Unlocking Value

In this episode, John is joined by Adrian Hands, an experienced sales leader who has spent more than three decades in roles across technology, SaaS, media and e-commerce. Adrian now works as part of Positive Momentum, a group of seasoned consultants who run their own practices while sharing support, tools and common ways of working under the Positive Momentum umbrella.

Growth comes up frequently in John’s conversations with professional services leaders because balancing client delivery with maintaining a healthy pipeline is a challenge most firms never fully solve. In this conversation, Adrian brings a refreshingly down-to-earth approach to a challenge that can often feel harder than it needs to be.

They discuss:

• What Adrian calls “bloody good questions” and why the quality of discovery
• conversations determines the quality of everything that follows
• The simple weekly habit Adrian uses himself: five non-live prospect conversations every week, or what he calls “coffee to cash” conversations
• How to make selling more systematic and build a genuine growth engine in a professional services firm
• Where even the best-designed growth approaches come unstuck because human beings are involved
• The Positive Momentum model and why it offers a genuinely interesting alternative to traditional consulting firm structures

If you are leading a professional services firm and wrestling with how to keep the pipeline healthy without compromising the quality of your client work, this episode is well worth your time. If you enjoy conversations like this, follow the show so you do not miss future episodes.

Host: John Howard, Partner at Garwood Growth
Guest: Adrian Hands, Positive Momentum

In this episode, John welcomes back Emma Flin, an investment director at Sovereign Capital Partners, a private equity firm that focuses on backing and growing mid-market tech and professional services businesses.

Having first spoken to Emma back in episode 3, we were keen to talk to her again and learn about Sovereign’s focus on ‘buy and build’ as a growth and investment strategy.

‘Buy and build’ is a phrase that gets used a lot in investor circles, but the practicalities of what it involves and when it might be right for a firm aren’t often explained in practical terms. In this conversation, Emma breaks it down, covering what it actually involves, when it makes sense and what it demands from the leadership team at the centre.

They discuss:

• What buy and build actually means and the two distinct types of strategy Emma sees in the market
• Why Sovereign has made buy and build such a central part of its approach to value creation
• What makes a business a credible ‘platform’ versus a better fit as a ‘bolt-on’ acquisition
• What investors look for in a management team before backing a buy and build strategy
• Why culture and communication are critical to successfully integrating people and businesses
• How founders should think about the choice between an outright sale and a private equity partnership
• Why Emma believes leaders should start conversations with potential investors earlier than they might instinctively think they should

This is a practical, straightforward explanation of how buy and build really works in professional services from someone at the centre of these conversations.

If you are running a consulting or tech services firm and thinking about growth, investment or what the next chapter might look like, this episode is well worth your time.

If you enjoy conversations like this, follow the show so you do not miss future episodes.

Host: John Howard, Partner at Garwood Growth
Guest: Emma Flin, Investment Director at Sovereign Capital Partners

Hari Sethalapathy and Venkata Subbarayudu Nori are two of the three co-founders of Winfo Solutions, a global Oracle consulting business that has grown from three people with no clients to more than 400 staff across a dozen countries in just 11 years.

Both spent years delivering major transformation programmes inside tier-one firms before deciding to create a consultancy shaped by their own values – one built on trust, outstanding service and genuine partnership with clients.

The conversation covers:

● How they won early work by doing projects the big firms could not.

● How their first major breakthrough came from a client who initially said they were too small.

● How their leadership approach and structures have evolved as the business has expanded.

● Their decision to bring in external board advice and how that has helped accelerate growth.

● How a mantra of discuss, decide and deliver has been central to their success.

● Their practical experience with agent-based automation and faster product development.

● How they are approaching AI governance, security and ethical controls as AI
becomes more central to the business.

For founders and senior leaders building professional services firms, this is an honest conversation with two ambitious co-founders who have built something many aspire to.

If you would like to hear more conversations like this, follow the show for early access to future episodes.

Host: John Howard, Partner at Garwood Growth
Guest: Venkata Nori, Co-founder at Winfo Solutions
Guest: Hari Sethalapathy, Co-founder at Winfo Solutions

In this episode, John is joined by Andrew Brown, founder of Acuity Business Solutions, a consultancy he built and led for almost 20 years before overseeing its sale to the Scandinavian group Lumera in December 2025.

Garwood had the privilege of advising Andrew through the transaction. With the deal only recently completed, this conversation offers a rare, real-time perspective on what it is actually like to sell a professional services firm.

Andrew did not set out to manufacture the perfect exit. He focused on building a disciplined, well-run business with deep client relationships, a strong team and minimal dependency on himself long before a sale was even under consideration. Over time, those choices translated into a business with strong buyer appeal.

They discuss:

• How the idea for Acuity was born on a car journey to a conference
• How the firm found its niche in public sector pensions
• Why Andrew chose to narrow the focus of the business
• How and why he stepped back from day-to-day operations
• What the due diligence process really feels like for a founder
• The critical role a firm's wider team plays in a successful deal 
• The emotional reality of life after a deal closes

This is an honest and grounded discussion about building value in a consultancy and what it takes to convert that value into a successful transaction.

If you are thinking about making your firm sale-ready, whether in the near term or years from now, this episode is packed with practical lessons from someone who's just been through it.

If you enjoy conversations like this, follow the show so you do not miss future episodes with leaders who have built and realised real value in our industry.

Host: John Howard, Partner at Garwood Growth
Guest: Andrew Brown, Founder of Acuity Business Solutions

In this episode, John is joined by Nick Synnott, founder of Create Engage and host of the long-running “Climb in Consulting” podcast.

Many listeners will know Nick for his work on marketing in the consulting sector, but this conversation takes a different angle. John and Nick talk about Nick’s journey as a business founder and the decisions, successes and challenges that have shaped Create Engage over the last six years.

They discuss:

• Why Nick committed to a niche early on – and what he learned the hard way about trying to appeal to everyone.
• How he held that niche through the ups and downs of building a young firm.
• The difference between what a firm markets and what it sells.
• His early personal struggles with sales and the process that helped him build confidence in himself.
• How he supports his own team to build their skills and confidence in selling.
• How he approaches hiring inside a boutique firm and the framework that shifted his approach.
• Nick is an avid reader and always has strong recommendations. In the conversation, they touched on:
  - The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, by Al Ries & Jack Trout
  - Traction: Get A Grip On Your Business, by Gino Wickman
  - Topgrading, by Bradford D. Smart

It’s a conversation full of lessons from someone who’s built a successful firm and has spoken over the years to many of the leading figures in our industry. If you enjoy episodes like this, follow the show so you don’t miss future conversations.

Host: John Howard, Partner at Garwood Growth
Guest: Nick Synnott, founder of Create Engage

This episode is a little different from our usual format. Rather than a one to one conversation, we are sharing the audio from a recent webinar hosted by Deri Hughes of Honeycomb Consulting Skills Training, joined by Luk Smeyers from The Visible Authority and Rob Garner from Garwood Growth.

Together, they explore what 2026 is likely to mean for consulting firms, drawing on insights from the hundreds of firms they each work with every year.

The discussion covers:

 • The AI triple squeeze reshaping delivery models and margins

 • Why specialist boutiques are showing early signs of renewed growth

 • How firms are using AI internally, from efficiency and expertise to new propositions

 • The rising importance of human skills in winning work and building trust

 • What a consulting firm built from scratch in 2026 would actually look like

 • Why deep sector expertise is increasingly beating generalist capability

A big thank you to Deri Hughes for allowing us to republish the session here on Unlocking Value. If you would like more conversations like this, follow the show for early access to future episodes.

Host: John Howard,Partner at Garwood Growth
Guest: Rob Garner,Partner at Garwood Growth
Guest: Luk Smeyers, Partner at The Visible Authority
Guest: Deri Hughes, MD at Honeycomb Consulting

AI is firmly on the agenda for professional services firms, but many leaders are still working out what it really means in practice – for delivery, governance, people, and trust with clients. 

In this episode of Unlocking Value, John Howard speaks with Dan Figueiredo, a senior leader at Microsoft whose career has sat at the intersection of technology, consulting, and commercial delivery. Dan shares a practical perspective shaped by working closely with professional services firms on how they are using AI without outsourcing judgement or creating unnecessary risk.

The conversation covers:

• Why many technology and AI initiatives struggle when firms start with tools rather than outcomes.
• How AI often acts as a force amplifier – strengthening good ways of working while exposing weak ones.
• How AI is already being used inside consulting teams to speed up analysis, documentation, and design work.
• Why experienced judgement still matters, and what can go wrong when AI output is relied on too heavily.
• The practical governance questions firms are grappling with, from data security to responsible use.
• Why training, adoption, and behaviour change matter more than simply rolling out new tools.
• How concerns about trust and credibility with clients are influencing how firms use AI.

This is a practical conversation for professional services leaders who want to understand where AI genuinely helps, where it creates new responsibilities, and what it means for leadership and judgement in a consulting business.

If you’d like to hear more conversations like this, follow the show for early access to future episodes.

Host: John Howard, Partner at Garwood Growth
Guest: Dan Figueiredo, senior leader, Microsoft

Lizzie Meadowcroft is part of the value creation team at LDC, the private equity arm of Lloyds Banking Group. She works closely with management teams across the LDC portfolio, supporting growth, integration and development.

Before joining LDC, Lizzie built a career advising businesses on mergers and acquisitions. She spent almost 20 years at KPMG, where she was a partner in the advisory team and supported business leaders through acquisitions, carve outs and periods of significant change. During that time, Lizzie supported professional services firms both as an external advisor and through KPMG’s own internal transactions.

Lizzie and John talked about growth through acquisition, integration choices, incentives and earn outs, and the role people and culture play in determining whether a deal delivers long-term value. For founders, owners and leaders of professional services businesses navigating growth, change or potential investment, this episode offers a practical view of what really drives successful outcomes.

Host: John Howard, Partner at Garwood Growth
Guest: Lizzie Meadowcroft, Value Creation Director at LDC

Claire Simm is Managing Director and Global Head of Regulatory Consulting at Kroll. She has built her entire career in professional services, moving between Big Four firms, entrepreneurial boutiques and global organisations – and seeing first-hand how leadership, culture and expectations change as firms grow.

In this conversation, John and Claire explore what it really takes to lead well in professional services as scale and complexity increase. Claire shares how her leadership approach has evolved over time, why sales and business development should feel natural rather than awkward, and how trusted relationships sit at the heart of long-term growth.

Drawing on her due diligence experience, Claire also offers a grounded perspective on what external scrutiny tends to reveal about professional services firms – where leaders are often surprised, what gets exposed when someone starts asking detailed questions, and why preparation, responsiveness and judgement matter long before any formal process begins.

Key discussion points include:

• How leadership roles change as professional services firms grow
• Shifting from delivery to developing others without losing quality or credibility
• Why sales and business development should feel normal, not forced
• What external scrutiny often reveals about how firms are really run
• The role of preparation, data and responsiveness in building confidence during a transaction process
• Why trust and judgement underpin long-term value in professional services

For founders, partners and senior leaders building professional services firms, this conversation offers a thoughtful, experience-led view on how credibility is built over time – and how leaders earn trust through the decisions they make when things get harder, not easier.

Host: John Howard, Partner at Garwood Growth
Guest: Claire Simm, Managing Director and Global Head of Regulatory Consulting at Kroll

To round off the year, the show takes a slightly different shape.

In this brief episode, John reflects on some of the common themes from conversations in 2025 and says thank you to the guests and listeners who’ve shaped the series. He also looks ahead to what’s coming next. 

Thanks for being part of the show. We’ll see you in 2026!

Host: John Howard, Partner at Garwood Growth