On this week’s episode, I had a brilliant conversation with Harv Nagra, Head of Brand Communications at Scoro and host of The Handbook: The Operations Podcast. 

Harv brings a unique mix of insight from marketing, operations, and systems design, particularly for growing agencies and professional service firms.

If you’ve ever felt like your business is spinning too many plates, this one’s for you.

🌟 Some of the highlights we dig into:

✅ Collaborating with finance: How operations + CFOs can lead smarter system rollouts.
✅ The Business Maturity Model: 5 stages of growth from “chaotic era” to “innovation era.”
✅ Burnout warning signs: Why broken internal systems silently sabotage leadership teams.
✅ The reality of accidental founders: Growing beyond creative chaos without losing identity.
✅ Infrastructure for scale: Getting the right tech, people and processes in place to grow cleanly.

This week, I’m joined by Oliver Tuffney, Founder & Head Coach at Sales Velocity, a framework designed to bring discipline, structure, and predictability to SME sales teams.

Some of my favourite takeaways from our conversation:

✅ How to avoid sales teams getting stuck in boom and bust cycles;
✅ How EOS can guide sales, but why Ollie feels it still needs a deeper “sales layer”;
✅ What great compensation plans actually look like, and how to build them without risking your cashflow;
✅ Why sales and finance leaders must collaborate on modelling if growth is going to be sustainable;
✅ And, the Charlie Munger quote that Ollie swears by when building out sales compensation structures. 

This week, I had a fascinating conversation with @Rajeev Nandan, founder and CEO of @Pierian, about the evolution of Marketing technology and the impact of AI on digital marketing strategies.

We covered:

✅ The move from traditional marketing to AI-driven, data-led strategies.
✅ The transition from a consulting business model to a scalable SaaS offering.
✅ The financial metrics that drive e-commerce success and sustainable growth.
✅ How businesses, big and small, can use AI to improve customer acquisition and retention.
✅ The importance of balancing creativity and data in a world increasingly shaped by automation.

This week, I sat down with @Alistair Roman, Founder and Managing Partner of @Cost Optimisation Consultancy, to explore cost optimisation for small businesses and discuss how you can reduce costs in your business sustainably.

We discuss the model that Alistair has developed - the cost transformation maturity map - why most businesses fail to retain cost savings, and explore how SMEs can build cost efficiency into their company culture.

🌟 Some of my favourite parts from our conversation:

✅ How Alistair helped John Lewis drive major cost efficiencies - and what smaller businesses can learn from it.

✅ Understanding the difference between cost optimisation and cost savings and why one is more sustainable.
 ✅Why Finance Teams must be front and centre leading cost optimisation efforts, regardless of their size. 
 ✅ How cost optimisation fuels growth rather than just being a defensive strategy.
 ✅ How SMEs can leverage technology to streamline finance and operations.
 
 ACCA Scale Up Success Article: https://www.accaglobal.com/content/dam/ACCA_Global/professional-insights/Scale-up/pi-scale-up-success-SMEs.pdf

Alistair Roman Contact Details:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alistairroman/
• Website:  https://www.costoptimisationconsultancy.com

This week, I had a fascinating conversation with St John Dalgleish, CEO of Perlon AI, about the reality of building AI-driven solutions that actually deliver results.

We explored how Perlon AI went from consulting to product, the challenges of scaling AI in diverse industries, and what the future holds for businesses using AI.

🌟 Some of my favourite parts of our discussion:

✅ Custom AI at scale: The challenges of tailoring AI models across 15 different industries while staying efficient.
✅ From consulting to SaaS: How Perlon AI transitioned from strategy consulting to a scalable AI product.
✅ AI adoption & scepticism: How businesses are embracing AI—and the fears they still have.
✅ The AI future: Where AI is heading in 2025 and how businesses should prepare.

Business Book Bonus:

https://www.hubspot.com/startups/podcast

https://mistral.vc/the-product-market-fit-show/

https://www.saastr.com/podcasts/

The Road to Conscious Machines by Michael Woolridge: https://amzn.eu/d/07iIzKN

James by Percival Everett: https://amzn.eu/d/gCDVYb2

On this one I had the pleasure of speaking with Paul Sherratt, founder and CEO of gloveglu – an innovative brand that’s reshaped the goalkeeping product category with products sold in 55 countries and over 1.1m followers on social media.

This conversation was a real lesson to me in entrepreneurial courage, strategic pivots, and turning challenges like Brexit and COVID into opportunities for growth. 

Paul’s journey from a corporate career to creating a globally recognised brand is inspiring, and definitely a great conversation to start the new year with.

🌟 Some of my highlights from our discussion were:

✅ Leap of faith: How Paul managed the risk of starting again at 50, remortgaging his house to go all in on gloveglu.
✅ Turning obstacles into opportunities: How Brexit and COVID shaped his business strategy.
✅ Category creation: Building a market where none existed and the benefits of becoming the “category king” in a niche category.
✅ Scaling smartly: Leveraging existing B2B relationships before pivoting to a successful B2C model.
✅ R&D insights: The role that product development played, and how Paul used quiet periods to innovate and stay ahead of the competition.

Paul’s story is packed with lessons for anyone looking to scale a business, navigate uncertain times, or simply turn a great idea into reality.

On this one I was delighted to be joined by Erika Robinson, the UK General Manager of Constant Contact, a leading platform for small business marketing solutions.

This was a cracking conversation with Erika where we had a wide ranging chat discussing AI tools, career pivots, lean team leadership and some tips on how small businesses can give themselves the best chance of achieving those big ambitions.

🌟 Some of the most interesting parts of our conversation were:

✅Risk vs. reward: How to assess the financial and personal risks of a career pivot.
✅Emerging tools: The newest AI-powered tools and technologies transforming small business marketing.
✅Cultural alignment: Balancing a US company ethos with the expectations of UK customers and stakeholders.
✅Future-proofing your career: Staying adaptable and continually learning to navigate evolving career landscapes.
✅Lean team leadership: Scaling operations with a small team and external support while maintaining effectiveness.
✅Market differences: Understanding and adapting to the specific needs of UK small businesses compared to the US market.
✅Transitioning mid-career: Key differences between the corporate, entrepreneurial, and startup environments that shaped Erika’s leadership style.

A sneak peek for you here below with Erika giving some words of advice on how small businesses should start thinking about and experimenting with AI.

On this one I was delighted to be joined by Lizzie Allen Phillips, the founder of IWant2Network, who is on a mission to become London's number one premium business networking organization with her networking group, IWant2Network.

This was a fascinating conversation with Lizzie where we discussed the power of networking for financial success.

🌟 Some of the most interesting parts of our conversation were:

✅Common networking mistakes and how to avoid them;
✅Addressing imposter syndrome and other common networking fears;
✅Cost-effective networking strategies for start-ups and small businesses; 
✅Managing follow-ups and maintaining meaningful connections over time;
✅Turning networking connections into long term collaborations or partnerships; 
✅How to identify and approach the right networking opportunities for small businesses.

Business Book Bonus:

Zero to 100: The Gold Standard of Global Networking - https://amzn.eu/d/cYgOrjj
We Can All Make It - https://amzn.eu/d/3efQ8sj

On this one I was delighted to be joined by Francesca Hodgson, MBA, the successful entrepreneur and Founder of We are Ambition, a business consultancy offering fractional leadership, growth services, mentoring and coaching.

This was a fascinating conversation with Francesca where we explored the need for clarity of mind, as it relates to the entrepreneurial journey.

🌟 Some of the most interesting parts of our conversation were:
✅The power of authenticity, how it helps build confidence, and acts like a rocket ship for motivation;
✅The work that Francesca has been doing around the promoting of mental resilience as a positive tool to achieve your goals.
✅How everything is fighting for our attention and clarity of mind allows you to engage and articulate what it is that you're doing;
✅That it all starts with values and taking time to understand what matters to you and in what order, can really help inform why we do what we do;
✅Why coaching and mentoring combined can be such a powerful way to help people understand what is important to them and what to prioritise to execute their vision;

Business Book Bonus:

Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of NIKE:  https://amzn.eu/d/4l3ZZOM
Trillion Dollar Coach: https://amzn.eu/d/5WEHeVS

On this one I was very pleased to be joined by @Jon Reay and @Tim Seddon, the Co-Founders OF @Room 42, a start-up that facilitates effective change and innovation through the use of Design Thinking based programmes, to help businesses tackle the most challenging of live business problems.

I really enjoyed this conversation with Jon and Tim where we dived into how they went on the journey to start Room 42 and specifically how they have seen Design Thinking used to improve Financial Performance.

🌟 Some of my favourite parts of our conversation were:

✅ How, if you can break up and disrupt day to day thinking, it provides the opportunity to inspire different interactions that can be the key to unlocking new thinking and ideas;

✅ How, if you get the right direction of travel, with a small team, Design Thinking can offer opportunities for small businesses to leapfrog larger competitors;

✅ Having a CFO or Finance professional within any change management program from the outset is really critical to help projects succeed more quickly;

✅ Their experience of imposing change top down, leads to a demotivated business that's struggling to adapt to change, while engaging with everyone leads to a much more highly motivated and agile business;

✅ How one of my favourite books, Douglas Adams, The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy helped inform both their company name and their approach to business.

On this one I was very pleased to be joined by Emilia De Stasio, CFA, the Founder & COO at Artscapy, the wealth management platform dedicated to art collecting.

I really enjoyed this conversation with Emilia where we explored her background in Finance, her love of Art and her journey over the past 4 years as she has co-founded Artscapy, a platform dedicated to the needs of art collectors.

🌟 A flavour of some of my favourite parts of our conversation:
✅ Emilia’s personal passion for art and its importance to her both in terms of its mental wellbeing effects and her desire and mission supporting this aspect of society;
✅ How, contemporary art provides both some of the best performing returns in the passion asset space along with real downside protection;
✅ How Emilia’s banking background has informed her approach to valuing art and the approach that they are taking at Artscapy;
✅ The marrying of the technology with the Advisory service that a higher value wealth management service demands;
✅ The benefits Emilia has found in having a strong network of mentors and peers to share ideas around the challenges in scaling the business.

Business Book Bonus Recommendation - Let My People Go Surfing by Yvonne Chouinard: https://amzn.eu/d/ivgkRRA

Click the link below for the Limited time 2 for 1 offer mentioned on the pod: 

Life Ready Pathway

In this first episode of the new season, I’m thrilled to be joined by Suke Ridler, the CEO and founder of My LifeJars, a company that assists in organising documents and passwords to access during life and after death. 

In this conversation, Suke and I discuss her journey from acoustic engineer through to winemaker, sheep breeder, and then on to becoming a start up founder.

🌟 Some of my favourite parts of our conversation were:
✅Suke’s inspiration taken from her near death experience that had a profound effect on her and led to her initial designs of My LifeJars to ensure that no one had to suffer through the same experience she went through;
✅The need for a roadmap so that everyone can get what they need to keep the business going on a day-to-day basis and in terms of if something happened in an emergency;
✅How running your business is a bit like driving a car and if something were to happen to you how to ensure, if someone else has to take the wheel they are not without a GPS!;
✅How Suke’s experiences led to her realising the need to go with the flow around having to intermingle personal and business life;
✅The first step mindset, and how in life we just have to be prepared to take that step and then see how the path opens up.

A sneak peek for you below with Suke explaining why data protection and organisation are so important for small businesses today.

An insight into Suke’s fascinating life story and her personal mission to launch a company that is doing important work for Solopreneurs and Small Businesses Owners.

This week, I sat down with @Kat Wellum-Kent, Founder & CEO of @The Fractionals Group who left Practice to launch her business with just one client and a plan.

Some of my favourite takeaways from our conversation were:

✅ Recruiting “on the curve” vs hiring ahead of the work
✅ Building something that’s more than just you as a solo operator
✅ Making use of EOS and managing her own utilisation as a founder
✅ Why not every startup needs a full-time CFO, and how to spot when they do
✅ And growing a team without losing sight of what made the work fun in the first place

Kat’s honest about the challenges as well as the opportunities that she faced and is still facing, and I think anyone building a business, or just trying to shift towards having a more entrepreneurial mindset in business, will get something from this.

I was delighted to be joined by @Alice Olins, Career Expert, Coach and Trainer, and the Founder of the @Step Up Club, an organisation that works with individuals and teams to help them fulfill potential, navigate and embrace change.

This was an impactful conversation with Alice where we explored change and how small businesses can best navigate it.

🌟 Some of the most interesting elements were:

✅How, leadership through communication and openness is such an important part of successful change;

✅The importance of having a deep understanding of the stakeholders or the people involved in any change;

✅During times of change, be the Leader where people follow your vision, not because you're telling them to, but because they really believe in you as a person;

✅The value of appointing change agents within the company to help activate change and mitigate some of the barriers that inevitably come up through the process;

✅The importance of making sure there are points in the timeline where you stop, measure and articulate where you are at in the lifecycle of the project to maintain the impetus.

I was very pleased to be joined by @Russell Rich, one of the senior partners at @Lubbock Fine, a leading firm of chartered accountants and tax advisors, where Russell heads up the sports, media and entertainment desk.

I really enjoyed this conversation with Russell where we explored a situation familiar with many these days, noticeably some considerations when starting up a business as a second career.

🌟 Some of the most interesting elements were:

✅ How, when externally financing, Investors will want you to have some skin in the game;

✅ How as an entrepreneur, you've got to focus on working in the business and on the business at the same time;

✅ How forecasting and mapping out a business plan is key - to the point that you do best case, mid case and worst case scenarios;

✅ The need to generate sufficient income and importantly cash flow to cover all those benefits that were previously paid by your employer.;

✅ The need for good accounting at the start because otherwise it doesn't matter how great the opportunity is or the business model, those things will fail.

In this one, I'm excited to be joined by Chris Cummings, the Group CEO and Founder of Wellbeing at Work World, an organisation on a mission to make wellbeing a strategic priority for every business.

I really enjoyed this conversation with fellow Centaur Media Plc alumni Chris, discussing his journey over the past 10 years, inspired by personal circumstances, to fly the flag for the importance of wellbeing at work.

🌟 Some of the most interesting elements were:
✅The impact that true wellbeing can have on a business if leadership takes it seriously and its embedded into the culture;
✅How the integral parts of wellbeing are free - inclusive culture, authentic leadership and being a decent person don’t have to cost anything;
✅The effect that COVID had on this area, as it became a topic that was at the front of everyone's minds, and the challenge to ensure we build on the progress made;
✅Chris’ advice to have a forum where you listen to your employees and if there is a clear trend that many employees are saying to you, act on that and move forward with it;
✅And Chris’ belief, based on global trends that further UK legislation may be imminent, so the importance of embracing and being part of it so we can develop legislation that works for small business.

In this one, I'm delighted to be joined by Helen Cox, a Chartered Marketer, and Founder of Helen Cox Marketing, a marketing consultancy specialising in advising professional service firms on their marketing and business development.

In our wide ranging conversation, Helen and I cover all that you need to know about the benefits of effective marketing plans for small business owners.

🌟 Some of my favourite parts were:
✅ Understanding Helen’s marketing planning framework – specifically the six key elements of her planning wheel;
✅ How to marry a Client’s financial and business objectives and ensure that there is an alignment between the two;
✅ How we get very focused on the minute detail but don’t strategically think about why we're doing what we’re doing;
✅ Why it’s vital to ensure that marketing plans are an agile piece of work, iterations throughout the year, rather than an unchanging document;
✅ How to do client competitor analysis to understand how they position themselves, what services they're promoting, how they talk to their clients.

Business Book Bonus Section:

The Digital Marketing Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-digital-marketing-podcast/id373596600

In this one, I'm delighted to be joined by @Wenceslyne Ong, the Founder of @Elite LVL, a business operations consulting firm with a world-class customer onboarding and continuous improvement framework, helping cost conscious businesses scale. 

In this broad ranging conversation, Wenceslyne and I cover all that you need to know about having a strategic and mindful approach to staff onboarding in small and growing businesses.

🌟 Some of my favourite parts were:

✅ How the experience at companies such as Google and Fed Ex inspired Elite’s onboarding mindset;

✅ Why small companies should focus on experience to compete with the larger multinationals;

✅ How onboarding is part of an holistic approach to treating employees in the right way;

✅ How the employee’s individual culture should be considered when onboarding;

✅ Why having a great onboarding program increases staff retention by 82%.

In this episode, I’m thrilled to be joined by Chris Lang, the Founder of Flash Partners Limited, a company that provides in-sourced finance functions for small and medium sized companies in the marketing communications industry. 

In this conversation, Chris and I explore what new founders and startups need to consider from a finance perspective and provide some tips and tricks that startups and small businesses need to consider around finance.

🌟 Some of my favourite parts were:

✅ Chris’ mantra that cash is king and how it is the unexpected bill that can often be a company’s downfall;

✅ How running both a 12-week and an annual cash flow forecast will help to manage those short and longer term cash flow bumps in the road;

✅ The signalling that HMRC are making that Corporation Tax will be coming payable more frequently than the current annual payment dates;

✅ How it is the company stage in its life and growth cycle that determines the complexity of a business’s systems, processes and management reporting;

✅ The importance and need for timesheets as soon as you have people employed to work on client work, so you understand what is going into what you are selling 

Business Book Bonus: https://mooreks.co.uk/annual-survey/

In this first episode of the new season, I’m thrilled to be joined by Lewis Turek, the General Manager of North America at GoCardless, a payment company that allows a simple, secure way to get paid, without the chasing stress or expensive fees. 

In this conversation, Lewis and I discuss his journey from IBM Intern, through to setting up Uber for Business in the UK and dive into his current experience as an English ex pat, leading GoCardless expansion into the U.S.

🌟 Some of my favourite parts were:

✅Lewis’ experience of starting in a new country “as an absolute zero and as a nobody” (referring to his credit history!), and the challenges of building that up with no track record in the U.S.;
✅How U.S businesses manage the data protections and controls around customer bank details – Lewis provides an anecdote on business attitudes that you won’t want to miss;
✅How, on the B2C side, we are seeing a downwards trend in credit card spend as Millennials and Gen Z have chosen an alternative route and are less comfortable with debt.;
✅How as a graduate trainee Lewis was up into the wee hours trying to work out how best to present to his bosses and the life lessons gained from that experience;
✅The differences in the way B2B payments are made in America – over 20% of B2B payments are still made by paper checks!

In this episode, I’m thrilled to be joined by @Manny Skevofilax, the Owner of @Portal CFO Consulting a consultancy that Manny has been operating for over 20 years with a mission to help business owners make more money by successfully navigating the challenges of growing their businesses profitably. 

In this conversation, my first with another fractional CFO, the tables are turned and Manny and I discuss his journey from restaurateur, through to Corporate Banker and now to Fractional CFO.

🌟 Some of my favourite parts were:

✅ Manny’s family background and how his parent’s experiences helped shape Manny’s own professional journey;

✅ How Manny’s first career as a restaurateur helped shape his views on cash and subsequent advice as a Fractional CFO;

✅ The importance and grounding that continuous learning provided Manny – most notably how to think about credit risk and analyse a financial statement;

✅ On the contrary though, how successful billionaire business owners dismissed complex financial calculations and relied on simplicity to keep everyone rowing in the same direction;

✅ How small business owners can be resistant to change but through gentle education and helping clients improve their profits, Manny has been able to work with some clients for upwards of 20 years.

Business Book Bonus:  Million Dollar Consulting, Alan Weiss

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Million-Dollar-Consulting-Alan-Weiss/dp/0071622101

In this one I had the pleasure of chatting with Dave Parry, the Managing Director at Wellmeadow Ltd, a consultancy that helps businesses that need non-exec support, process transformation or support with lead generation.

Dave and I had a wide ranging discussion, looking at how small businesses set their vision and strategies, how they live up to those and ensure the entire organisation stays on track. 

We looked at some of the specific challenges of hybrid working, with Dave’s experience of chairing thousands of Board Meetings providing interesting insight to the In Office vs. Remote discussion many of us are having. 

Dave then shares some excellent rules around hosting an effective meeting as well as a well thought through marketing workflow that they support their clients with at Wellmeadow.

If you are looking for clarity around Operations, Corporate Governance and Marketing, Dave’s clear thinking and straightforward approach to business is refreshing and this episode is a must for you.

Business Book Bonus: 
Harvard Business Review  -  https://hbr.org/
Management Today  - https://www.managementtoday.co.uk/ 
SME Growth Podcast - https://www.smegrowthpodcast.com/

In this episode, I’m thrilled to be joined by @David Adderson, the co-founder of @Youtopia, a premium cloud accounting service that helps simplify your finance department..

In this conversation, David and I explore how we can integrate technology into your client's workflows as an accountant and how to help make their finance operations simpler and more streamlined.

🌟 Some of my favourite parts were:

✅ How David’s holistic early career experience outside of accounts helped his view of using tech efficiently;

✅ How AI is shaping the accounting landscape not currently as Artificial intelligence but more as Automation Intelligence

✅ The shiny toy syndrome and the need to ensure you are fully utilising existing software rather than just bringing in more toys;

✅ How it is mindset management with the Finance Department or Business Owner that is the hardest part of introducing new technologies;

✅ How David trials new tools to ensure that any new tech is rolled out only if it makes life markedly better either on the Client or Youtopia’s workflows.

 Business Book Bonus Section:

·       Eat That Frog - Brian Tracy - https://amzn.eu/d/aFbR8UF

·       The Diary of a CEO Podcast - https://stevenbartlett.com/the-diary-of-a-ceo-podcast/

·       Lewis Morgan Podcast - https://www.lewismorganpodcast.com/

·       The ups and downs of a small business owner Podcast - https://www.youtopia.co.uk/podcast

This week, I caught up with Paul Bevington, Partner & General Counsel at EMW Law LLP | B Corp. He's been helping clients buy and sell companies since joining the firm back in the 90s and has seen just about everything when it comes to business sales.

Some of my favourite moments from the chat:

✅ Why sellers underestimate just how long (and emotional) the legal process really is;
✅ What “buyer verification” actually means and why it can feel like Groundhog Day;
✅ Why shareholder alignment is essential before you go to market;
✅ The legal housekeeping you’ll wish you’d done earlier;
✅ And how a 40-year old cricket book can teach you a thing or two about leadership!

In this episode, I’m thrilled to be joined by @Rachael Ager, the Client Services Director at Brunswick Creative, the creative arm of Brunswick group, where Rachael leads the account management team working across offices in Europe, North America, Asia, and the Gulf. 

In this conversation, Rachael and I explore how agency finance teams can best empower and support account management and in turn their clients.

🌟 Some of my favourite parts were:

✅ How Rachael sees the role of finance as a vital second pair of eyes within the business;

✅ The challenges of working in a Creative agency and managing overspends to ensure client satisfaction;

✅ The management of projects and ensuring that as a global agency international clients are supported in a consistent way;

✅ How Brunswick Creative use regular finance surgeries as ways to provide visibility to Account Management on project progress;

✅ How education of the team on the direct link between timesheets, estimates and invoicing improves timesheet completion rates.

Business Book Bonus - Belonging: The Ancient Code of Togetherness by Owen Eastwood -  https://amzn.eu/d/cLr4TFZ

In this episode, I’m thrilled to be joined by Richard Hadler, an Angel Investor, experienced executive and Co-Founder of Founders Capital, an investment community dedicated to helping founders raise investment from other founders and start up experts.

In this conversation, Rich and I explore the world of finance for founders – and understand what investors are looking for in the companies that they invest in.
 
🌟 Some of my favourite parts were:
✅ The financial and non-financial metrics that Rich as an Investor considers before investing;
✅ The role that Founders Capital and its community play in the companies they invest in;
✅ How Angel Investors are evaluating the potential exit strategies in the current market;
✅ Rich talking through how he evaluates the businesses and founders that he invests in;
✅ How best to evaluate a business model and potential at the pre-revenue stage.

Business Book recommendation - 

In this episode, I’m thrilled to be joined by @Sarah Ropek, the Founder of @People Management Partners, an HR consultancy committed to delivering HR solutions to startup, small and medium sized businesses.

In this conversation, Sarah and I explore the world of HR for Small Businesses – and how small business owners can best approach the people side of their businesses.

🌟 Some of my favourite parts were:

✅ Developing your team’s skills and using competency frameworks to do so;

✅ Hiring for shared values amongst your management team as you scale;

✅ Forecasting for staff fluctuations and seasonality in your business;

✅ Rules of thumb around hiring full time vs. fractional staff;

✅ The benefits of virtual co-working for hybrid teams.

Business Book Bonus Recommendation – 

The Culture Code by Daniel Coyle - https://amzn.eu/d/1dZmjl3

🌟 Kicking off our new series, I'm thrilled to be in conversation with @Ali Gray, the VP and Executive Creative Director at @Free Think Media.

In this episode, we delve deep into the world of Creative businesses, exploring the commercial challenges of managing creative teams and nurturing their potential.

Here are some highlights from our discussion: 

✅ Ali's unique blend of creativity and spreadsheet prowess. 

✅ Strategies for motivating and empowering creative teams. 

✅ Uncovering significant savings through questioning and innovation. 

✅ The power of constraints in driving creative solutions. 

✅ Embracing failure as a pathway to innovation.

 
Business Book Bonus Recommendation – 

Creative Act – Rick Rubin - https://amzn.eu/d/0YgZ1eq

Robert Mayhew – TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@mrrobertmayhew?lang=en

In this episode, I am joined by Sam Lenox, the Head of Employee Incentives at Harper James, a modern law firm, purpose-built to support entrepreneurial businesses in their growth from startup to scale up and beyond.

In this conversation, Sam and I explore the world of employee share options, looking at the structure, their implementation and an important insight for businesses who may be new to this world of incentives to better understand what is available.

🌟 Some of my favourite parts were:

✅ How to educate and manage expectations of young staff around share options;

✅ Understanding the not insignificant tax benefits of the EMI scheme;

✅ How an internal market typically works for these kinds of schemes;

✅ Managing Share Option schemes with an International hat on;

✅ Marrying long term ESOPs with shorter term bonus scheme.

 
Business Book Bonus Recommendation – 

Legacy – James Kerr - https://amzn.eu/d/5xTOA4B

In this episode, I'm delighted to be joined by Jason Miles, SVP Finance at Conde Nast, the global media company with a portfolio including brands such as Vogue, Vanity Fair, GQ, Wired, among others.

In this conversation, Jason and I dive into some of the complexities of multinational expansion and how businesses can effectively manage those challenges that come with that.
 
🌟 Some of my favourite parts were:
✅ Considerations around when a business is ready to enter a new market;
✅ How to ensure the vision and values of your business are respected as you grow;
✅ Maintaining control over your cash as you enter markets with different payment practices;
✅ The benefits of a federated vs. centralised model to ensure consistent & accurate information;
✅ In house vs. External – insights into setting up offices and the trade-offs around speed, cost and risks to compliance.

Business Book Bonus Recommendation – 

The Culture Map – Erin Meyer - https://amzn.eu/d/0YWNcg5 

As we kick off the new year, I'm thrilled to be joined by Magda Dillon, the Owner-Director and Head of Consultancy at Pain Free IT, experts in leading and delivering best in class business solutions. 

In this broad ranging conversation, Magda and I cover all that you need to know about selecting, implementing and launching a new agency finance and project management system.

🌟 Some of my favourite parts were:

✅ Why and When Businesses should consider rolling out a new system;

✅ How Magda views AI impacting the world of Finance and PM systems;

✅ How to best avoid a garbage in / garbage out situation with data migration;

✅ How to get the wider business teams involved in the project for optimum buy in;

✅ The need for a bespoke, iterative approach to launching a successful product roll out.

In this, our fourth episode, I'm joined by David Blois, the Founder and Managing Partner at M&A Advisory, the specialists advising on company sales, mergers and acquisitions in the marketing communications, media and martech sectors.
 
In this broad ranging conversation, David and I cover all that you need to know about selling your agency business.
 
Some of my favourite parts were:
 
✅ The best time to engage an M&A Advisory firm;
✅ The steps in the sale process from Offer through to Completion;
✅ The importance and value of structuring the incentive part of the deal correctly;
✅ The structure of deals and earn out periods David is seeing at the moment;
✅ The importance of getting your books in shape to help you run your business and expedite the sale process.
 
 

In this, our third episode, I'm joined by @Rich Nicholas, Global CFO & COO @Ridley Scott Creative Group, the Creative Group led by the legendary Director Sir Ridley Scott.

In this conversation, Rich and I cover all that you need to know about running a production profitably from commercials all the way through to episodic TV.

Some of my favourite parts were:

✅ The (£75 grand) risks of going over budget on filming;

✅ Rich’s insights and tactics for setting budgets on Productions;

✅ How Rich balances the conflicting demands of cash and creative;

✅ The value and importance of a strong, experienced Head of Production;

✅ Finance being responsible for the sweets and the petrol - don’t worry, it makes sense on the pod!

Subscribe now to make sure you don’t miss out on future episodes.

#FractionalCFOShow #ProductionFinance #PodcastAlert #RichNicholas #AdamCooperCFO 🚀

This week, I sat down with Stephen Knight, Founder and CEO of Pimento, to unpack how business can turn marketing from a cost into a profit driver.

Some of my favourite takeaways from our conversation:

✅ The #1 mistake SMEs make when hiring marketing help, and how to avoid it.
✅ Why cutting brand spend in a downturn is often a strategic mistake.
✅ How to find the right marketing partner in a sea of thousands of agencies.
✅ How PE-backed businesses can still build brand equity without losing performance focus.
✅ And, what happened when a FTSE30 firm spent just 17p per customer per year on marketing.

In our second episode, I'm delighted to be joined by Merley Okine, Group General Counsel of Ebiquity plc, the media investment analysis firm.

In this conversation, Merley and I cover a plethora of topics that you won’t want to miss.

Some of my favourite parts were:

✅ What legal support a business needs as it scales;

✅ Budgeting tips for Legal and other Departments as well;

✅ When to bring Legal into strategic commercial situations;

✅ How the Finance and Legal teams should best collaborate;

✅ Insights into how to manage legal and compliance across an international entity.

 
Merley's Business Book recommendation: Radical Candor by Kim Scott: https://amzn.eu/d/g73NzUJ

Where to find Merley: 

Web: https://ebiquity.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/merleyokine/

In our premiere episode, I was joined by Richard Carpenter, CEO of Bladonmore, the specialist stakeholder communications agency.

In our wide ranging conversation, Richard and I dive into the dynamic relationship between the Finance team and the CEO.

Some of my favourite parts were:

✅ How job profitability is a team sport;
✅ The financial metrics Richard can’t live without;
✅ How Richard looks at the business post pandemic;
✅ Insights into successful budgeting and forecasting;
✅ Some pearls of wisdom around recruiting and retaining staff.

Richard's Business Book recommendation: Thinking Fast and Slow – Daniel Kahneman - https://amzn.eu/d/iiaqYIC

Where to find Richard: 
Web: https://www.bladonmore.com/contact/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bladonmore/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bladonmore/

Every small business owner needs advice and guidance. Each week successful Operators join fractional CFO Adam Cooper, to share their experiences, tips and tricks to help improve your business cash flows, profits and help reach your financial goals.  

This week, I sat down with the brilliant @Sarah Lamontagne, Founder of @Montagne Motion Consulting, to dive into what really matters when founders make those all-important first hires.

Sarah’s seen it all, from prisons to AI scaleups, and brings some refreshing honesty, and tonnes of experience to bear hiring, culture, and building the foundations for a people-first business.

Some personal highlights from our conversation:
 ✅ Why founders waste time (and budget) trying to DIY their early hires.
 ✅ The real cost of a 5-stage interview process (and why it needs to die).
 ✅ How finance and HR should actually collaborate (hint: start with muffins).
✅ What culture really is, and why Slack emojis don’t count.
✅ Why every founder needs to think about succession planning before they think they’re ready.

This week, I sat down with Peter Charalambides, CEO of The Upper Room and former Property CEO, for a powerful conversation on how to run a charity with a business mindest.

Some of my favourite moments from our chat include:

✅ What Peter learned from starting-up a business and how that shapes his charity leadership today.
 ✅ Why charities must diversify income streams and the impact of local community.
✅ Financial lessons from the business world on cash flow, benchmarking salaries, and tech that Peter took to the third sector.
✅ How Peter uses mindfulness (and a beard net) to help out with The Upper Room’s meal service.
✅ And his call to action for younger donors, and those who can help reach them.

If you're leading a purpose-driven business or want to hear what financial leadership looks like in the charity sector, this one’s for you.

Big thanks to Peter for being generous with his story, and for the Doctor Who name drop too 👀 

In this week’s episode, I sat down with Dan DeGolier, CEO of Ascent CFO Solutions, to dig into the world of metrics, and how small businesses can start to think about this subject.

Some of the highlights from our conversation included:

✅ Why “cash is king” still matters – regardless of your growth stage.
✅ The biggest mistake small businesses make with dashboards – think noise vs. insight!
✅ How to make KPIs work best across teams – tip: link them to bonus schemes.
✅ The difference between tracking leads... and tracking the right ones.
✅ Power BI vs Excel – when to upgrade and when to keep it simple.

If you’ve ever looked at a spreadsheet and didn’t know where to start, then this one’s for you.

Business Book Bonus:

https://amzn.eu/d/8Mlexvz

https://amzn.eu/d/hOKTFT7

This week, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Mark Jenkins, CEO of The Gap, a platform to help accountants, CFOs, and advisors turn their expertise into scalable value-driven services.

Some of my personal highlights from the conversation include:

✅ Why clients struggle to see your worth.

✅ The sweet spot between “art and science” when selling services.

✅ The importance of systemising delivery with repeatable frameworks.

✅ Tools to turn advisory chats into valuable and commercial outcomes.

✅ And why “efficiency ≠ profit”—unless you reinvest that time intentionally.

This one's packed with insights for anyone selling services, especially if you’ve ever found yourself thinking, “I know I added value... but did I explain it well enough?”

Business Book Bonus Section:

The Grapes of Wrath: https://amzn.eu/d/4SCeJHp

What Got You Here Won't Get You There: https://amzn.eu/d/3n48q3K

This week, I had the pleasure of sitting down with @Gerri Phillips, Co-Founder and Chief Experience Officer of @Cue Gravity - a company that’s built its niche helping retailers tell their story successfully by blending the physical and the digital.

While Cue Gravity is already working with top-tier brands across the U.S. Gerri is now leading the U.K. charge, focusing on bringing that U.S.. experience and success to the UK.

🌟 Some of the most interesting parts of our conversation were:

✅ Why UK businesses are more sceptical of tech innovation than the U.S. 

✅ How content, technology, and storytelling combine to drive retail performance.

✅ What Gerri’s learned about building a support network when you’re starting out.

✅ What it’s like launching in a new country with no team, no pipeline, and no profile. 

✅ Why “tech for tech’s sake” is a problem, and how to avoid it with a strategy-first approach 

This week I’m joined by Michael Henderson, Founder of RiskBox Ltd, a man on a mission to help creative businesses understand what insurance they really need.

Michael brings a refreshingly honest take on one of the more confusing of running a businesses. He shares real stories, practical guidance, and insights that could save your business time, money and headaches when things go wrong.

🌟 Some of my favourite parts of our conversation include:

✅ Legal must-haves vs. nice-to-haves: What’s actually required when starting out.
✅ Overinsured or underinsured? Why many founders get this balance wrong.
✅ Contracts and cover: How to handle insurance clauses in big client agreements.
✅ Cyber and ransomware: What protection looks like in a digital-first world.
✅ “Mitigation of loss”: The little-known insurance clause that could save you thousands.

In this episode of The Fractional CFO Show, Adam Cooper sits down with Dean McKenna, Co-Founder of Cassia Digital Agency, to unpack how digital strategy should actually connect to business performance, not just aesthetics.

This is a practical, experience-led conversation for founders, operators, and business owners who know their online presence matters, but aren’t always clear on where to invest, what good looks like, or how to make it pay back.

Dean brings a refreshing, structured perspective to a space that often feels vague or overly technical. He talks through his GROW model, a simple but powerful way of linking business goals to digital execution, and explains why so many companies end up spending money on websites, SEO, or marketing activity that never really delivers a return.

A big theme throughout the conversation is credibility. Many businesses build strong reputations offline through relationships, referrals, and delivery, but lose momentum when a prospective client checks them out online and the website doesn’t reflect that same level of quality. That gap, what Dean describes as “website shame”, can quietly erode trust and cost real opportunities.

We also get into the numbers behind digital performance. Not vanity metrics, but the ones that actually matter from a commercial perspective, traffic quality, conversion rates, SEO visibility, and cost of acquisition, and how these link back to revenue, profitability, and long-term business value.

Along the way, we explore:

•  Why a strong offline business can still lose deals due to poor digital credibility 
•  The hidden cost of misaligned messaging, branding, and user experience 
•  How to approach website and digital investment with a clear ROI mindset 
•  Why strategy should always come before design, development, or paid traffic 
•  The role of structure and accountability when founders are spinning multiple plates 
•  How AI is starting to reshape search, discoverability, and how customers find businesses 
•  The difference between a “brochure website” and a revenue-generating digital asset 
•  Practical ways to sense-check whether your current website is helping or hurting growth 

This isn’t a technical deep dive, it’s a grounded conversation about making better decisions, avoiding wasted spend, and treating your digital presence as a core part of your business strategy.

If you’re thinking about investing in your website, improving your online presence, or simply trying to understand what “good” looks like in 2026, this episode will give you a clearer, more commercial way of looking at it.

In this episode of The Fractional CFO Show, we explore a question many agency founders quietly wrestle with:

What would actually change in your business if you freed up just 10 hours a week?

I’m joined by Jesse P. Gilmore, Founder of Niche in Control and host of the Leverage for Growth podcast. Jesse works closely with agency owners who have built successful businesses, but find themselves trapped in delivery, decisions, and day-to-day firefighting.

This is a practical, grounded conversation about escaping founder-dependence without losing control.

We unpack how agency owners can:

• Diagnose where their time is really going using Jesse’s Time Audit framework
• Move away from trading hours for revenue and towards value-led pricing and profitability
• Build systems and delegation that support scale, not complexity
• Use AI deliberately as a leverage tool, not a distraction
• Reframe metrics like utilisation, average client value, and earned standard hours to support better decisions

From a CFO perspective, this episode sits right at the intersection of time, money, and leadership capacity. Because reclaiming time isn’t about working less, it’s about building a business that no longer relies on the founder to function.

If you’re an agency founder or service-based business owner feeling stretched, stuck in the weeds, or unsure how to create headroom without risking performance, this episode will help you think more clearly about what needs to change, and in what order.

A thoughtful, practical listen for anyone serious about building a scalable agency with stronger margins, better systems, and more intentional leadership.

In this episode of The Fractional CFO Show, Adam Cooper is joined by Elliott King, agency founder, digital marketing expert, and Managing Partner at FINN Partners, to explore the real journey from startup to exit.

Elliott shares honest insights on managing cash flow through growth, the shift from project to retainer revenue, and the financial discipline required to build a sellable agency.

They also dive into the realities of M&A, including due diligence, valuation drivers, and what actually changes after a sale.

Plus, a look at how AI, SEO, and owned media are reshaping digital marketing, and what agency founders should be doing now to stay competitive.

A must-listen for agency owners focused on growth, profitability, and long-term exit strategy.

Thinking about raising debt finance for growth, refinancing, acquisitions or working capital?

In this episode of The Fractional CFO Show, Adam Cooper speaks with Steve Cockell, Founder of Obica Business Funding and experienced commercial debt advisor, about how the SME funding landscape has changed, and what founders must do before approaching lenders.

They discuss:

• The decline of traditional relationship banking
• The SME funding gap between £500k - £2m
• Invoice finance vs unsecured cash flow lending vs asset-backed facilities
• How to craft a compelling funding narrative
• When to use a debt advisor
• What lenders really look for in today’s credit environment

If you’re planning business growth and want to use debt finance strategically, this episode will help you approach funding with clarity and confidence.

In this episode of The Fractional CFO Show, Adam Cooper is joined by Callum Lockwood (Re:signal) to explore how SEO and marketing decisions translate into real commercial outcomes.

Too many businesses still measure success through traffic, rankings, and vanity metrics. But as Callum explains, those numbers don’t always lead to what actually matters, revenue growth, profitability, and cash flow.

This conversation takes a more commercial and CFO-led view of SEO, reframing it as a long-term growth investment rather than a standalone marketing channel.

Together, Adam and Callum break down how founders and operators should think about return on investment (ROI), payback periods, and contribution margin when evaluating SEO and digital marketing spend.

They also explore how AI is changing the economics of marketing in 2026, from reducing the cost of content production to increasing competition and shifting where real value is created.

Key themes from the episode include:

•  Why traffic alone is a poor indicator of business performance
•  How to connect SEO activity to revenue, margin, and commercial outcomes
•  The role of SEO within a broader growth strategy and marketing mix
•  Common areas where businesses misallocate marketing budget and resources
•  Why many “SEO problems” are actually issues with pricing, positioning, or conversion
•  How to think about SEO in terms of customer acquisition cost (CAC) and lifetime value (LTV)
•  The impact of AI on search, content, and digital competition
•  What CFOs and founders should be asking before investing further in marketing 

This is a practical, experience-led discussion designed to help founders, CEOs, and operators make better decisions about where to invest for sustainable growth.

If you’re spending on marketing, or questioning whether your current strategy is really delivering a return, this episode will help you rethink how SEO fits into your wider commercial model.

Why is revenue forecasting so difficult in agencies and project-based businesses?

In this episode of The Fractional CFO Show, Adam Cooper speaks with Julia Longo, Group Finance Director at SAENTYS, about the operational and financial realities of forecasting revenue in a fast-moving creative consultancy environment.

SAENTYS operates across the UK, France and Switzerland, supporting clients in the real estate, hospitality and destination sectors. Julia oversees finance across multiple entities and shares a practical, experience-led view of how forecasting, reporting and operational planning work inside an international agency business.

The discussion explores the difference between billing forecasting and revenue forecasting, and why many businesses have strong visibility over invoicing and pipeline activity but still struggle to understand future profitability and utilisation properly.

Adam and Julia discuss the challenges of managing constantly shifting project scopes, changing client deadlines, freelancer requirements and resource allocation, all while trying to maintain accurate financial reporting and forward-looking visibility.

The episode also covers the importance of management accounts, KPI reporting, operational finance processes and cross-functional collaboration between finance, client services, operations and creative teams.

Other topics covered include:

• Revenue forecasting vs billing forecasting
• Financial planning in project-based businesses
• Profitability management for agencies
• Cash flow forecasting and pipeline visibility
• Resource planning and utilisation management
• PSA systems and operational reporting
• Finance leadership in creative businesses
• International reporting and multi-entity finance operations
• Forecasting challenges in professional services firms
• Improving financial visibility through better systems and processes
• Time tracking, project profitability and operational accountability
• Management reporting for growing agencies
• Finance transformation and process improvement
• Forecasting uncertainty and decision-making with incomplete data
• The role of finance in supporting operational performance

Julia also shares insights from her non-traditional route into finance leadership, moving from a background in chemistry and operations into senior finance roles within the agency world. The conversation highlights why strong finance leaders in creative and professional services businesses need commercial awareness, operational understanding and the ability to work closely with non-finance teams.

This is a practical conversation for agency founders, finance directors, COOs, management accountants, project-based businesses and professional services firms looking to improve forecasting accuracy, profitability, financial visibility and operational decision-making.

Guest:
Julia Longo - Group Finance Director at SAENTYS

Hosted by:
Adam Cooper - ACC Finance Solutions

Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and all major podcast platforms.

#FinancialForecasting #RevenueForecasting #ManagementAccounts #CashFlowForecasting #Profitability #AgencyFinance #FinanceLeadership #OperationalFinance #ProfessionalServices #BusinessGrowth