Helping founders under pressure turn messy growth into a clear 90-day plan.
I help early and growth-stage founders bring order to commercial chaos, sharpen decision-making, and build a more scalable operating process through experienced challenge, pattern recognition, and lived founder perspective.
What you’re dealing with…
If you’re in the £250k - £1m+ ARR range, growth often stops feeling exciting and starts feeling chaotic.
Too many priorities, not enough clarity
You’re juggling product, sales, hiring and fundraising, and it’s not always clear what actually moves the needle next.A business that relies too much on you
Every decision routes through you, which makes you the bottleneck and leaves no time to think.
Board, investors and team pulling in different directions
You’re spending more energy explaining yourself than solving the real problems.Good revenue, shaky foundations
ARR is growing, but ops, margins and cash feel fragile and reactive.
How we turn pressure into clarity
I co-founded and scaled a software startup to £5M+ with less than £900K in funding, drove 87% of its revenue as COO, and ultimately wound it down after 11 years — including a pandemic and international expansion.
I know what building looks like when it's working, and I know what it looks like when it isn't. I bring that experience and pattern recognition into every conversation.
Clarity on what matters next
We cut through the noise and identify the few moves that will really shift growth, margins and resilience over the next 90 days.
A scalable operating process
We build simple, repeatable routines for planning, execution and review, so the business relies less on you and more on a clear process.
Leadership support you can be honest with
I’m the person you can talk to about board pressure, co-founder dynamics, commercial risk and personal energy, then turn that into practical decisions.
Schedule a discovery call
Services
Most founders start with a Strategic Deep Dive, then move into ongoing advisory or fractional support if they want help implementing the plan.
Strategic Deep Dive & 90-Day Plan
The clearest starting point for founders at ~£250k - £1m ARR
Over 2–3 focused sessions, we look at strategy, commercial model, operations and leadership.
You leave with a written 90-day roadmap that clarifies what to stop, start and fix — plus the process to keep yourself accountable. It stands alone or becomes the foundation for ongoing advisory support.
Selective NED / UK Nominated Director
For a small number of companies I can genuinely help.
For UK-based startups OR companies entering the UK that need founder experience, independent challenge and a local commercial perspective and network.
Fractional C-Suite & Advisory
Ongoing support to implement the plan and steady the business.
I work with founders 1–3 days a month as a fractional C-level operator and advisor, helping them pressure-test strategy, tighten execution and move from reactive firefighting to a calmer, more scalable process.
Executive Coaching (Founders’ Compass)
For founders who need space to think, decide and lead well.
Founders’ Compass is my 1:1 coaching work for decision-making, resilience and leadership. It stays firmly grounded in the reality of your company and can sit alongside, or separate from, advisory support.
About Alan
I spent 11 years as co-founder and COO of a software startup, building it from nothing, scaling it past £5M, surviving a pandemic, and eventually closing it. I know what it feels like to carry a business in your body. I know how the decisions get harder as you grow.
I work with a small number of founders at a time, by choice. I'm looking for people who are genuinely honest with themselves, because that's when the work goes deep and fast. If that's you, let's talk.
If you’re somewhere between “this is working” and “this could break at any moment”, we should talk.