The Consulting Growth Podcast
Prof. Joe O'Mahoney 50 episodes Nov 11, 2026
Joe O'Mahoney, Professor of Consulting at Cardiff University and a growth & exit advisor to boutique consultancies, hosts this podcast. He interviews founders who have successfully grown or sold their firms, acquirers, and growth experts to share insights and help listeners avoid common mistakes. The podcast focuses on the consulting industry, drawing on Joe's research, teaching, and consulting experience.
Episodes
54: How to Scale a Consulting Firm Beyond the Founders with Graeme Curwen
How do you grow a consultancy beyond its founders while keeping the relationships, culture and expertise that made clients choose you?Graeme Curwen, Co-Founder and CEO of Enfuse, joins Professor Joe O’Mahoney to discuss building a global consultancy with around 75 internal people and 25 associates. He explains how he and his co-founder moved from working independently to building a firm together,
53: Selling Your Consulting Firm: What Really Happens After the Deal? with Carlos Keener
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 Oakl
52: AI Strategy for Consulting Firms: From Efficiency to Growth with Shawn Yeager
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 wi
51: Preparing a Consulting Firm for Acquisition with Rob Ferrone
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, cons
50: How Boutique Consulting Firms Scale for a Successful Exit with Martin Mehalchin
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
49: Scaling a Consulting Firm Without Losing Culture with Stuart Packham
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 p
48: How Smart Founders Build Repeatable Growth with Jamie Shanks
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 multi
47: How Consulting Firms Scale Under Private Equity with Karen Thomas-Bland
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 decisi
46: From Olympic Gold to Consulting Firm Founder with Adrian Moorhouse
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
45: How to Scale a Consulting Firm Globally with Matthieu Courtecuisse
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
44: From Growth to Exit: What Founders Need to Get Right Early with Richard Goold
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
43: Organisational Health as a Growth Engine: The Q5 Approach with Olly Purnell
What does it take to scale a consulting firm internationally without external capital? In this episode, Joe O’Mahoney speaks with Olly Purnell, Managing Partner and co-founder of Q5, about how the firm grew from a five-person partnership to a global consultancy. With nearly 30 years of consulting experience, he leads client engagements across sectors while also focusing on attracting top talent to
42: The Second Bite Strategy with Todd Taskey
What if selling your business wasn't the end of your wealth creation journey, but rather the beginning? In this fascinating conversation with Todd Taskey, M&A advisor and host of the Second Bite Podcast, we explore how marketing agency founders can transform a business sale into an extraordinary wealth-building opportunity.Todd reveals the three currencies every business seller receives –
41: The Future of Professional Services: How Agentic AI Will Reshape Consulting with Rob Price
Agentic AI is rapidly transforming professional services, yet many consultancies remain cautious about its implementation. In this groundbreaking conversation, Professor Joe O'Mahony and Rob Price explore what happens when multiple AI agents work together as a team to tackle complex business challenges.Rob explains how agentic AI differs from traditional AI applications by creating virtual te
40: Scaling a Boutique Consultancy with Anish Patel
Anish Patel takes us on a fascinating journey from his beginnings as a "physics geek" to building and selling a successful consultancy in this candid conversation about growth, leadership, and knowing when to exit.With refreshing honesty, Anish reveals how his scientific background created the perfect foundation for consulting work. "The scientific method was something that really I
39: Unlocking Consultancy Success: Richard Brackstone on Growth, Strategy, and Leadership
Richard Brackstone, the managing partner of Moorhouse Consulting, and I talk about growing consultancies. We talk about his time at Andersen Consulting and spearheading projects in the Blair-Brown government era to leading major projects at Lloyds.We'll explore the interesting evolution of Moorhouse Consulting, tracing its rise from Dom Moorhouse's vision to the fast-paced expansion that
38: Chris Tomlinson on AI-Driven Transformation and Boutique Firm Advantages
Chris Tomlinson, the founder and CEO of Muuto, is reshaping his firm by embracing AI. Learn how Chris and his team are leveraging the power of generative technologies to shift their consulting practices.Chris shares his insights on how boutiques can outpace larger organizations by harnessing the agility to innovate without the usual constraints. We explore the potential of AI agents in modeling an
37: Preparing for growth inflection points: lessons from two successful CEOs
Any business school student will tell you about the S-curves that most companies encounter when they scale: when what got you to point A will actively prevent you from getting to point B. Anticipating these leads to smoother growth, happier employees, less stressed CEOs/owners, and keener investors / buyers.Here, we learn from the growth journeys of Richard Goold (ex-CEO of Moorhouse) and Mark Pal
36: Talent Strategies for Boutique Consulting - Gary Landes, Wilton-Bain.
Why do senior hires fail so often in consulting? What can we do to minimise this?Join me as I sit down with Gary Lanz from Wilton Bain to explore the intricate art of talent acquisition and development within the consulting industry. We discuss finding the strong senior hires who can generate business, fit culturally, and harmonize with existing teams. We also tackle the ongoing debate between bei
35: How to Price your Consulting Services with Ethan Williams
In this episode of the Consulting Growth Podcast, we sit down with pricing strategy maestro Ethan Williams, who transitioned from real estate investment banking to becoming an authoritative voice in global pricing strategy. Here is Ethan's AI Pricing Advisor: https://chatgpt.com/g/g-MNWgcA4wX-value-based-pricing-advisorHere's Ethan's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethan-willi
34: Thought Leadership & AI in Boutique Consultancies – Insights with Athena Peppes
What does great thought leadership look like for boutique consultancies? Join us on the Consulting Growth Podcast as we engage with Athena Peppes, a luminary in thought leadership and artificial intelligence. Drawing from her stellar career at Accenture and her current role as an independent consultant, Athena unveils what makes thought leadership effective. In this episode, Athena demystifies how
33: Productize! Eisha Armstrong and Chris Dando discuss how to generate products from expert knowledge
Productization offers considerable opportunities to consultancies as the cost of development has collapsed. Eisha Armstong is the world's leading expert on how this is achieved in consultancies, co-founder of Vecteris and celebrated author. Chris Dando is a member of the Boutique Leaders Club and founder / CEO of Reinvigoration - an operations consultancy which has recent successfully product
32: Presidential Whisperer: Michael Kempner on growing his PR firm to 300+ people
Meet Michael Kempner, the mastermind behind MIKEWORLDWIDE. His is a story a narrative woven with tenacity and transformation moving from a solo operation to spearheading a leading independent PR firm, where embracing past hurdles has been integral to the company's monumental growth.This episode peels back the layers on how valuing human capital has been pivotal to MWW's success, revealin
31: Mastering M&A in the Consultancy Sector with Jerome Glynn-Smith of Equiteq
Unlock the secrets to a triumphant M&A journey in the knowledge economy with Jerome Glynn-Smith, the Equiteq's Head of Europe. As a former JP Morgan and Deloitte luminary, Jerome provides wisdom on the pivotal role of specialization within the technology and professional services sectors. Our chat navigates through the critical $10 million revenue threshold, the allure of private equity i
30: From growth to sale. Twice. With Phil Rolfe
Phil Rolfe founded, grew and sold FS101 to P2 Consulting, then P2 Consulting to Valcon, where he is now the country COO for the UK. This episode promises a treasure trove of wisdom, from Phil's transformative journey from Eagle Star, KPMG and RBS to the innovative frontiers of Vulcan's data problem-solving focus. As your host, Professor Joe O'Mahoney, I'm thrilled to share how
29: Transforming Consultancy with Productisation and Automation with Tim Redgate
Imagine if you could transform your consultancy's repetitive tasks into a unique service offering or automate more of your back-office? That's precisely what our guest, Tim Redgate Strategy Director of Axioned, discusses in this fascinating episode of Consulting Growth. We dive deep into the concept of productisation and how it can be a game-changer for consultancies and professional ser
28: Building & Selling a PR & Communications Boutique with Jessica Schaefer of Bevel
What does it truly take to build a PR and communication firm that stands tall among the giants? Today, we're joined by Jessica Schaefer, founder of Bevel, a strategic PR and communications firm that has carved a unique niche at the intersection of financial services and technology. Jessica's remarkable journey takes us from her start in the throes of the Great Recession, through prestigi
27: Leadership Appointments and Succession Planning with Deri Hughes, Caroline Boston and Simon Hemsley
Want the inside scoop on how to successfully navigate senior leadership appointments in consultancies? Don’t miss an enlightening conversation with our experts, Deri, Simon, and Caroline as they pull back the curtain on designing organisational structure, performance management systems, and effective team engagement to prepare for a prosperous exit. We discuss strategies for growth and succession
26: Culture, AI and Growth with David Fields
Welcome to a captivating conversation with David Fields. David is does similar work to me, but on the other side of the Atlantic. Ever wondered how small consulting firms manage to compete in an oversaturated market? David offers his perspective on the role of marketing and the power of referrals, inviting us to question our own strategies. Finding effective differentiation in the sea of sameness,
25: Meg Newhouse: From Clinical Psychology to the Boardroom
Have you ever wondered how an aspiring clinical psychologist ended up co-founding a successful tech consulting firm? That's exactly the intriguing journey of Meg Newhouse, our guest for this episode. We get a fascinating peek into Meg's career pivots, starting with her initial discovery of the field of instructional design and her subsequent roles in a tech company and a large consulting
24: Pritul Khagram, Founder of People Force
Pritul is now a Director at PWC after selling his firm, People Force to the company in April 2023. People Force was a Consultancy specialising in people technology services, payroll & immigration. Since 2013, the company grew organically & through acquisition. Pritul led the company through year-on-year growth, which included an astonishing 237% growth during the pandemic. Pritul successfu
23: Dr. Geoff Smart, Founder and Chairman of ghSMART
Geoff Smart is the chairman & founder of ghSMART, a global leadership advisory, education, and analytics firm. Geoff founded the firm whilst doing his PhD in 1995 and it now employs over 200 people helping Fortune 500 CEOs & boards, entrepreneurs, and heads of state to achieve their goals through hiring, developing, and leading talented teams.ghSMART is remarkable for it's strong posi
22: Todd Johnson (Nexer) and Mike Sigler (Rangeline)
Mike co-founded and grew Rangeline Solutions, an ERP solutions provider based which was sold to Nexer in part of their expansion across North America. In this episode, both Todd, the CEO of Nexer, and Mike talk about the sell and buy side of the story and how the deal was done. Mike focuses on the growth and sale of Rangeline whilst Todd tells us about the challenge and opportunity of running a
21: Jason Averbook, CEO & Co-founder of LeapGen & Knowledge Infusion
Among being a best-selling author, an adjunct professor and an advisory board member, Jason found the time to start Knowledge Infusion, which he eventually sold to Appirio. Three years later, he started LeapGen, a digital transformation company, which was then sold to Mercer. Here, he tells us about getting into people technology 'before it became trendy' and his challenges with growing
20: Steve Watmough, Chair, Mason Advisory
Steve is the Executive Chair of Mason Advisory a leading specialist focusing on digital and tech advisory to Private & Public Sector Clients. Steve has founded two successful firms and sold one, and has had a 30 year career in the IT and Management Consulting space. The first firm Steve founded, Xantus, a specialist digital and tech consultancy, was sold to KPMG in October 2011.https://www.mas
19: Nick Synott CEO, Create Engage
Nick is founder and CEO of Create Engage, a marketing agency that helps Professional Service Firms define their unique point of difference and shapes their marketing strategy to generate ROI. Having been a consultant himself he understands the challenges that consultancies face when it comes to reaching the decision makers and buyers in the organisations that they want to work with. When he's
18: William Evans - Arrowpoint Advisory (Rothschild & Co.)
Will is a Director at Arrowpoint Advisory, the dedicated mid-market team of Rothschild and Co. Arrowpoint Advisory is a leading M&A advisor to UK mid-market companies, entrepreneurs and investors. Will shares his insights from the 'sell-side' and 'buy-side' perspectives, as well as providing useful tips for founders considering a variety of different exit options.Send us Fa
17: Denzil Rankine, Founder AMR International
I've noticed many successful founders are driven by an earlier disappointment in their lives which is often related to their 'non-traditional' backgrounds when it comes to consulting. After a rejection from Oxford stuck in his craw and enjoying an early experience of consulting, Denzil built specialist expertise that would allow him to take advantage of an emerging market: commercia
16: Matteo Perucchini, CEO & Founder at Cambridge Healthcare Research
Matteo is one of those good looking, athletic, over-achievers that it would be wonderful to dislike, but it's simply impossible because he has a charming personality too....After getting his PhD, investigating gene variations, Matteo spent seven years working as a research scientist before jumping into consulting for healthcare, pharma and biotech. After taking a couple of years out to row th
15: Adrian Bettridge, Managing Partner, Baringa Partners
Adrian joined Barringa as a FS Partner in 2007 when it had 45 employees. His successes in that role prompted him to be voted as Managing Partner in 2014. As of 2022, Barringa has over 1500 employees, has expanded into many new industries and services.One of the many interesting things about Baringa has been its ability to maintain a 'people first' culture despite its meteoric growth. Amo
14: Richard Harris, VP Corum M&A
Richard Harris has had a remarkable career: from theoretical physics and business development, to founding and selling a software company and advising on M&A.In this episode Richard gives us the broader picture on M&A and provides incredible insights into the M&A process, the growing trend for consultancies to offer software products alongside their offerings, and the traps for founder
13: James O'Sullivan, Project One
James the straight talking CEO of Project One, a medium-sized boutique focused on change management and business transformation. Project One only employs highly experienced consultants, aligns incentives with quality project delivery rather than sales, and is focused on growth in terms of capacity and skills rather than just revenue.James gives us a refreshing insight into leading a consultancy wi
12: Neal Gandhi, TPXimpact
Neal Gandhi is the Co-founder and CEO at TPXimpact which focuses on digital transformation in the public sector. Neal helped grow the firm from three people in 2017 to over 500 in 2022. The company floated in 2019 and their share-price trebled in two years. Neal talks us through how public sector consulting has changed over the years, how he approached acquisitions and the challenges of leading
11: Daniel Litvin, Critical Resource
Daniel Litvin is the Founder of Critical Resource. He is a recognised thought leader on sustainability and political challenges facing global energy and resource investments, as well as societal issues facing business as a whole. Since founding Critical Resource in 2006, he has grown the company to be the leading provider of strategic advice to mining and energy firms and their investors on such ‘
10: Matt Cheung, Clarasys
Matt Cheung is CEO and Co-Founder of Clarasys. Since founding Clarasys in 2010 it has grown from an idea to a team of over 180 Consultants working across a range of industries including financial services, events, healthcare, utilities and information services. Matt is an expert in Agile programme delivery having spent the majority of his career delivering large, complex system programs using Agi
9: From Political Philosophy to Peer Groups with Tom McMakin
Tom is one of the nicest guys you could meet, but also an incredibly successful entrepreneur and CEO. Tom currently leads and founded Profitable Ideas Exchange (PIE). PIE builds communities around the globe, helping senior executives at client firms understand, connect, and collaborate. This helps provide consulting partners with great insights and connections with client leaders around the world.
8: The Real Cost of Entrepreneurship with Bill Poston
When it comes to consulting, Bill has been there and done that. He made partner at Deloitte over twenty years ago, and the co-founded and sold Kalypso - a global management consulting firm focused on innovation across five industry sectors.After being board member on several great firms, Bill founded and led The Launch Box: a platform for starting and growing professional service firms that enable
7: The Global Consulting Blueprint: Building a Boutique Empire with Jeffrey Cronkshaw
Jeff is co-founder and CEO at LanciaConsult - a privately owned and fast growing employee led global Management and Technology Consultancy, with offices throughout Asia and Europe. Founded in Singapore in 2012, LanciaConsult built its reputation delivering complex technology enabled transformation programmes and senior business advisory services through their entrepreneurial, genuine, practical,
6: Scaling Small Consultancies: The Talent Challenge with Caroline Boston
Caroline is founder and CEO at New Minds - supporting the growth agenda of consulting firms, through the successful recruitment and retention of key talent.Caroline has over 20 years of experience as a Recruitment, Resourcing and Talent Leader with deep expertise in the management consultancy sector and was awarded "Best individual recruitment consultant 2017" by TopConsultant.com, for w
5: Scaling a Consultancy with Culture, Quality, and Smart Marketing with Edward Beals
Ed Beals co-founded and co-led the award-winning management consulting firm Loft9. Driven by a desire to embrace change and new challenges with a passion for management consulting, he works across multiple industries to solve complex business challenges while simultaneously running and scaling companies. Ed is currently a Partner at Sia Partners, a unique management consulting firm composed of pas
4: From Spreadsheet Chaos to Streamlined Success with Behram Khan
After founding and being CEO at Time2Market (a software practice and business consultancy) Behram co-founded Avaza, a professional service automation company used by many consultancies across the globe.As both a founder of a consultancy, and a provider of PSA, Behram has unique insights into how automation can help professional services companies scale.Follow Joe on LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.c
3: Exit Strategies for Consultants with Bill Bierce
Bill Bierce is the founder and managing attorney of the law firm Bierce & Kenerson. This is an interesting story in its own right, but for our purposes, Bill is also an expert on what happens when professional service firms experience trauma: when partners fall out, when M&As go wrong, and when governance is found wanting. He is the author of the book Smarter Business Exits which incorpora
2: Maximising Your Consultancy's Sale Value with David Blois
David Blois is a founder and Managing Partner of M&A Advisory, a niche boutique that initiates and executes M&A transactions with a sound cultural and business fit in order to maximise value. The firm focuses on the global marketing communications, digital and Martech sectors. With a strong research ethos, it works from a central London base for all sizes of client. M&A Advisory is the
1: Mastering Consultancy Growth: Insights from Robert Garner with Robert Garner
Rob is a strategic advisor, non-executive director, and investor within the professional and technology service sector. He specialises in supporting organisations at inflexion points in their development, growth and/or ownership. He is currently a Partner in a professional services advisory business (Garwood), a Chairman/Investor of a health tech business and Chairman/Investor of a workplace refor
