The Consulting Growth Podcast

What does it really take to build, sell, and successfully integrate a specialist consulting firm?

Carlos Keener has spent more than 25 years working in M&A, integration, and post-deal operating models. He founded Beyond the Deal (BTD), building a specialist consultancy focused on helping organisations capture value from acquisitions and other inorganic growth events, before the firm joined Oaklin Consulting. 

In this episode, Carlos explains how he moved from independent consulting to building a firm, why scaling a specialist consultancy requires conscious trade-offs, and why founders need to decide what they actually want from their business before pursuing growth.

Carlos also shares lessons from selling BTD, including how to identify the right buyer, articulate the specific value your firm brings, and think carefully about your own role after a transaction. He discusses the realities of post-deal integration, why cross-selling can be harder than expected, and why cultural compatibility alone is not enough. The conversation concludes with a practical perspective on AI: clients ultimately care about speed, quality, outcomes, and price, not which tools consultants use to deliver them.

In this episode you will learn

• Why Carlos chose to build a specialist M&A consultancy rather than remain an independent consultant.
• How founders can move from selling themselves to selling an organisational capability.
• Why scaling a specialist consultancy requires deliberate choices about leverage, size, and client delivery.
• How sellers can identify and communicate the specific value they bring to a potential buyer.
• Why founders should decide what they want their post-sale role to look like before agreeing a deal.
• Why culture, working practices, and commercial routines all matter when assessing a buyer.
• How AI may change consulting delivery without changing what clients fundamentally value.

Chapters:

(00:00) Introduction
(01:00) From Independent Consultant to Firm Founder
(04:20) Building and Scaling Beyond the Deal
(09:20) Designing a Consultancy Around Your Goals
(12:10) What Consulting Owners Should Know Before Selling
(16:40) Finding the Right Buyer for Your Firm
(21:30) Life After the Deal: Integrating BTD into Oaklin
(23:40) Post-Deal Lessons and the Challenge of Cross-Selling
(26:10) How AI Is Changing Professional Services
(29:50) Why AI Tools Are Becoming Harder to Monetise

Connect with Carlos Keener:
Carlos Keener on LinkedIn:
https://uk.linkedin.com/in/carloskeener

Oaklin – M&A, Integration and Inorganic Growth:
 https://www.oaklin.com/m-a-integration-and-inorganic-growth

Beyond the Deal / BTD:
https://btd.consulting

Leading the Deal – Carlos Keener & Thras Moraitis:
https://books.google.ro/books/about/Leading_the_Deal.html?id=5C8guAEACAAJ&redir_esc=y 

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Prof. Joe O'Mahoney helps boutique consultancies scale and exit. 

Follow Joe on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joeomahoney/

Follow Joe on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/joeomahoney

Visit Joe’s Website:
https://www.equitysherpa.com

What happens to a professional services firm when AI makes the work faster—but clients expect to pay less?

Shawn Yeager, founder of Upshift, works with professional services firms on the commercial implications of AI: not simply which tools to adopt, but what firms should sell and how they should price once parts of traditional delivery become easier to automate. Drawing on three decades working with emerging technologies, Shawn argues that AI is exposing the weaknesses of the billable-hour model while increasing the importance of judgment, trust, relationships, and commercially differentiated expertise.

Joe and Shawn discuss how firms can map services into exposed, compressing, defensible, and emerging categories; why boutiques may have an advantage in experimentation; and why AI transformation needs to begin with business-model thinking rather than technology deployment. They also explore productization, subscription-based services, AI-enabled leverage, pricing and packaging, client validation before building new offerings, and what the rise of forward deployed engineers could mean for consulting firms.

In this episode you will learn

• Why AI is putting pressure on the traditional billable-hour model.
• How to classify services as exposed, compressing, defensible, or emerging.
• Why judgment and trusted relationships remain difficult to commoditize.
• How AI can enable new subscription and recurring-revenue offerings.
• Why firms should validate client problems before building AI products.
• How pricing, packaging, and positioning need to evolve alongside delivery.
• Why AI transformation should start with commercial outcomes, not technology.

Chapters:

(00:00) Introduction

(00:16) Meet Shawn Yeager

(01:13) From Microsoft to AI

(03:07) AI Changes Consulting

(05:44) Faster Horse or Car

(07:59) Investor AI Due Diligence

(10:42) Mapping Service Exposure

(14:05) Subscription Advisory Future

(15:07) New Skills and Leadership

(17:23) Automation in Practice

(21:55) Case Study Pricing Reset

(27:01) Build vs Business Outcomes

(29:48) Spinouts and New P&L

(31:51) Forward Deployed Engineers

(35:53) Closing Thanks

Resources:

Follow Shawn on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnyeager 

Website: https://upshiftco.com/ 

Send us Fan Mail

Prof. Joe O'Mahoney helps boutique consultancies scale and exit. 

Follow Joe on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joeomahoney/

Follow Joe on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/joeomahoney

Visit Joe’s Website:
https://www.equitysherpa.com

How can a boutique consultancy scale beyond founder-led growth without losing the culture that made it successful?

Rob Ferrone is a product data and PLM strategy advisor who founded and led Quick Release, a specialist engineering consultancy focused on product data management and product data flow. In this episode, he explains how the firm grew through referrals before developing a structured, consultative approach to business development and expanding to more than 200 people across the UK, US, Europe and Australia.

Rob discusses how technical consultants learned to contribute to sales by diagnosing customer issues, consequences and value rather than relying on conventional sales techniques. He also shares lessons from international expansion, including the importance of repeatable recruitment, cultural ambassadors, clear leadership responsibilities and greater employee autonomy. 

The conversation examines Quick Release’s acquisition by ALTEN, the value of preparing for a sale before a buyer appears, and the operational foundations that can reduce acquisition risk. Rob also introduces his latest startup work, which uses AI to improve employee engagement, insight gathering and communication during transformation programmes.

In This Episode You Will Learn:

• How to move beyond referrals and founder-led selling
• Why consultative sales methods work well for technical teams
• How regular practice improves pitches and objection handling
• Why recruitment and culture become critical during international growth
• How clearer leadership responsibilities can reduce scaling friction

Chapters:

(00:00) Introduction
(01:37) Quick Release Origin Story
(02:55) From Referrals to Sales
(05:12) Scaling Beyond Founders
(07:03) Training Technical Sellers
(08:39) Practice and Objections
(12:03) Growing Pains at Scale
(15:07) Culture Across Countries
(16:22) Lessons and Mistakes
(20:27) Selling to Alton
(27:11) Final Advice


Resources:

Connect with Rob  on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-ferrone

Learn more about Quick Release:
https://quickrelease.co.uk/

Send us Fan Mail

Prof. Joe O'Mahoney helps boutique consultancies scale and exit. 

Follow Joe on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joeomahoney/

Follow Joe on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/joeomahoney

Visit Joe’s Website:
https://www.equitysherpa.com

How can boutique consultancies scale, diversify, and prepare for exit without losing the culture that made them successful?

In this episode, Professor Joe O’Mahoney speaks with Martin Mehalchin, a former Lenati leader who helped build the Seattle-based customer strategy and experience design firm into a nationally recognised consultancy before its 2018 merger with PK. Martin reflects on the growth journey from a locally anchored boutique to a broader North American player, including the role of clear positioning in customer experience, the importance of client diversification, and the value of developing a more productised niche around loyalty.

The conversation explores how Lenati’s employee-first culture supported client retention, internal promotion, and low churn. Martin also discusses the firm’s PE-backed acquisition, why the fit with PK and Carlyle worked, and how a careful approach to integration helped preserve momentum. The episode closes with Martin’s view on AI in consulting, especially its impact on junior roles and why firms should build AI capability through experimentation rather than top-down mandates.

In this episode you will learn:

• Why clear specialist positioning can drive both sales and talent attraction
• How Lenati reduced dependence on Microsoft by building new verticals
• How employee-first cultures can support client outcomes and firm value
• What made the PK and Carlyle acquisition a positive experience
• How boutique firms should approach AI through team-led experimentation

Chapters:

(00:00) Introduction
(07:22) Building an Employee-First Consulting Culture
(09:00) Scaling From Local to National
(13:00) Turning Local Case Studies Into National Growth
(19:10) Low Churn and Promoting From Within
(20:55) Choosing a PE-Backed Acquisition
(24:50) What Made the Private Equity Experience Work
(29:30) Lessons Learned From Growth and Exit
(33:50) Keeping the Fundamentals While Adopting AI
(35:15) Final Thoughts

Follow Martin on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mehalchin 

Follow Joe on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joeomahoney/

Follow Joe on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/joeomahoney

Visit Joe’s Website:
https://www.equitysherpa.com

Send us Fan Mail

Prof. Joe O'Mahoney helps boutique consultancies scale and exit. 

Follow Joe on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joeomahoney/

Follow Joe on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/joeomahoney

Visit Joe’s Website:
https://www.equitysherpa.com

How do you scale a consulting business from £2M to £30M without losing culture, customer focus, or entrepreneurial energy?

In this episode, Joe O’Mahoney speaks with Stuart Packham, Group CEO of Alchemist Group, about scaling professional services businesses through a combination of organic growth, acquisitions, operational rigor, and people-first leadership. Stuart shares lessons from building a private equity-backed buy-and-build platform across leadership development, sales training, and experiential learning.

The conversation explores the realities of integrating acquired firms, managing founders during M&A transitions, and balancing infrastructure with entrepreneurial culture. Stuart also discusses how consulting firms should think about AI, both as a customer-facing capability and as an internal scalability lever, while avoiding “technology for technology’s sake.” The discussion also covers private equity partnerships, the importance of financial discipline and operational infrastructure, and why culture and sales enablement become critical as firms grow internationally.

(00:00) Introduction
(03:20) Building a Buy-and-Build Consulting Platform
(07:50) AI’s Impact on Consulting and Sales Training
(15:50) Scaling from £2M to £30M Revenue
(19:40) Infrastructure, Systems, and Operational Control
(26:00) What Private Equity Really Changes
(33:20) Culture, Retention, and Integration in M&A
(39:30) Common Sales Mistakes in Boutique Consultancies

Follow Stuart on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/stuartpackham 

Alchemist Group Website:

https://thisisalchemist.com 

RAIN Group Website:

https://www.rainsalestraining.com 

Send us Fan Mail

Prof. Joe O'Mahoney helps boutique consultancies scale and exit. 

Follow Joe on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joeomahoney/

Follow Joe on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/joeomahoney

Visit Joe’s Website:
https://www.equitysherpa.com

How do you build multiple successful agencies, recover from failure, and keep scaling without burning out?

In this episode, Joe speaks with Jamie Shanks, founder and CEO of Get Levrg, and a three-time agency founder who has built businesses in sales training, technology, and outsourced revenue operations. Jamie shares the entrepreneurial mindset that has driven him through wins, setbacks, and multiple reinventions. He explains why founders must learn to enjoy the climb rather than chase a final destination, and why resilience often matters more than strategy alone.

Jamie also breaks down the practical systems behind scaling revenue. He explains his “lighthouse and tugboat” framework for balancing inbound authority-building with outbound prospecting, how Sales for Life grew rapidly by leveraging partnerships and repeatable campaigns, and why many founders make the mistake of buying tools before defining principles and process.

The conversation also explores recurring revenue, founder-led sales, outsourcing, and cash flow discipline. Jamie offers candid lessons from mistakes made in earlier ventures, including project-based revenue dependency and poor payment terms, and explains how he rebuilt Get Levrg using a stronger economic model from day one.

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction

01:20 Three Agencies Journey

03:11 Fear and Motivation

06:52 Social Selling Breakthrough

07:24 Sphere of Influence Playbook

11:23 Principles Process Platforms

15:30 Outsourcing Done Right

20:49 Relationship Signal Intelligence

23:51 Exiting Founder Led Sales

31:21 Hard Lessons and Cash Flow

Follow Jamie on LinkedIn: 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamestshanks 

Get Levrg Website:

https://getlevrg.com 

Send us Fan Mail

Prof. Joe O'Mahoney helps boutique consultancies scale and exit. 

Follow Joe on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joeomahoney/

Follow Joe on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/joeomahoney

Visit Joe’s Website:
https://www.equitysherpa.com

What really changes when a consulting firm takes on private equity, and how should founders prepare for it?

Karen Thomas-Bland shares practical insights from working across private equity-backed consulting firms, transformations, and integrations. She explains that the biggest shift post-investment is not capital, but discipline: more rigorous reporting, structured governance, and collective decision-making. Founders must adapt from autonomy to accountability, while also managing cultural transition as firms move from “family” environments to scalable businesses.

The discussion explores the metrics that matter most in consulting firms, including client concentration, pipeline conversion, sales cycle length, and pricing discipline—often an underdeveloped lever in boutique firms. Karen also highlights the importance of sequencing value creation initiatives, focusing on a small number of priorities, and building operational infrastructure without over-scaling back-office costs.

The episode also covers integration strategy, arguing that firms should “transform first, integrate second” to avoid compounding weaknesses. Finally, Karen outlines how leaders can build a strong market presence through focused, insight-led content, emphasizing clarity, consistency, and relevance over reach.

In this episode you will learn

• Why private equity introduces discipline, not just capital
• The key KPIs consulting firms should track before and after investment
• How to avoid common mistakes in pricing and margin management
• Why focusing on 2–3 priorities drives better value creation than long lists
• The importance of transforming businesses before integrating acquisitions
• How to scale sales beyond the founder and embed a firm-wide sales mindset
• Practical advice for building a credible and effective LinkedIn presence

Follow Karen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karenthomas-bland 

Follow Joe on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joeomahoney/

Follow Joe on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/joeomahoney

Visit Joe’s Website:
https://www.equitysherpa.com

Send us Fan Mail

Prof. Joe O'Mahoney helps boutique consultancies scale and exit. 

Follow Joe on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joeomahoney/

Follow Joe on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/joeomahoney

Visit Joe’s Website:
https://www.equitysherpa.com

What does it take to build a consulting firm that lasts 25 years and successfully exits to a Big Four firm?

Adrian Moorhouse, Olympic gold medallist and former world number one swimmer, shares the story of how he transitioned from elite sport to building Lane4, one of the UK’s most respected leadership development consultancies. After retiring from swimming, Moorhouse moved into talent development in British Swimming before co-founding Lane4 in 1995 with academics and a sales partner, applying principles from sport—such as improving inputs to drive better outputs—to leadership development and consulting.

Over the next 25 years, Lane4 grew into a multi-million-pound consultancy before joining EY in 2021. In this conversation, Adrian explains the strategic choices that shaped that journey: building a team with distinct roles for sales, delivery, and account management; overcoming growth plateaus; and navigating the realities of selling a consulting firm. He also reflects on leadership, learning, and the mindset shift required to move from individual performance to leading a team-based business.

In this episode you will learn

• How Adrian Moorhouse transitioned from Olympic athlete to consulting entrepreneur
• Why separating sales, delivery, and account management can unlock consultancy growth
• The importance of “better inputs lead to better outputs” in building consulting capability
• How Lane4 broke through a revenue plateau by redesigning roles and investing in new business development
• Why understanding the difference between the customer and the consumer matters in consulting
• What founders should expect when selling a consulting firm and navigating an earn-out
• How leadership mindset shifts from individual performance to building a high-performing team

Connect with Adrian:

LinkedIn: Adrian Moorhouse

Send us Fan Mail

Prof. Joe O'Mahoney helps boutique consultancies scale and exit. 

Follow Joe on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joeomahoney/

Follow Joe on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/joeomahoney

Visit Joe’s Website:
https://www.equitysherpa.com

What does it take to build a consulting firm that is global from day one?
In this episode, Joe O’Mahoney speaks with Matthieu Courtecuisse, Founder & CEO of Sia, about the long-term decisions behind building one of the world’s largest founder-led consulting firms.

Matthieu shares how Sia was built with international scale in mind from the very beginning, why founder commitment matters more than capital in global expansion, and how early investments in data, AI, and technology shaped the firm’s competitive advantage. He explains Sia’s augmented consulting model, where proprietary platforms and AI tools sit at the core of delivery—not as add-ons.

The conversation also covers Sia’s approach to growth through selective acquisitions, the balance between building and buying capabilities, and how culture-led integration supports scale. Joe and Matthieu close by discussing how AI is reshaping consulting economics, talent models, and why firms need to think in decades, not quarters, when building lasting value.

In this episode you will learn:

• Why Sia was built with global scale as a core ambition
• How founder commitment drives successful international expansion
• Why early investment in AI and data created long-term advantage
• What augmented consulting looks like in practice
• How Sia approaches M&A without diluting culture
• Why consulting firms must think long-term to build real value

This episode offers a long-term view on what it takes to build a global consulting platform—through sustained investment, founder leadership, and a clear belief in technology as a driver of scale and value.


Connect with Matthieu:

LinkedIn: Matthieu Courtecuisse

Website: SIA-Partners.com 

Resources:

SIA Case Study

Send us Fan Mail

Prof. Joe O'Mahoney helps boutique consultancies scale and exit. 

Follow Joe on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joeomahoney/

Follow Joe on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/joeomahoney

Visit Joe’s Website:
https://www.equitysherpa.com

What does leadership really look like when growth, pressure, and personal risk collide?
In this episode, Joe O’Mahoney speaks with Richard Goold about scaling consulting firms, leading under strain, and building long-term value without losing culture.

Richard Goold supports founders, CEOs, and boards through the hardest stages of growth—scaling sustainably, protecting culture, and preparing for long-term value creation. He has led and exited consulting businesses, including a £35m sale following an MBO, and now advises fast-growth firms across the UK and US. Earlier in his career, Richard also served as a frontline Met Police officer, an experience that deeply shaped his views on leadership, trust, and decision-making under pressure.

Richard shares his journey from big consulting firms to leading Moorehouse through an MBO, growing the business from £3m to £35m, and ultimately selling it. He reflects on the realities of leadership during high-stakes moments, including remortgaging personal assets, navigating near-deal failures, and carrying responsibility for people as the firm scaled.

The conversation explores what truly drives firm value beyond revenue—succession planning, client concentration, codifying knowledge, and leadership depth—as well as why these factors must be addressed years before an exit process begins.

Joe and Richard close by discussing today’s consulting landscape, including the cultural challenges of remote work, the risks and opportunities of AI, and what leaders must do now to stay relevant and protect enterprise value.

In this episode you will learn:

What leadership under strain really looks like in growing consulting firms

• How Morehouse scaled from an MBO to a £35m exit
• Why people, succession, and culture drive long-term firm value
• The risks of waiting too long to prepare for an exit
• How to codify delivery IP and reduce founder dependency
• Why everyone—not just partners—must contribute to growth
• How AI and remote work are reshaping consulting firm value

This episode offers a grounded look at leadership when the stakes are real—from scaling and exits to culture, people, and personal risk. Richard’s experience provides practical insights for consultancy leaders navigating growth, strain, and long-term value creation.

Connect with Richard:

Website: RichardGoold.com 

LinekdIn: Richard Goold

Send us Fan Mail

Prof. Joe O'Mahoney helps boutique consultancies scale and exit. 

Follow Joe on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joeomahoney/

Follow Joe on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/joeomahoney

Visit Joe’s Website:
https://www.equitysherpa.com