Cases

A technology company serving the construction and infrastructure sector was getting ready to raise capital. Its draft deck listed 14 separate consulting tasks, so investors would see a small consultancy that cannot scale, and value it like one. It is a family company; I advise it from outside and am not involved in running it.

The company sold its help late, when budgets are already fixed and it competes with project-tracking tools, instead of earlier, when customers are choosing who to work with.

Rebuilt the story around one clear promise, sold earlier in the customer's buying process. Turned the 14 tasks into 3 standard offers, and showed what repeated coordination mistakes cost a customer.

As of October 2026: the 14 tasks are now 3 offers, and the new story is in the investor deck. The company is preparing to raise growth capital. The raise has not closed, so this result is still unfolding.

Two partners buying a commercial property had drafted terms where equal personal cash contributions led to an uneven 80/20 equity split, with the investor repaid out of business revenue before dividends. The client wanted to complete within a week.

The partner running the business treated loan repayments and ownership dividends as one pot of cash. That left the investor with a risk he could not accept, and a likely deadlock once cash got tight.

Split the deal in two: a registered shareholder loan repaid first from free cash flow, and ownership alongside a salary and a way to break a deadlock. I also coached the client to get his own side clear before buying, and helped him talk to the seller.

The documents were drafted within two weeks of the client coming to me, and the purchase completed within four weeks. That is longer than the week he first wanted, on purpose: his side was clear before any money moved.

The founders of a fast-growing technology firm worked 14-hour days settling routine pricing, refund and supplier questions.

Leadership assumed managers lacked initiative. The real problem was that nobody had set limits: taking initiative carried career risk, and asking carried none.

Wrote a 3-level table of what managers decide alone, what they report weekly, and what needs executive sign-off, with money limits for each.

Routine pricing and refund decisions are now settled by department heads and no longer reach the founders.

A European technical specialist entered the Gulf market selling consulting hours. Local partners pushed rates down, asked for large performance bonds and passed site liability to the specialist. Much of what the company knew sat in the owner's head.

Selling hours made the firm look like an interchangeable subcontractor. And because the knowledge lived only in the owner, the company could not grow beyond him.

Acted as a sparring partner to the owner. Repositioned the firm as a project partner rather than a supplier of hours, and drew the knowledge out of the owner and into written documents that others could work from. Reviewed contracts, prepared materials and communication, and set up reporting.

During the engagement the company made several hires and set up a joint venture with a local investor. The owner led both; I supported them with the contract review, materials and reporting above.

A founder had built a pitch for private, non-professional investors. With them he held some information back until the second meeting, to build curiosity. With professional investors the pitch caused confusion, and he was uncomfortable showing everything because he feared they would then have no reason to come back.

What builds curiosity with private investors works against you with professionals. They trust clear numbers and honest risk management, not sales tricks.

Coached him to show everything up front, so professional investors can make an informed decision. Finding the problem and the new approach took a couple of weeks; the wider project is longer term.

One professional investor went from a 'no' halfway through the first meeting to 'let's go deeper' by its end. By the end of the second meeting he said he would review it and asked the founder to check in two weeks later. Another professional investor said he would discuss it with his family and with another investor. These are early results.