Growth Advisory
We prepare private companies
to withstand institutional diligence.
Growth Advisory evaluates and remediates the organisation, the commercial function, operations, and the manner in which the business is held. The work is undertaken against the criteria sponsors and acquirers apply in practice, and it is completed in advance of a process rather than during one.
Every discount an acquirer applies has a specific cause.
One customer at forty per cent of revenue. Management accounts that do not reconcile. A pipeline that converts only with the founder present. Assets held in a manner that complicates a clean purchase. Each of these is capable of remediation, and each takes longer to remediate than a transaction process allows, which is why the work belongs in advance of one. The same work makes the business more straightforward to operate and more profitable to own. Owners who complete it sometimes elect not to sell, and that is a legitimate outcome of the engagement.
Origin
Where the standard comes from
The firm’s M&A Advisory and Capital Raising practices sit opposite sponsors and acquirers continuously. We observe which companies are declined and on what grounds: the customer concentration that will not be underwritten, the reporting that cannot be relied upon, the pipeline that resolves to the founder, the structure that prevents a clean purchase. Growth Advisory applies that record in reverse. The standard is the stated criteria of the institutions the firm transacts with, not a general view of good practice.
Scope
Where the practice begins and ends
M&A Advisory and Capital Raising execute the transaction. Growth Advisory addresses what a counterparty would discount, either before a process begins or after one has concluded. They are separate mandates, engaged separately.
Selectivity
Who this is for
A good fit
Profitable owner-operated businesses in which the owner has become structurally difficult to remove. Absence slows the business. Decisions route through one person because no one else carries the context, and the pipeline converts when that person is in the room.
The characteristics that make such a business profitable under current ownership are the same ones an acquirer discounts.
Also suited: owners contemplating a liquidity event with time available before a process begins, and companies where a raise or a sale has been attempted and has stalled.
Not a fit
Companies unable to commit to the full programme. Companies too far deteriorated to carry the work. Owners seeking a change in valuation without a change in how the business operates. Where we do not believe the work will alter the outcome, we say so and decline.
The engagement
Four workstreams, each an evaluation followed by a remediation
Workstream One
Organisation
We review the existing organisation and establish what is absent across the chief executive function, finance, technology, marketing, human resources, and accounting and financial reporting. The test applied is whether the organisation presents as institutionally capable. The structure is then rebuilt against it.
Deliverables
Organisation gap report: the current structure set against the functions an investor or acquirer expects to find
Hiring sequence and role profiles for each gap, ordered to what the business can absorb
Rebuilt structure and reporting lines, with accountability documented by function
Recruitment into the roles identified is available as a separate engagement.
Workstream Two
Commercial
A full review of the commercial funnel and a rebuild of the sales and marketing function. The firm operates this function internally and applies the same measurement standard here: every channel resolved to cost per qualified opportunity and conversion at each stage.
Deliverables
Funnel audit: every acquisition channel measured to cost per qualified opportunity and conversion at each stage
Rebuilt sales process: stage definitions, qualification criteria, pipeline standard, and the system configured to it
Outbound infrastructure built and managed: domains, inboxes, sequences and deliverability monitoring
Workstream Three
Operations
We review the operating procedures and systems as they stand, then rebuild and document them: how operations are run, how procedures are written, and how the record of both is maintained.
Deliverables
Procedure library covering each core function, written and version-controlled
Monthly management reporting pack producing the figures a diligence process requests
Applied artificial intelligence across the functions where it alters the cost base, with implementation documented
Workstream Four
Structure and asset protection
How the business is held, where the assets sit, and what an acquirer would require resolved before closing. Restructuring undertaken during a live process is undertaken under time pressure, and the cost of it is generally reflected in the price. Undertaken in advance, it is an administrative exercise.
Deliverables
Entity and ownership review against what an acquirer or sponsor will accept
Restructuring plan where the current structure would complicate or discount a sale
Asset protection review: where value sits, and what is exposed that should not be
Legal and tax execution sits with the client’s counsel and accountants.
Deliverables
What the engagement produces
Ten deliverables, produced to a schedule, against a standing bi-weekly meeting with the client organisation.
01
Organisation gap report
The current structure set against the functions an institutional investor or acquirer expects, with what is absent identified.
02
Hiring sequence and role profiles
Which role is filled first, what the profile is, and what the business must be able to carry before the next one.
03
Rebuilt organisational structure
Reporting lines and accountability documented by function, in the form a diligence process will request.
04
Funnel audit
Every acquisition channel measured to cost per qualified opportunity and conversion at each stage, so that the growth case is supported by measurement.
05
Rebuilt sales process and systems
Stage definitions, qualification criteria and pipeline standard, with the system configured to produce a forecast that holds.
06
Outbound infrastructure
Domains, inboxes, sequences and deliverability monitoring, built and managed for the duration of the engagement.
07
Procedure library
Operating procedures for each core function, written and version-controlled, so that operating knowledge sits in the business rather than with individuals.
08
Monthly management pack
A reporting pack producing, monthly, the figures an acquirer or investor will request. This is the item most frequently absent.
09
Structure and asset protection review
Entity, ownership and asset location set against what an acquirer will require, with a restructuring plan where one is needed.
10
Transaction readiness memorandum
What has changed, what an acquirer or investor will still test, and our view on whether the business is prepared to go to market.