output, one owner.
Who it is for
Growing businesses, owner-led or investor-backed, in the UK, the Gulf, Europe and the US. Usually the person I talk to is the founder, the Managing Director, the COO or the Head of Operations. Sometimes it is a CFO who has just arrived and wants to see how the business runs before deciding what to change.
The common thread is this: the systems are in, and a lot still gets done by hand around them. Orders that arrive by email. A board pack built each month from six spreadsheets. Customer questions answered one at a time. Records nobody can search.
I am the right person when you want someone who will work out what matters, build the first piece, and hand it over so your team runs it.
Timing
Most first calls come within a few months of a change. The business has moved and the way it runs has not caught up.
If this sounds like you, book a call and let's chat.
Where I help
The problem
Older systems that work apart, glued together by people doing the same manual steps every day.
First project
One process across two systems, with the repetitive steps between them automated and a person checking the exceptions.
The problem
Orders, quotes and stock questions arrive by email and someone re-keys them into the system.
First project
One inbox, one agent that reads the request, checks the system and drafts the reply for a person to send.
The problem
You pay for several systems and still have to ask five people what is going on.
First project
A single management view of work in progress, what is stuck and what has gone quiet.
As group chief financial officer I built the platform that let an industrial holding group see its results across shipping, commodities, real estate and asset management in one place.
The problem
The month-end pack is built by hand from spreadsheets, and the board asks for a view the pack does not give.
First project
One reporting pack rebuilt end to end, consolidated across entities, budget against actual.
For the same group I set up central reporting and financial control, and cut the time needed to produce the budgets by around 80 per cent.
The problem
The same questions reach customer service every day, and the reasons behind returns sit in free text nobody reads.
First project
A first-response agent on one question type, a person approving the first few hundred, and a tag on every return reason.
The problem
Contracts, inspection records or case files hold the answer in text, and finding it means reading the lot.
First project
One document set, one fixed checklist, every answer with the record behind it.
I have negotiated loan documentation, hedging agreements and holding structures, and read the long documents that come with them.
Proof
Systems and processes I designed and built, described honestly. Where a client cannot be named they are not named, and where a figure has not been confirmed it is marked rather than estimated.
Buyers announcing themselves in public, and nobody with time to read it all.
Public buying signals, caught daily, judged for real intent and delivered as named people with a reason to call.
A budget built by hand across several companies.
A single place where an industrial holding group could see its results, build its budgets and track what it was actually spending.
A portfolio too large for one person to hold in their head.
A risk and allocation review for a Forbes 100 principal, balancing what the operating businesses needed against what the financial portfolio could earn.
How it works
30 minutes. You describe the problem that keeps coming back. I say whether it is worth fixing and what I would do first. No charge.
Usually two weeks, at a fixed price agreed before it starts. It sets out which problems to fix, in what order, what each is worth and what each costs, written so your team can take it elsewhere. Most people skip this and go straight to a build. A new owner or a new CFO usually wants it.
One problem, one output, one owner. Scope and price agreed in writing before work starts.
Tested on real work, not a demo. Documented so you are not dependent on me. Your team runs it.
The person on the first call is the person who builds it.
A rough description is enough. If there is no useful first project, I will say so on the call and you will have lost half an hour.