Helping Consumer Brands Scale & Improve Performance

Fractional COO & Board Advisor

Ex COO at Ffern and Le Col

Bringing 25+ years of experience to help founders and leadership teams build stronger businesses through better commercial and operational performance.

Operational gains create commercial advantage.

Knowing where the biggest gains lie, and how to deliver them, is where experience counts.

£12m to £60m ARR

Ffern — luxury perfumery brand scaled 5X in under 3 years via international expansion.

£200k to £17m

Le Col — early stage UK cycling brand scaled to a global multi-channel apparel brand.

£25m private equity

Extensive PE experience. Fundraising, DD & exit processes, reporting, board dynamics, investor comms.

£millions saved

A background in strategic supply chain for major corporates means value engineering is always in focus.

Operational gains, properly executed, translate into real commercial advantage.

Identifying the ones with the greatest potential — and having the expertise to implement them — is where the difference is made.

The challenges come thick and fast in the world of consumer brands.

Whether it’s rapid growth and bigger teams creating operational complexity, supply chain constraints, or changing market conditions putting pressure on trading, margins and cash, the challenges can quickly test leadership, board dynamics - and investor relations.

The decisions get bigger and more consequential.

Having someone alongside you who’s navigated those challenges before can make a real difference.

Whether that means stepping in to provide operational leadership, or bringing perspective and judgement to the decisions that matter.

Typical scenarios where I get involved

• The business is at an inflection point and preparing for a step-change e.g. growth, investment, international expansion, new channels, or acquisition.

• The business isn't delivering its full potential because operational execution is struggling to keep pace with growth and complexity.

• Margins are under pressure, and the business is no longer performing.

Leadership needs an experienced perspective to help identify the issues, challenge whether the way the business operates is still fit for purpose, and help implement the changes needed to restore performance.

• Founders and leadership teams would benefit from an experienced board-level operator to help advise on the big decisions, ensure clarity of focus, and support investor dynamics.

If any of this sounds familiar, it's worth a conversation.

Get in touch

Results

Ffern - Luxury D2C Subscription

Ffern | Scaling operations from £12m to £60m ARR via international expansion across North America and 15+ EU countries. As COO, built and led the operational capability required to support 5x growth. Overhauled manufacturing and supply chain, increasing agility and significantly reducing lead times to enable later, more accurate forecasting, while cutting manufacturing costs by 30% and 3PL costs by 10%, improving resilience and cash flow, and building capacity to c.25m components p.a. Alongside this, scaled customer operations 5x to support 350k annual contacts, strengthened NPD, commercial contracts and risk management, and supported due diligence for a £10m PE raise.

Le Col Premium Apparel

Le Col | Building an early stage UK business into a global cycling apparel brand operating across multiple sales channels. As COO, co-owner and Board Director, helped build Le Col from a team of four and £200k T/O into a £17m global cycling apparel brand, building teams, shaping commercial decisions and balancing ambitious growth with the operational and financial realities of delivering it. Scaled operations and supply chain through 500% growth from 2019 to 2021, navigating Covid and Brexit while building the manufacturing, warehousing and fulfilment capability to support growth. Central to financial planning, forecasting, cash flow and modelling, and securing £15m across PE and crowdfunding rounds, with extensive experience of due diligence, investor relations and board reporting.

Tofuture Acquisition

Tofuture | Successful acquisition in 2024. Appointed as board advisor to a fast-growing kitchen gadget brand dealing with the challenges of growth across multiple channels and a rapidly evolving competitive landscape. Advised on channel strategy, exit timing and approach, supported preparation for an exit process that culminated in a successful acquisition in December 2024.

Fractional COO

Board Advisor/NED

Hybrid Model

The engagement that's right for your business

As Fractional COO

Getting hands-on to turn priorities into action

Build stronger operations

Manufacturing, supply chain, demand and inventory planning, Q/C, fulfilment and logistics. Improving efficiency, resilience, agility and margin, while building the operational capability to support growth and international expansion.

Finance and commercial performance

P&L, pricing, margin, inventory, working capital and cost base. Interrogating the numbers to ensure reporting provides a clear view of performance, and tightening the key commercial levers to improve cash flow and EBITDA.

Strengthen teams and leadership

Developing and leading teams through growth and change. Strengthening structures, roles, capability and accountability as the needs of the business evolve.

Turning Plans into action

Turning priorities into delivery through clear objectives, ownership, KPIs, reporting and an effective operating rhythm. Keeping teams aligned, focused and accountable as the business changes.

Get more from suppliers and partners

Procurement, contracts and negotiation across key supplier and partner relationships. Stepping in with the seniority and experience to get better outcomes from the conversations that matter most.

Seeing the Full Picture

Across 25+ years in both operational and commercial leadership, one thing has remained clear: better execution translates directly into better commercial and financial performance.

That perspective has been shaped by:

• Strategic supply chain for numerous major corporates

• Commercial and margin leadership on the agency side, for global brands including Sky, Diageo and Unilever

• The last decade as COO for PE-backed consumer brands across multiple channels

I've lived both sides of the growth story too — COO and co-owner during steep, exciting, year on year scaling journeys, and through harder moments; market downturns, rapid cash burn, and tough restructuring decisions, before another rapid 5X growth journey as COO.

That gives invaluable perspective on leading a business through very different scenarios — recognising opportunities as well as warning signs, understanding where each can lead and knowing when to act, while appreciating how different circumstances shape company culture, board dynamics, investor relations and exit potential.

MCIPS LLB HONS

As Board Advisor/NED

The guidance I wish we'd had.

Some of the most difficult decisions come when there isn't an obvious right answer.

Rapid growth, tougher trading, investment and exit decisions each bring very different challenges for leadership teams and boards.

Having experienced those situations first-hand, I understand the value of having an experienced and genuinely independent voice around the table.

As an advisor, I bring that owner-operator perspective to founders and leadership teams.

Providing the judgement and challenge to help make well-informed, pragmatic decisions around growth plans, risk and long-term value, and act on them with greater confidence.

Supporting board dynamics, investor relations, and conversations around investment and exit opportunities.

Where the fit is right, this can include select hands-on involvement in specific projects — helping assess the opportunity, stress test viability, shape the approach, and support delivery.

Can extend to a formal NED appointment if required.

A Hybrid

Don’t need an ongoing Fractional COO but do need some senior hands-on support?

If the fit's right, a hybrid advisory with select hands-on involvement, or a project based brief may suit.

Categories include:

• Beauty, Wellness, Fragrance, Personal Care

• Apparel, Lifestyle, Sports, Outdoor

• Food, Drink & Nutrition

• Home & Gifting

Start building a stronger business

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