I believe growth only works when the commercial engine underneath it is built properly.
After more than 20 years inside consumer retail and ecommerce businesses, I’ve learned something that rarely gets said out loud:
Most businesses don’t struggle because the idea isn’t good enough.
They struggle because the structure underneath the idea can’t support growth.
That’s the gap I’ve spent my career working in.
How my perspective was shaped
From early on, I had a strong strategic instinct - an ability to see when product, brand and business were genuinely working together, and when they weren’t.
Inside fast-growing companies, I kept encountering the same patterns.
Founders with strong conviction and ambition.
Growth pushed forward at speed.
Commercial structure treated as something to “figure out later”.
Over time, I saw how often this played out the same way: margins under pressure, inventory tying up cash, teams working hard but reactively, and decisions becoming harder rather than clearer as the business grew.
The innovation was real.
The vision was strong.
But the commercial engine underneath it hadn’t been built to carry the weight.
What I see that others often miss
I look at businesses as systems.
Product, pricing, inventory, operations, teams - none of these work in isolation. The friction usually lives in the gaps between them.
I often see:
Products launched without a clear role in the range
Pricing set without market or margin context
Growth pursued without understanding what’s truly profitable
Forecasts that look reassuring but don’t reflect reality
Teams moving fast without a shared commercial plan
These aren’t failures of effort.
They’re failures of structure.
Seeing and fixing those gaps early is where my work has the greatest impact.
The operator mindset
I’ve never been comfortable advising from a distance.
The work that matters happens inside the business - in the decisions, trade-offs and daily choices that compound over time. That’s where commercial reality lives.
I work best when I’m embedded closely enough to understand how everything connects, and trusted enough to challenge what isn’t working.
I care about outcomes, not optics.
And I’m invested in making the whole system work better together.
What I value in the work
Integrity and quality are non-negotiable.
Your business matters to me as much as it does to you. If something feels misaligned, fragile or unsustainable, I’ll say so - even when it would be easier not to.
Messy, chaotic growth might look exciting from the outside.
I’m interested in progress that holds up under pressure.
A final word
The strongest client relationships I’ve built feel less like consultancy and more like partnership, grounded in trust, honesty and shared responsibility for the outcome.
If you care deeply about building a consumer brand that’s structurally sound as well as ambitious, you’ll likely resonate with how I think.
If not, that’s okay too.
How I work, and who it’s right for, is explored further on the Why Work With Me page.