SME Growth Cohort

I have worked with Graham since 2016 in what started as a technology advisor role. Our team quickly learned that he brought invaluable business acumen. Whether it has been technical mentorship, establishing processes, hiring freelancers, adopting AI or exploring the intersection of business and technology, Graham's input has been a critical part of unlocking our growth. Joining his Growth Cohort would be time and money well spent.
-- Tim Waxenfelter, Endurance Learning

Who Is This Cohort Perfect For?

The cohort delivers huge value to start-ups and estbalished small and medium sized businesses. But it was designed for these businesses in particular:

• Motivated to achieve rapid value creation
• Historic underinvestment in technology
• Trading for 10+ years
• £1-10M Revenue
• Profitable

The cohort delivers maximum value for businesses who:

• Don't know where to start with tech adoption/digital transformation
• Don't know how much to spend on technology and innovation
• Don't have capacity in the team to work on new initiatives
• Don't know what is possible with modern technologies
• Don't have funds to invest even though they want to
• Don't know who to use to deliver a positive outcome
• Don't know how to implement modern technologies

Interact

Our SME Growth Cohorts exist for SMEs who know they should be making better use of technology, but for some reason they do not.

When surveyed by Deloitte, almost 75% of UK SMEs said that digital transformation is:
"the single most important investment now and into the future that organisations can make to drive enterprise value".

Yet, the same report found that:
"almost a third of UK organisations reported that to a large extent they lack a transformation strategy".

Our own experience is that SMEs delay their digital aspirations because:

1. They lack technical leadership
2. They don't know where to begin
3. They don't know who to trust to deliver
4. They don't know how to manage change

If that is you, our SME Growth Cohort enables you to unlock growth through technology adoption and digital transformation by giving you the opportunity to frequently interact with tech leaders who know their stuff. Tech leaders who have spent years honing their technical skills and learning how best to apply them to drive business growth and enterprise value.

Weekly Online Meetings

Members of the cohort are invited to join online group meetings that are hosted weekly by an experienced CTO. Members join as often as they please and a typical agenda will include topics such as:

• Q&A sessions driven by members burning questions
• Sense checks, eg does a supplier proposal sound legit
• Tech trend updates such as examples of high value AI adoption
• Addressing key SME concerns such as addressing cybersecurity risks

Graham has been an invaluable asset from the word go. He has helped us to build and implement a strategy to make a big technological leap as a business to work more efficiently and improve our offering to clients.
-- Matthew Houliston, Serve Legal Ltd

Quarterly In-Person Meetings

The weekly online meetings provide members with a regular stream of technology expertise, knowledge and opinion. This is a great enabler to build momentum in tech based growth, but sometimes meeting in-person is just better.

Members of the cohort are invited to join in-person sessions once per quarter to share experience and knowledge among their highly motivated, growth focussed cohort of SME execs. The purpose of these in-person meetings is two-fold:

1. Facilitate indepth discussions based on members' opportunities and challenges
2. Provide an opportunity for growth focussed SME execs to exchange ideas, experiences, pain points and successes and encourage one another to keep striving for success

These meetings will be informal, held at some of our favourite pubs around Wokingham and London.

Private Online Meetings

Joining the SME Growth Cohort also unlocks access to private online meetings, bookable on-demand. No ongoing commitment, just access to the technical expertise you need, when you need it, charged in 30 minute increments.

24/7 Group Chat

The final piece in our interaction jigsaw is a members only group chat, moderated by our technologists and designed to give you access to information, opinions and recommendations as and when you need it.

SME Growth Cohort membership removes the key obstacles faced by SMEs looking to grow through technology adoption and digital transformation.

Graham's SME Growth Cohort has been packed full of useful takeaways, relevant to any forward-thinking business owner. As the founder of a new tech startup, it was great to be able to ask direct questions and learn from the experience of not just Graham, but the other members of the cohort too. From introductions, to tech knowledge and strategy, these sessions are an absolute must for any SME business owner that is keen to learn how to do things better than they already are. Would definitely recommend!
-- Tom Dalton, Stealth Startup

Learn

The tech landscape does not stay still for long and our job is to keep you informed of the latest trends and opportunities. To do this we will share reports via email providing you with our unique analysis of the opportunities new technologies present as well as the things you ought be considering to get ready for those technologies.

From time to time we will share playbooks with you that provide practical steps for SMEs to overcome common challenges. For example:

• How does an SME get ready for AI adoption?
• Integrating your IT systems and automating your processes

Our weekly cohort meetings give you the perfect opportunity to follow up on these reports and playbooks to ask how to exploit opportunities in your market as well as hearing from your peers how they might apply them in their market.

Grahams expertise cannot be overstated! He was incredibly valuable in guiding us through a new technical project and ensuring the project was to be delivered to our spec and in budget. He's a very rare case of top technical knowledge, commercial accumen and crafting 'laymen explanations' to complex issues.
-- Matthew Walsh, IMRG

Connect

Having on-demand access to our knowledge and experience helps you to make decisions that can drive growth.

Connecting with our network enables you to accelerate your growth further.

As an SME Growth Cohort member you will have access to our network of:

• Fractional CxOs
• Approved suppliers
• Investors

We have collaborated with fractional execs across past SME engagements. We are likely to know or be connected with a fractional exec who is tailor made for your business. We have worked with CFOs who can take you to an exit or acquisition. We can call on CMOs to bring new, digital products to market. Of course, the area we know best is tech, if you need a specialist CTO, we've got you covered.

Over the years we have also been through countless vendor selection processes to identify the best tools, teams and freelancers. We can save you £x000's by matching your needs to vendors we already trust to deliver.

Finally, whether you are looking for investment or an exit, we have connections from angel investors through to private equity houses and we can make appropriate introductions.

The SME Growth Cohort is a fantastic platform for business owners and leaders to learn how to leverage technology to drive growth. Graham brings a wealth of experience and ensures that the discussions are well-structured and insightful. The cohort creates a supportive environment for networking, allowing you to connect with other business leaders, ask questions, and share advice from your own experiences. It’s also a great opportunity to build valuable relationships that can lead to referrals and collaboration. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time in the cohort and highly recommend it to any business owner looking to grow and scale.
-- David Taylor, Aruga Cyber