Fieldnotes for Founders
Commercial insights for founder-led businesses
Pattern recognition from real commercial work inside founder-led B2B businesses turning over £1m to £15m. Frameworks, case patterns and straight answers, not theory.
Browse by topic
Why is my website attracting the wrong prospects?
You are attracting the wrong prospects because your proposition tells everyone they are welcome. When a page does not say who it is for, the wrong buyers enquire and the right buyers quietly leave without contacting you. A clear fit line, including who you are not for, filters out the wrong enquiries and gives the right buyers confidence to get in touch.
New here? Start with these
The three ideas everything else builds on
01 · Where you areThe 7 Plateaus: where is your business stuck?
The seven stages every founder-led business moves through, and the ceiling at each one.
02 · What to buildWhat is commercial infrastructure?
The systems that let revenue grow without the founder at the centre of every decision.
03 · Who builds itWhat is a Fractional Commercial Director?
Senior commercial leadership one to two days a week, and when it is the right move.
All insights and case patterns
Introducing Stakeholder Mapping: The Must Have Strategy Tool
Stakeholder mapping is a structured way to plot the groups that have a fundamental impact on performance, such as customers, employees, suppliers and investors, and to set the few things you must get right for each. It is a must-have strategy tool because it separates strategy from operations, focuses scarce effort and builds measurable objectives, using one set of success factors per stakeholder group rather than one generic list.
A New Approach to Compliance Risk Management: Creating Data-Driven Compliance Tools
As FCA scrutiny grew, compliance reviews built in long spreadsheets were slow, static and subjective, and firms could not measure improvement or benchmark against peers. We designed a suite of data-driven, FCA-aligned tools: digital healthchecks with automated risk scores, benchmarking dashboards, board reporting templates and consultant analytics. Clients could show the FCA how they found and fixed risks, consultants did less manual work, and client retention improved. Data does not replace expertise; it amplifies it.
Building a culture blueprint: The starting point for growth
After two competing consultancies merged, the teams brought different cultures, expectations and processes, with a real risk of duplication and tension. Working with the MD through workshops, interviews and feedback sessions, we built a Full Cultural Blueprint covering leadership structure, reporting cycles, decision rights and communication, and staff wrote their own Staff Charter. Within three months the team worked as one, decisions were faster, and staff and client attrition plummeted.
Running Barefoot Across Wales: Turning Purpose Into a Movement
In 2011, Welsh health and wellbeing columnist Lynne Allbutt set out to become the first person to run across Wales barefoot, but she had no PR team, website, sponsors or publisher. I supported her with campaign strategy, digital PR, creative help from our digital team and the publication of her autobiography, Barefoot and Before. Lynne completed the run, which drew widespread media attention, and the book carried her message to a wider audience.
From Stall to Scale: What Actually Turned This Consultancy Around
When I joined the family business in 2007, it was a respected but modest compliance consultancy for insurance brokers, reliant on a few self-employed consultants. We rebuilt it strategically, operationally and culturally, with tiered pricing and retainers, new systems, a full rebrand, employed consultants and new online learning services. Over ten years, turnover grew organically by 350%, the business became a leader in UK insurance compliance, and it was positioned for a sale.
e-Learning – Building the UK’s First Online Trade Qualification
In the late 2000s, the Institute of Export & International Trade wanted to reach trade advisers worldwide, but classroom courses could not scale. As lead e-Learning consultant at Elmsleigh Learning & Development, I designed and built one of the first fully online international trade qualifications, the Level 5 Certificate in International Trade for Advisors (CITA). Over 800 international trade advisers completed the programme, including participants from major banks and government export agencies.
Community: I launched an event and 5,000 people turned up
In 2010, as Chair of the Blaenavon Town Traders Association, I wanted to bring life back to the quiet high street of this former mining town, with no budget, framework or events team. With the local authority, sponsors and traders, I launched the Blaenavon Winter Wonderland, a two-day Christmas festival. It drew over 5,000 visitors, traders sold out of stock, and it ran from 2010 to 2014 before passing to the local authority.
How We Built the First Compliance App for Insurance Intermediaries
In 2012, insurance intermediaries had to evidence that their advice was suitable, but most recorded client meetings with handwritten notes or none at all. With a small development team and insurer sponsorship, we launched Our Meeting Recorder, the first mobile app built for intermediaries to capture compliant meeting records using timestamped audio, key facts forms and GPS tagging. It launched to widespread interest and praise. Real innovation starts with the user, not the rulebook.
How a Legacy Brand Regained Market Share in Two Years
In 2022, I took on a 20-year-old insurance training brand built on classroom delivery, which risked being left behind after the pandemic moved training online. I led a full repositioning, business plan and rebrand, relaunched an insurer Broker Leader Programme and created a CPD-accredited webinar programme with a leading insurer. Within two years, the business achieved year-on-year growth and regained market share. Longevity does not guarantee relevance, but relevance can revive longevity.
Newsletter on LinkedIn
The Commercial No. 2
For founders who need a commercial number two. One idea per edition, straight from the work.
Reading is useful. Knowing where you are stuck is better.
The 7 Plateaus diagnostic takes five minutes and comes with a written report.