Annual growth delivered
Board adviserTechnical operatorInvestor partner
Technology-led transformation · applied AI · value creation
I build commercial engines that scale.
I work with Boards, investors and executive teams when technology is changing how a business creates, sells or delivers value. I do not stop at the roadmap: I design and implement AI agents, automation, data flows and connected operating systems, test them in live workflows and turn them into measurable growth, stronger economics and enterprise value.
See how I workCustomer bases scaled
ARR · revenue & receivables
Enterprise value · buy- and sell-side
Cross-sector experience
Four sectors. One transformation story.
Different business models, one recurring pattern: technology changes how value is created, sold and delivered.
Life, wealth & insurance
Digital insurance marketplace
Banking & consumer credit
Travel & e-commerce
Auto finance
Digital insurance & distribution
Digital insurance
Construction workforce SaaS
Consumer media
Specialist consumer media
Today’s Golfer
Specialist consumer media
Automotive media & platform
Pan-European fintech platform
IFA & wealth management
Property technology platform
01
The proposition
Transformation is the thread. Enterprise value is the test.
From holidays moving online, insurance shifting to price comparison and media moving from print to digital, through listed financial services, marketplaces, venture-backed fintech, proptech, PE-backed software and AI: I have spent my career operating where technology changes the business model. I turn that change into a working system—customer journeys, AI agents, automation, CRM, product, data and human workflows joined end to end, tested in operation and measured by results.
When to bring me in
When value creation matters too much for another layer of advice.
The value-creation plan needs an operator
The Board or investor thesis is clear, but the commercial model, operating cadence and leadership capacity are not yet strong enough to deliver it.
Technology is changing the economics
Digital, data and AI are reshaping how the business creates, sells and delivers value—but activity has not yet become a coherent transformation programme.
Transformation is happening in fragments
Sales, marketing, product, customer and technology teams are changing in different directions, with too little shared data, ownership or commercial accountability.
Strategic enough for the Board.
Technical enough to build it.
Tested where the work happens.
02
What I do
Build the strategy. Install the system. Create the momentum.
I work directly with Boards, investors and executive teams across technology businesses and organisations that use digital and technology to deliver products and services. Every mandate connects strategy to hands-on implementation: the value to create, the decisions to make, the systems to build and the capability the business needs next.
01
Focus
Strategy, transformation & GTM
Translate the Board or investment thesis into the markets, propositions, products, channels, economics and operating priorities that will create value.
02
Lead
Transformation leadership
Provide accountable senior ownership through an inflection point—aligning leadership, functions and measures around the outcomes the Board and investors need to see.
03
Build
AI agents & connected operating systems
Design and implement the AI agents, automation, CRM, data and workflows that join the business together. I work hands-on from architecture and prototyping through integration, testing, adoption and governance—so the system works in practice and its value can be measured.
04
Invest
Investment, transactions & value creation
Operator-led support through fundraising, exits, ownership change and M&A—from investor narratives and buy- or sell-side due diligence to 100-day priorities, integration and portfolio value creation.
03
Growth levers
Eight levers. One commercial system.
Growth is rarely unlocked by one campaign. I diagnose the full commercial equation, concentrate effort on the constraints that matter most and connect each lever to accountable economics.
Market focus & expansion
Prioritise the markets, segments and ideal customer profiles with the strongest right to win, then localise the proposition, channels and operating model.
75% YoY growth across the UK, Germany and Spain · 50k customers in Poland in year oneProposition, pricing & packaging
Make the value proposition sharper, the offer easier to buy and the economics more attractive—connecting customer need to product, price, packaging and positioning.
Chime ARR +120% to £4.5m · Monmia gross margin to 34%Demand & customer acquisition
Build a measurable demand engine across brand, search, paid media, content, ABM, affiliates and lifecycle activity, governed by CAC, conversion and pipeline quality.
Vanquis acquisition shifted from 20% to 60% digital · BGL new customers +30% at target CPADistribution & partnerships
Open scalable routes to market through D2C, B2B, B2B2C, white-label, affinity and strategic partnerships—particularly where a partner already owns trust or reach.
30+ banking partners · €200m in partner receivables · major B2B and white-label channelsConversion & customer journey
Remove friction from discovery to decision, onboarding and first value by aligning proposition, journey design, sales process, CRM and next-best action.
Monmia drove 90% of customers into product engagement · BGL add-on penetration +50%Retention, cross-sell & lifetime value
Use onboarding, customer success, lifecycle management, predictive churn signals and relevant cross-sell to turn acquisition into durable recurring value.
Chime churn reduced to 6.4% · Vanquis customer lifetime value +90%Data, AI agents & automation
Build and connect the CRM, data, attribution, forecasting, AI agents and automation layer that increases speed, improves relevance and gives leaders a reliable view of performance.
Monmia OPEX reduced 38% YoY · Salesforce visibility across pipeline, CAC/LTV and NRRM&A & portfolio growth
Use commercial diligence to test the value-creation thesis, then connect acquisition integration to proposition, channels, customer journeys, data and operating priorities.
£120m Moneybarn acquisition from diligence through integration · acquisition planning at Superbia and ChimeAcross every lever
One commercial operating systemP&L ownership · customer and ICP insight · clear KPIs · cross-functional cadence · Board visibility04
Selected results
The numbers matter. So does the system that produced them.
Twelve examples across software, financial services, fintech, insurance, media, travel, marketplaces and transactions. Different sectors and ownership models; the same discipline of turning technology-led change into measurable value.
01
PE-backed construction software · Chime
Turned a founder-led commercial model into a scalable, investor-ready engine.
Led the pre- and post-investment transformation, sharpened ICP, positioning and packaging, built Salesforce into the operating backbone and gave the Board clear visibility of pipeline, CAC/LTV, NRR and retention.
ARR +120% to £4.5m · churn to 6.4% · successful PE investment
02
Pan-European fintech · Monmia
Built a regulated, multi-country business from zero.
Founded and led the business across the UK, Germany and Spain, built a 30-person team and 30+ banking partnerships, and combined machine learning with operating redesign to scale to more than £200m in partner revenue and receivables.
£200m+ partner revenue & receivables · 300k+ customers · 75% YoY growth
03
Listed consumer finance · Vanquis
Turned digital and customer growth into material enterprise value.
Held growth accountability across card and loan portfolios, led 90+ people across multiple geographies, businesses and functions, and shifted acquisition from 20% to 60% digital during the period the group entered the FTSE 100.
600k to 1.7m customers · Group PBT £44m to £206m · FTSE 100 entry
04
Auto-finance acquisition · Moneybarn
Connected buy-side diligence to post-deal digital integration.
Led commercial, marketing and digital diligence, then aligned channels, customer journeys and growth activity after completion so the acquisition thesis translated into operating priorities.
£120m acquisition · diligence through integration
05
International market entry · Vanquis Poland
Built the proposition, team and commercial rhythm for a new market.
Launched cards into Poland, established the local operating model and built awareness in a market that became the largest non-domestic issuer in its category.
50k customers in year one · 24% unprompted awareness
06
Life, wealth & insurance · Canada Life
Connected distribution strategy, customer journeys and emerging technology.
Evaluated direct-to-consumer and distribution opportunities, designed a CRM-led frictionless journey and developed an AI-driven product recommendation concept to improve relevance, conversion and customer outcomes.
Board-level roadmap · CRM proof of concept · AI recommendation model
07
Leicester IFA & wealth management group · Superbia
Created one commercial framework across a growing financial-advice group.
Advised the Board and shareholders of the Leicester-based IFA and wealth management group on growth priorities, market opportunities, segments, pricing and routes to market; directed acquisition diligence and strengthened sales, marketing and client-service capability.
Group strategy · Board buy-in · M&A and integration planning
08
Digital automotive marketplace · Outside Lane
Built the UK’s first online luxury car-buying marketplace from zero.
Founded the platform, developed its commercial model and established B2B and white-label distribution with Auto Trader, What Car? and Parkers.
£1.2m revenue in year one · bootstrapped launch
09
Consumer media & e-commerce · Bauer Media
Built digital revenues as specialist media moved beyond print.
Held P&L accountability across seven consumer-media businesses, launched propositions across MCN, Parkers and Today’s Golfer, and created new insurance, affinity and credit-card revenue streams.
£7m incremental profit · £3m insurance · £1m e-commerce revenue
10
Price comparison & insurance · BGL Group
Improved acquisition and monetisation as insurance buying moved online.
Worked across the digital ecosystem behind Comparethemarket and Bennetts, launching a new e-commerce business and redesigning customer journeys to improve acquisition and add-on penetration.
£5m annualised revenue · acquisition +30% · add-on sales +50%
11
Online travel · Thomas Cook
Helped move holiday acquisition from high street and brochures to search-led digital journeys.
Shifted demand generation from paid search to SEO at scale and contributed to a major digital-transformation programme delivered with Accenture.
c.£60m annualised savings · £4m transformation programme
12
Capital, M&A & ownership change
Supported value creation before, through and after the transaction.
Experience spans venture fundraising, exits, a partial sale to private equity, investor narratives and Information Memoranda, plus buy- and sell-side diligence and post-deal integration.
£30m–£250m enterprise value · buy-side and sell-side
05
Operating experience
A career built at inflection points.
Analogue to digital. Founder to institutional capital. Private company to listed group. Pre-deal thesis to post-deal execution. My work is informed by the decisions, trade-offs and accountability that come with actually running the number.
Markets moved online
At Thomas Cook, helped shift holiday buying from high street and brochures to online; at BGL, moved insurance discovery from individual insurers to price comparison; and at Bauer Media, helped move advertising from print to digital.
Founder, Outside Lane
Created the UK’s first online luxury car-buying marketplace and reached £1.2m revenue in year one through a bootstrapped launch.
Commercial leadership, Vanquis Bank
Led multi-geography, multi-business and multi-functional teams across growth, product, digital and customer transformation in the UK and Poland during the period the group entered the FTSE 100.
Founder & CEO, Monmia
Built a venture-backed fintech across three countries, balancing growth, regulation, funding, operations and full P&L ownership.
Commercial transformation, Chime Software
Led commercial transformation at the PE-backed construction software business, building a scalable, investor-ready commercial engine across GTM, revenue operations, AI and automation.
Board advisory, proptech and AI
Working with Open For Offer in property technology while advising Boards and founders on transformation, growth, ownership change and execution.
“Every organisation needs someone like Steve.”
Brings creative, thoughtful challenge and new angles that improve the quality of decisions.
“aligned with what the business needs”
Combines technical fluency with funding, investor management, business cases, KPIs and cross-functional leadership.
“he can actually walk the talk”
Connects clear-headed strategy with the ability to change a company, build products and reinvigorate management.
“best CMO I've worked with”
Understands audiences, sales cycles and the collaboration required between marketing and sales teams.
Motivates, focuses and engages teams through difficult and exciting periods while developing the people around him.
Creates an analytical, highly collaborative environment where people are trusted, developed and encouraged to contribute ideas.
Connects creative solutions to execution and combines digital depth with analytical thinking and commercial value.
Sets clear objectives, provides the right resources and removes obstacles while understanding how digital delivery works in practice.
Solution-driven and entrepreneurial, combining digital innovation with delivery that produced tangible results at Bennetts.
Gets quickly to the crux of an issue, proposes robust solutions and brings a nimble attitude to execution.
Combines knowledge, intelligence and business acumen with the ability to work credibly across organisations of different sizes.
Synthesises customer needs, technology, marketing and commercial pragmatism into dependable web-based solutions.
06
Latest perspective
AI operating model · Organisation design
AI needs a completely new org chart.
Mirroring a traditional organisation with agents gives old constraints to new capability. Three reasons replication fails—and the outcome-led, networked and elastic operating model that should replace it.
Read the perspectiveWhat you are buying
See the inflection point.
Build the new engine.
Make transformation pay.
07
The first conversation
Select mandates · UK & international
What needs to move?
Start with the outcome that matters, what is getting in the way and why now. If I can help, I will be direct about the mandate. If I cannot, I will be direct about that too.
View LinkedIn profile Cambridgeshire, UK