In this episode of the Unlocking Value podcast, John Howard speaks with Rhys Hefford, a serial founder who has built, scaled and sold multiple professional services businesses over the past fifteen years.

Rhys has launched six firms and successfully exited two, typically taking each from start-up to around £2 million+ in EBITDA before handing over to new leadership teams. His experience gives him a unique view of how to build, scale, exit and start again without losing sight of the life you want to lead.

Together, John and Rhys explore what drives repeat founders, how to design a business that fits your personal goals, and how to know when it is time to step aside and let others take it further. They discuss succession planning, bringing in new leaders, the realities of early-stage growth and why self-awareness is as critical as ambition when building lasting value.

Key discussion points include:

• What keeps a serial founder coming back to build again
• How to align business design with personal purpose and family life
• Recognising when the business needs new leadership
• Building value in the early stages and focusing on what really moves the needle
• The discipline of narrowing focus and avoiding over-analysis
• How to prepare a team and structure for a successful exit

For founders and leaders in professional services, this is an honest, reflective conversation about building multiple multi-million-pound businesses, creating space for others to lead and finding a way to scale without burning out.

Host: John Howard, Partner at Garwood Growth
Guest: Rhys Hefford, Serial Founder 

In this episode of the Unlocking Value podcast, John Howard speaks with Marcus Eden-Ellis, the founder and chief executive of Bid Perfect, a specialist consultancy that helps organisations compete, persuade, and win.

Marcus spent decades in senior sales roles before launching his own firm in 2006. Nearly twenty years later, his team has supported more than 900 companies across the UK, Europe and the US, training their people to sell more effectively and build sustainable growth through better bids.

In this conversation, Marcus shares what he has learned about transforming sales from a personality-led exercise into a measurable, teachable discipline. He also explains why the best firms treat every bid as a reflection of how they think, operate and build trust.

Key discussion points include:

• How to identify winning opportunities before investing in a bid.
  
  
• The value of structure, training and feedback in creating a high-performing sales culture.
  
  
• Why the most successful proposals focus on measurable client outcomes.
  
  
• How AI is changing the mechanics of bid writing without replacing human tone or judgment.
  
  
• What happens when leaders see persuasion as a strategic capability, not a task.
  
  
• Why long-term partnerships, not quick wins, are the foundation of real business value.
  
  

For professional services leaders, this episode offers a clear, experience-led view on how to systemise success, strengthen credibility and create teams that know how to win.

This episode is available to stream below or on any of your usual podcast platforms (such as Spotify and Apple Podcasts).

Host: John Howard, Partner at Garwood Growth
Guest: Marcus Eden-Ellis, Founding Director at Bid Perfect

In this episode, we look at how investors and advisors assess a business – and what can spook them.

We’re joined by an investor, a corporate lawyer and a corporate finance advisor to talk about what builds confidence during a transaction – and what can cause it to break down. From messy data and vague narratives to unexpected risks that emerge late in the process, they share what buyers really watch for and what separates strong deals from aborted ones.

If you want a clearer picture of how buyers think and how to avoid common pitfalls, this episode will give you a practical inside view.

Want to learn more about how investment transactions work in professional services? Download Garwood Growth’s free Unlocking Value book. It’s your step-by-step guide to what’s involved and what you should consider, whether you're thinking about selling, getting ready for external investment or just exploring your options. 

Guest List

Host: John Howard, Partner at Garwood Growth
Guest: Alex Thomson, Partner at Growth Capital Partners
Guest: Frank Shephard, Partner and Global Head of Corporate at DWF
Guest: Paul Lines, Partner at Garwood Growth

www.garwoodgrowth.com

In this episode, we ask a deceptively simple question: what actually makes a business valuable?

Host John Howard is joined by a founder, an investor and an advisor to explore what really drives high valuations in professional services. They talk about the importance of revenue quality, market positioning and delivery maturity – and why investors care just as much about what’s ahead as what’s already been built. Along the way, the guests share real-world examples of how they’ve made their businesses more attractive by focusing on the things that genuinely create value.

If you want to understand what buyers are really looking for – and how to build a business that stands out – this episode is for you.

Want to learn more about how investment transactions work in professional services? Download Garwood Growth’s free Unlocking Value book. It’s your step-by-step guide to what’s involved and what you should consider, whether you're thinking about selling, getting ready for external investment or just exploring your options. 

Guest List

Host: John Howard, Partner at Garwood Growth
Guest: Minos Ataliotis, Founder and CEO at CloudRock
Guest: Emma Flin, Investment Director at Sovereign Capital Partners
Guest: Rob Garner, Founding Partner at Garwood Growth

 www.garwoodgrowth.com

In this episode, we explore one of the biggest hidden success factors in any deal: alignment between shareholders.

We’re joined by four founders who’ve lived through the challenge of keeping ambitions, personalities and timelines aligned as their businesses evolved – and as the prospect of a transaction came into view. They share honest, practical advice about how to navigate the hard conversations, balance head and heart, and keep your culture intact without derailing the deal.

This episode is full of valuable insight for anyone leading a firm with multiple owners or thinking about what it takes to get ready for a transaction – together.

Want to learn more about how investment transactions work in professional services? Download Garwood Growth’s free Unlocking Value book. It’s your step-by-step guide to what’s involved and what you should consider, whether you're thinking about selling, getting ready for external investment or just exploring your options. 

Guest List 

Host: John Howard, Partner at Garwood Growth
Guest: Gita Singham-Willis (Co-founders of Cadence Innova)
Guest: Jane Barrett (Co-founders of Cadence Innova)
Guest: Neil Sharp (Co-founders of PEN Partnership)
Guest: Richard Vale (Co-founders of PEN Partnership)

www.garwoodgrowth.com

In this opening episode of the Unlocking Value podcast, we go right back to the first big question founders face: should we even do a deal? Host John Howard is joined by four guests with direct experience of weighing up whether to sell, take on investment or stay the course. They talk candidly about what led them to consider a transaction, how they judged the right time, what kind of deal felt right – and what they’ve learned along the way. 

This episode is packed with real-world insight for anyone starting to think about what a deal might mean and whether it’s the right move at all.

Want to learn more about how investment transactions work in professional services? Download Garwood Growth’s free Unlocking Value book. It’s your step-by-step guide to what’s involved and what you should consider, whether you're thinking about selling, getting ready for external investment or just exploring your options. 

Guest List:

Host: John Howard, Partner at Garwood Growth
Guest: Marc Schmid (Co-founder and director at Redmoor Health)
Guest: Alison Schmid (Co-founder and director at Redmoor Health)
Guest: Mat Oram (CEO and Co-founder at AdviseInc)
Guest: Rob Garner (Founder and Partner at Garwood Growth)

www.garwoodgrowth.com

In this episode of the Unlocking Value podcast, John Howard speaks with Adam Craker, Chief Executive of iqbusiness, one of South Africa’s leading consulting and digital integration firms.

Adam has led iqbusiness for more than 15 years, guiding the firm through three distinct chapters: angel investor-backed growth, private equity ownership, and its current position within a listed corporate group. Throughout that journey, he has built a culture that blends high performance with purpose and personality. Central to that is GESHIDO, the trademarked spirit of Getting Sh*t Done.

Together, Adam and John explore what it takes to lead through long-term change. They discuss the shifting expectations that come with different ownership models, the realities of keeping teams motivated through volatility, and the power of humour, partnership and purpose in building a firm designed to endure.

For leaders in professional services, this is a practical and reflective conversation about scaling with intent, staying agile under pressure, and building a business that does more than last. It makes a difference.

Host: John Howard, Partner at Garwood Growth
Guest: Adam Craker, Chief Executive at iqbusiness

In this episode of the Unlocking Value podcast, we welcome Jon Grant, Tech M&A Director at Clearwater, one of Europe’s leading corporate finance firms. 

Jon is one of the UK’s most experienced advisors on technology and consulting deals and works closely with founders and leadership teams to help them build, grow and realise value in their businesses. Over his career, Jon has advised on some of the sector’s most high-profile transactions, including the sale of Infinity Works to Accenture, Growth Capital Partners’ investment in Hippo Digital, and the sale of Oakland Partners to Softcat. That track record gives him a clear and practical perspective on what really drives value in professional services and what buyers and investors are looking for today.

For leaders thinking about investment or exit, there are many challenges to grapple with:  understanding what acquirers actually value, deciding how to position the business, and making sure their firm is not just ready to sell but is also ready to be bought. Together, Jon and John explore the changing M&A landscape, what kinds of businesses command premium valuations and how founders can prepare.

Key discussion points include:

• How the market has changed since 2020 and how that has affected valuations
• The fundamentals that still drive value in professional services
• Why things like sector focus and alignment with major technology ecosystems can increase resilience
• Managing customer concentration and reducing risk before a sale
• The importance of leadership alignment and complete management teams
• The differences between trade buyers and private equity
• What getting ready to be bought really means
• How and when to start conversations with investors

For founders and leaders in professional services, this is a practical, candid view of what drives value today and how to prepare your firm to thrive, whether you plan to sell or simply want to build a more resilient and valuable consultancy.

Host: John Howard, Partner at Garwood - Growth
Guest: Jon Grant, Tech M&A Director - Clearwater

In this episode of the Unlocking Value podcast, John Howard speaks with Andy Strickland, Partner at Palatine Private Equity.

Andy has spent more than a decade backing ambitious Professional Services founders and management teams, often at the point where external investment is being considered for the first time. He shares Palatine’s philosophy of Positive Equity, an approach that focuses on partnership, sustainability and people-led growth.

Together, John and Andy talk about what private equity really means for leaders in professional services. They explore how the right investment partner can help firms grow responsibly, strengthen culture and create long-term value.

Key discussion points include:

• What Private Equity looks like in practice and what it means for founders
• How Palatine’s value-enhancement approach supports sustainable growth
• Why integration and culture are central to successful buy-and-build strategies
• The real sources of private-equity capital and its wider economic impact
• The questions founders should ask before choosing an investment partner

For founders and leaders in professional services, this is a clear and practical conversation that removes the uncertainty around private equity and shows how investment – done the right way – can unlock lasting value for people, businesses and communities.

Host: John Howard, Partner at Garwood Growth

Guest: Andy Strickland, Partner at Palatine Private Equity.

In this episode of the Unlocking Value podcast, John Howard speaks with leadership coach and former consultancy partner Richard Jones about one of the hardest things to get right in professional services: senior leadership transitions.

On paper, it sounds simple: bring in a talented new leader to help the business grow. In reality, it’s far more complex.

Richard and John talk about why these moments are so high-stakes and why more than half of senior hires fail within 18 months. They explore the messy web of explicit and implicit expectations, the challenges of navigating strong internal cultures in mid-sized firms, and the paradox of hiring for difference while instinctively resisting it.

Richard draws on years of research and first-hand experience to reveal what makes transitions succeed. He explains why leadership changes must be treated as a team game, how to build a safe environment for new leaders, and why maintaining high standards matters most when everything feels uncertain.

The conversation covers:

• The impact of complex, unspoken expectations on both sides of a hire
• The paradox of seeking difference while resisting change
• How mid-sized firms can prepare their culture for new leadership
• Why successful transitions are a team effort, not a solo challenge
• How leaders can create psychological safety without lowering the bar
  
  

For leaders navigating growth, or anyone responsible for bringing senior talent into their firm, this episode offers a candid look at the complexity of transitions and how, with the right mindset and preparation, they can become moments of real progress.

Host: John Howard, Partner at Garwood Growth

Guest: Richard Jones, Board Advisor at OLIA

In this episode of the Unlocking Value podcast, John Howard speaks with Craig Herd, founder of Consultancy Growth. 

Craig shares his journey from door-to-door sales at 19, to becoming National Sales Director with a team of 55, to working with a growth enablement consultancy, and now leading his company, Consultancy Growth, which helps UK boutique consultancies build growth systems that actually work. He explains his six pillars of consultancy growth and what consultancy-specific sales and marketing needs to look like in order to become a genuine ROI-driven growth engine, rather than a costly black hole.

The conversation covers:

• Why “marketing only matters if it goes somewhere”
• The six key stages of the client journey: lead generation, lead nurture, sales, delivery, retention and ascension
• How to avoid the founder sales trap and enable teams to sell effectively
• The risks of expecting written proposals to do too much heavy lifting in a sales process
• The often-missed opportunities in retention and expansion into bigger client problem spaces

For consultancy leaders, this episode offers a practical blueprint for building long-term value and avoiding common growth pitfalls.

Host: John Howard, Partner at Garwood Growth
Guest: Craig Herd, Founder of Consultancy Growth

In this episode, John Howard speaks with Justin Langford, co-founder and CEO of Coeo. Over nearly two decades, Justin has grown the business from a two-person start-up into a consultancy trusted by some of the UK’s largest organisations.

Justin shares the key chapters in Coeo’s journey, from proving the model and scaling cautiously at first through to shifting gears and adopting a private-equity style playbook to accelerate growth without external funding. 

He explains how the firm has built long-term value through its talent academy, international expansion, and a culture of learning and codified delivery frameworks.

The conversation also explores Justin’s approach to data-driven leadership, including avoiding “watermelon KPIs” and applying a “Moneyball” mindset to consultancy performance. He reflects on navigating a co-founder exit, evolving his role as CEO and keeping the energy to lead after 18 years.

Host: John Howard, Partner at Garwood Growth

Guest: Justin Langford, Co-founder and CEO at Coeo

www.garwoodgrowth.com

In the final episode of this series, we talk to a panel of experienced consultancy leaders and advisors about what really happens after a deal is done – and what no one tells you in advance.

The conversation explores the emotional, cultural and operational challenges founders and owners can face once the dust settles. We discuss everything from from shifts in identity and purpose through to leadership transitions, people dynamics and integration into new teams and roles. This is a candid, practical conversation about what founders and other leaders wish they’d known, and what it really takes to succeed in the post-deal world.

Want to learn more about how investment transactions work in professional services? Download Garwood Growth’s free Unlocking Value book. It’s your step-by-step guide to what’s involved and what you should consider, whether you're thinking about selling, getting ready for external investment or just exploring your options. 

Guest List

Host: John Howard, Partner at Garwood Growth
Guest: Mark Campbell, Senior Vice-President at RGP
Guest: Richard Jones, Former Partner at Moorhouse Consulting
Guest: Anna Cornwallis, Managing Director at Stratton HR

www.garwoodgrowth.com

In this episode, we focus on what it really means to be ready for a deal – not just in theory, but in practice.

Host John Howard is joined by two seasoned founders and a corporate finance advisor to explore what it really means to be ready for a transaction process. Together, they dig into the systems, behaviours, and blind spots that shape outcomes – sometimes years before a transaction takes place. This conversation offers practical advice on getting ahead of the curve, managing risk, and setting your business up for the best possible valuation and process.

Want to learn more about how investment transactions work in professional services? Download Garwood Growth’s free Unlocking Value book. It’s your step-by-step guide to what’s involved and what you should consider, whether you're thinking about selling, getting ready for external investment or just exploring your options. 

Guest List

Host: John Howard, Partner at Garwood Growth
Guest: Mark Robinson, Co-founder of Edenbrook and Kimble/Kantata
Guest: Sean Hoban, Co-founder of Edenbrook and Kimble/Kantata
Guest: James Barraclough, Co-founder and Partner at Elucid Partners

www.garwoodgrowth.com

AI is firmly on the agenda for professional services firms, but many leaders are still working out what it really means in practice – for delivery, governance, people, and trust with clients. 

In this episode of Unlocking Value, John Howard speaks with Dan Figueiredo, a senior leader at Microsoft whose career has sat at the intersection of technology, consulting, and commercial delivery. Dan shares a practical perspective shaped by working closely with professional services firms on how they are using AI without outsourcing judgement or creating unnecessary risk.

The conversation covers:

• Why many technology and AI initiatives struggle when firms start with tools rather than outcomes.
• How AI often acts as a force amplifier – strengthening good ways of working while exposing weak ones.
• How AI is already being used inside consulting teams to speed up analysis, documentation, and design work.
• Why experienced judgement still matters, and what can go wrong when AI output is relied on too heavily.
• The practical governance questions firms are grappling with, from data security to responsible use.
• Why training, adoption, and behaviour change matter more than simply rolling out new tools.
• How concerns about trust and credibility with clients are influencing how firms use AI.

This is a practical conversation for professional services leaders who want to understand where AI genuinely helps, where it creates new responsibilities, and what it means for leadership and judgement in a consulting business.

If you’d like to hear more conversations like this, follow the show for early access to future episodes.

Host: John Howard, Partner at Garwood Growth
Guest: Dan Figueiredo, senior leader, Microsoft

Lizzie Meadowcroft is part of the value creation team at LDC, the private equity arm of Lloyds Banking Group. She works closely with management teams across the LDC portfolio, supporting growth, integration and development.

Before joining LDC, Lizzie built a career advising businesses on mergers and acquisitions. She spent almost 20 years at KPMG, where she was a partner in the advisory team and supported business leaders through acquisitions, carve outs and periods of significant change. During that time, Lizzie supported professional services firms both as an external advisor and through KPMG’s own internal transactions.

Lizzie and John talked about growth through acquisition, integration choices, incentives and earn outs, and the role people and culture play in determining whether a deal delivers long-term value. For founders, owners and leaders of professional services businesses navigating growth, change or potential investment, this episode offers a practical view of what really drives successful outcomes.

Host: John Howard, Partner at Garwood Growth
Guest: Lizzie Meadowcroft, Value Creation Director at LDC

Claire Simm is Managing Director and Global Head of Regulatory Consulting at Kroll. She has built her entire career in professional services, moving between Big Four firms, entrepreneurial boutiques and global organisations – and seeing first-hand how leadership, culture and expectations change as firms grow.

In this conversation, John and Claire explore what it really takes to lead well in professional services as scale and complexity increase. Claire shares how her leadership approach has evolved over time, why sales and business development should feel natural rather than awkward, and how trusted relationships sit at the heart of long-term growth.

Drawing on her due diligence experience, Claire also offers a grounded perspective on what external scrutiny tends to reveal about professional services firms – where leaders are often surprised, what gets exposed when someone starts asking detailed questions, and why preparation, responsiveness and judgement matter long before any formal process begins.

Key discussion points include:

• How leadership roles change as professional services firms grow
• Shifting from delivery to developing others without losing quality or credibility
• Why sales and business development should feel normal, not forced
• What external scrutiny often reveals about how firms are really run
• The role of preparation, data and responsiveness in building confidence during a transaction process
• Why trust and judgement underpin long-term value in professional services

For founders, partners and senior leaders building professional services firms, this conversation offers a thoughtful, experience-led view on how credibility is built over time – and how leaders earn trust through the decisions they make when things get harder, not easier.

Host: John Howard, Partner at Garwood Growth
Guest: Claire Simm, Managing Director and Global Head of Regulatory Consulting at Kroll

To round off the year, the show takes a slightly different shape.

In this brief episode, John reflects on some of the common themes from conversations in 2025 and says thank you to the guests and listeners who’ve shaped the series. He also looks ahead to what’s coming next. 

Thanks for being part of the show. We’ll see you in 2026!

Host: John Howard, Partner at Garwood Growth

In a sector where scaling often leads to external investment or an eventual sale, what does it look like to build a consultancy that grows, stays independent and develops a long-term ownership model for its people?

Olly Purnell is the co-founder of Q5, the organisational health consultancy that has grown from a small London start-up into a global firm operating across multiple regions, all without private equity or a planned exit. Instead of organising their business around an eventual transaction, Olly and his co-founders focused on purpose, long-term stewardship and the belief that advisory is a vocation.

This episode explores the decisions that shaped the firm’s early years and the operating principles that allowed Q5 to scale with focus and consistency. Olly discusses how broadening ownership strengthened commitment across the organisation and why different firms choose different paths depending on the futures they want to build.

John and Olly examine what resilience looks like inside a consultancy. They discuss how leadership choices, cultural discipline and a clear sense of identity help boutique firms compete effectively and why the craft of advisory still matters in an AI-enabled world.

Key discussion points include:

• What it takes to build a consulting firm from zero and the early decisions that matter most
• How to scale a firm organically, without a grand plan
• Why Q5 resisted investment offers and broadened ownership among employees
• How ownership shapes culture, accountability and long-term performance
• Why independence can be a competitive advantage for boutique consultancies
• How AI and technology can elevate the consulting craft without replacing it
• Why advisory remains a vocation and what it means to build a firm designed to last

For founders, partners and leaders who want to build consultancy firms on their own terms, this conversation offers a practical blueprint for independence, culture and long-term value creation.

Host: John Howard, Partner at Garwood Growth
Guest: Olly Purnell, Managing Partner at Q5

In this episode of The Unlocking Value Podcast, John Howard speaks with Pekka Metsaranta, founder and CEO of Sisua Ltd, a consultancy known for stepping in to help clients succeed with their most complex programmes. From M&A integrations to large-scale systems delivery, Sisua operates where clarity and execution matter most.

Just as Sisua thrives amid complexity, Pekka’s own path has been equally demanding. He built Sisua from the ground up without co-founders, delivered work while building the business, and learned the hard way what leadership really means when there’s no safety net. His story is one many consultancy founders will recognise: full of steep learning curves, hard decisions and the discipline to keep going when belief is all you have.

Together, John and Pekka explore what it takes to build a values-led professional services firm in real-world conditions, without shortcuts or illusions.

Key discussion points include:

• What meaningful balance looks like for founders and the practical levers that make it possible
• How to lead with accountability in a collaborative, non-hierarchical culture
• What can happen when you scale internal processes too early
• Why leadership in complexity demands belief and resilience

For founders and leaders building firms in uncertain markets, this is a candid, grounded lesson in navigating tough challenges without losing sight of what matters.

Host: John Howard, Partner at Garwood Growth
Guest: Pekka Metsaranta, CEO of Sisua

If you’re leading a professional services firm and want to grow without losing what makes it yours, this episode brings clarity to one of the biggest decisions you’ll face: whether to take on investment and how to do it without compromise.

In this episode, John speaks with Laura Morrill, Investment Director at Agathos Management LLP and a highly accomplished competitive tennis player. Laura offers practical insight into how external investors can help founders sharpen their direction and strengthen their firms, while staying true to the ambitions and aims that led them to be founders in the first place.

Laura brings a rare blend of boardroom discipline, human insight and athletic resilience – and a belief that great partnerships are built on challenge, not comfort.

She has supported founder-led firms at their most critical inflection points. Her view? You don’t have to change who you are to grow and thrive. But you do have to know where you want to be heading and have a plan for how you’ll get there. 

Key discussion points include:

• Why resilient founders actively seek challenge and why investors trust those who do
• What really changes post-deal (hint: not as much as you might think)
• How to prepare your mindset and your firm for long-term value creation, long before external capital arrives
• What a value creation plan looks like inside a consultancy, with or without investment

Whether you’re actively considering investment or simply want to build a firm that lasts, this conversation is a masterclass in resilience, clarity and leading the long game on your terms. 

Host: John Howard, Partner at Garwood Growth
Guest: Laura Morrill, Investment Director at Agathos Management LLP

In this episode of the Unlocking Value podcast, John Howard speaks with Tom Burnet, an experienced chair, former public company chief executive and long-time leader across technology, services and people-centred organisations.

Tom’s career spans the army, entrepreneurship, public markets and multiple board and advisory roles. On paper it looks unconventional. In practice, a consistent pattern runs through everything he has built. He leads with intent. He focuses on the few priorities that genuinely create value. He is willing to stop initiatives that no longer serve the mission, even when doing so is uncomfortable.

Together, John and Tom explore what it means to build a business on purpose rather than drift with momentum. They discuss how to choose the right priorities, how to make difficult decisions under pressure and how ego, if left unchecked, can become one of the most expensive liabilities in any leadership team. Tom also shares a memorable metaphor about knowing when to “drown the puppies”, his candid way of describing the discipline of ending projects early before they drain time, money or energy.

Key discussion points include:

• What building with intent really looks like in practice
• Why ego quietly destroys more firms than market conditions do
• How to recognise when an initiative should end and act quickly
• What to do when your core market tightens and the firm needs to refocus
• How the best professional services firms become indispensable
• Why trusted advisers and independent voices can help keep leaders grounded

For founders, leaders and investors in professional services businesses, this is a candid and practical conversation about building long-term value with clarity, discipline and intent.

Host: John Howard, Partner at Garwood Growth
Guest: Tom Burnet, Non Executive Director

This episode is a little different from our usual format. Rather than a one to one conversation, we are sharing the audio from a recent webinar hosted by Deri Hughes of Honeycomb Consulting Skills Training, joined by Luk Smeyers from The Visible Authority and Rob Garner from Garwood Growth.

Together, they explore what 2026 is likely to mean for consulting firms, drawing on insights from the hundreds of firms they each work with every year.

The discussion covers:

 • The AI triple squeeze reshaping delivery models and margins

 • Why specialist boutiques are showing early signs of renewed growth

 • How firms are using AI internally, from efficiency and expertise to new propositions

 • The rising importance of human skills in winning work and building trust

 • What a consulting firm built from scratch in 2026 would actually look like

 • Why deep sector expertise is increasingly beating generalist capability

A big thank you to Deri Hughes for allowing us to republish the session here on Unlocking Value. If you would like more conversations like this, follow the show for early access to future episodes.

Host: John Howard,Partner at Garwood Growth
Guest: Rob Garner,Partner at Garwood Growth
Guest: Luk Smeyers, Partner at The Visible Authority
Guest: Deri Hughes, MD at Honeycomb Consulting

In this episode, John is joined by Jonathan Peachey, founder of Factory X and former board member at Next 15, where he spent several years leading M&A and transformation across a group of more than 20 businesses spanning consulting, marketing and professional services.

Jonathan has spent much of his career at the intersection of new technology and established business models. Having worked through multiple waves of disruption – from the early internet to big data – he brings a practical, grounded perspective on what makes AI different and why this moment matters for leaders facing deeply unfamiliar territory.

As Jonathan sees it, leaders may be fundamentally underestimating AI’s potential impact. That’s because AI is not just another tool to help consultants work faster. It’s a tool that changes what clients can do for themselves. And that raises some big questions about where firms add value and how they will compete in the future.

Jonathan and John discuss:

• Why AI is different from previous technology waves and why it poses a more direct challenge to traditional consulting services and operating models
• Which parts of professional services work are most exposed and why execution-heavy work is likely to be hardest hit
• How firms should respond in practice, including where to start and Jonathan’s framework covering commercial, operational and governance priorities
• Why intellectual property matters more than ever and how firms can start turning what they know into something more scalable
• How AI is likely to reshape pricing, business models and valuations and what that means for leaders and investors

If you lead a consulting or professional services firm and are trying to work out what AI really means beyond the noise, this conversation offers a clear, practical way to think about where to focus and what to do next.

If you enjoy conversations like this, follow the show so you don’t miss future episodes.

Host: John Howard, Partner at Garwood Growth
Guest: Jonathan Peachey, Founder of Factory X

In this episode, John is joined by Chris Allinson, Managing Partner at Yonder Consulting, a firm that helps organisations rethink how they grow and where they compete as markets evolve.

Chris has spent his career working at the intersection of strategy, innovation and insight. He describes his approach with a simple phrase: being “first of the next, not best of the last.” It captures one of the hardest challenges for any consulting firm – how to keep evolving your thinking and your offer while the demands of existing clients keep you focused on today.

Chris introduces the idea of silent drift: not the sudden disruption leaders tend to worry about, but something quieter and harder to notice. The kind of gradual shift where revenue is holding, the team is busy and nothing looks obviously wrong – yet the role your firm plays in clients’ organisations is slowly becoming less central.

They discuss:

• What silent drift is, why firms performing reasonably well are often the most exposed to it, and how leaders can spot the early signs before the shift becomes too hard to reverse
• Chris’s idea of “first of the next, not best of the last” and what it means for consulting leaders trying to stay ahead of their market
• How looking beyond your immediate sector into what Chris calls frontiers can help firms see emerging opportunities earlier
• Why the most effective strategic thinking combines rigorous, data-led insight with the kind of imagination many professional services firms have trained themselves out of
• How consulting firms can challenge their own assumptions early, rather than waiting for a client or competitor to force the change

If you lead a consulting or professional services firm and feel your market shifting in ways you cannot yet fully explain, this conversation offers a useful way to think about what might be happening – and what to do next.

If you enjoy conversations like this, follow the show so you don’t miss future episodes.

Host: John Howard, Partner at Garwood Growth
Guest: Chris Allinson, Managing Partner at Yonder Consulting

In this episode, John is joined by Adrian Hands, an experienced sales leader who has spent more than three decades in roles across technology, SaaS, media and e-commerce. Adrian now works as part of Positive Momentum, a group of seasoned consultants who run their own practices while sharing support, tools and common ways of working under the Positive Momentum umbrella.

Growth comes up frequently in John’s conversations with professional services leaders because balancing client delivery with maintaining a healthy pipeline is a challenge most firms never fully solve. In this conversation, Adrian brings a refreshingly down-to-earth approach to a challenge that can often feel harder than it needs to be.

They discuss:

• What Adrian calls “bloody good questions” and why the quality of discovery
• conversations determines the quality of everything that follows
• The simple weekly habit Adrian uses himself: five non-live prospect conversations every week, or what he calls “coffee to cash” conversations
• How to make selling more systematic and build a genuine growth engine in a professional services firm
• Where even the best-designed growth approaches come unstuck because human beings are involved
• The Positive Momentum model and why it offers a genuinely interesting alternative to traditional consulting firm structures

If you are leading a professional services firm and wrestling with how to keep the pipeline healthy without compromising the quality of your client work, this episode is well worth your time. If you enjoy conversations like this, follow the show so you do not miss future episodes.

Host: John Howard, Partner at Garwood Growth
Guest: Adrian Hands, Positive Momentum

In this episode, John welcomes back Emma Flin, an investment director at Sovereign Capital Partners, a private equity firm that focuses on backing and growing mid-market tech and professional services businesses.

Having first spoken to Emma back in episode 3, we were keen to talk to her again and learn about Sovereign’s focus on ‘buy and build’ as a growth and investment strategy.

‘Buy and build’ is a phrase that gets used a lot in investor circles, but the practicalities of what it involves and when it might be right for a firm aren’t often explained in practical terms. In this conversation, Emma breaks it down, covering what it actually involves, when it makes sense and what it demands from the leadership team at the centre.

They discuss:

• What buy and build actually means and the two distinct types of strategy Emma sees in the market
• Why Sovereign has made buy and build such a central part of its approach to value creation
• What makes a business a credible ‘platform’ versus a better fit as a ‘bolt-on’ acquisition
• What investors look for in a management team before backing a buy and build strategy
• Why culture and communication are critical to successfully integrating people and businesses
• How founders should think about the choice between an outright sale and a private equity partnership
• Why Emma believes leaders should start conversations with potential investors earlier than they might instinctively think they should

This is a practical, straightforward explanation of how buy and build really works in professional services from someone at the centre of these conversations.

If you are running a consulting or tech services firm and thinking about growth, investment or what the next chapter might look like, this episode is well worth your time.

If you enjoy conversations like this, follow the show so you do not miss future episodes.

Host: John Howard, Partner at Garwood Growth
Guest: Emma Flin, Investment Director at Sovereign Capital Partners

Hari Sethalapathy and Venkata Subbarayudu Nori are two of the three co-founders of Winfo Solutions, a global Oracle consulting business that has grown from three people with no clients to more than 400 staff across a dozen countries in just 11 years.

Both spent years delivering major transformation programmes inside tier-one firms before deciding to create a consultancy shaped by their own values – one built on trust, outstanding service and genuine partnership with clients.

The conversation covers:

● How they won early work by doing projects the big firms could not.

● How their first major breakthrough came from a client who initially said they were too small.

● How their leadership approach and structures have evolved as the business has expanded.

● Their decision to bring in external board advice and how that has helped accelerate growth.

● How a mantra of discuss, decide and deliver has been central to their success.

● Their practical experience with agent-based automation and faster product development.

● How they are approaching AI governance, security and ethical controls as AI
becomes more central to the business.

For founders and senior leaders building professional services firms, this is an honest conversation with two ambitious co-founders who have built something many aspire to.

If you would like to hear more conversations like this, follow the show for early access to future episodes.

Host: John Howard, Partner at Garwood Growth
Guest: Venkata Nori, Co-founder at Winfo Solutions
Guest: Hari Sethalapathy, Co-founder at Winfo Solutions

In this episode, John is joined by Andrew Brown, founder of Acuity Business Solutions, a consultancy he built and led for almost 20 years before overseeing its sale to the Scandinavian group Lumera in December 2025.

Garwood had the privilege of advising Andrew through the transaction. With the deal only recently completed, this conversation offers a rare, real-time perspective on what it is actually like to sell a professional services firm.

Andrew did not set out to manufacture the perfect exit. He focused on building a disciplined, well-run business with deep client relationships, a strong team and minimal dependency on himself long before a sale was even under consideration. Over time, those choices translated into a business with strong buyer appeal.

They discuss:

• How the idea for Acuity was born on a car journey to a conference
• How the firm found its niche in public sector pensions
• Why Andrew chose to narrow the focus of the business
• How and why he stepped back from day-to-day operations
• What the due diligence process really feels like for a founder
• The critical role a firm's wider team plays in a successful deal 
• The emotional reality of life after a deal closes

This is an honest and grounded discussion about building value in a consultancy and what it takes to convert that value into a successful transaction.

If you are thinking about making your firm sale-ready, whether in the near term or years from now, this episode is packed with practical lessons from someone who's just been through it.

If you enjoy conversations like this, follow the show so you do not miss future episodes with leaders who have built and realised real value in our industry.

Host: John Howard, Partner at Garwood Growth
Guest: Andrew Brown, Founder of Acuity Business Solutions

In this episode, John is joined by Nick Synnott, founder of Create Engage and host of the long-running “Climb in Consulting” podcast.

Many listeners will know Nick for his work on marketing in the consulting sector, but this conversation takes a different angle. John and Nick talk about Nick’s journey as a business founder and the decisions, successes and challenges that have shaped Create Engage over the last six years.

They discuss:

• Why Nick committed to a niche early on – and what he learned the hard way about trying to appeal to everyone.
• How he held that niche through the ups and downs of building a young firm.
• The difference between what a firm markets and what it sells.
• His early personal struggles with sales and the process that helped him build confidence in himself.
• How he supports his own team to build their skills and confidence in selling.
• How he approaches hiring inside a boutique firm and the framework that shifted his approach.
• Nick is an avid reader and always has strong recommendations. In the conversation, they touched on:
  - The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, by Al Ries & Jack Trout
  - Traction: Get A Grip On Your Business, by Gino Wickman
  - Topgrading, by Bradford D. Smart

It’s a conversation full of lessons from someone who’s built a successful firm and has spoken over the years to many of the leading figures in our industry. If you enjoy episodes like this, follow the show so you don’t miss future conversations.

Host: John Howard, Partner at Garwood Growth
Guest: Nick Synnott, founder of Create Engage