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Gousto

Buoyed by its strong growth, Gousto achieved “unicorn” status in 2020, when it completed a funding round at a $1bn+ valuation

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Miss Group

With BGF as a minority partner, web hosting company Miss Group acquired seven businesses in under two years, quadrupling its earnings

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Supporting female founder initiatives across the UK & Ireland

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A BGF portfolio service

Expertise on-demand.

  • Digital
  • HR
  • Finance
  • IT
  • Sales/Marketing
  • Business improvement

Sometimes growing businesses need specialist advice and connections, outside of their own team or board. At BGF, our Expertise On-Demand service offers you all this and more.

For our portfolio companies, this is an on-demand service, available how and when you want it. As a complementary value add, the BGF Talent Network helps you to scope out your needs, listens to your requirement and helps you to find a solution.

Expertise On-Demand

Expertise On-Demand is a service provided by BGF’s Talent Network, our inhouse team dedicated to managing, building and making connections with our extensive network.

How it works

  • As a portfolio company, you contact us about a specific need or challenge you’re facing.

  • If the challenge is not something we can quickly solve in-house, we draw on our pool of experts to find a shortlist of promising candidates to introduce to you. Our experts include talented individuals and boutique consultancies with expertise in your sector.

  • You choose the candidate you like best and contract them on a basis that works for you, for instance for one day a week or for a fixed-fee, one-off project.

Expertise On-Demand covers a range of business areas including: business improvement, digital, finance, HR, IT, manufacturing, sales/commercial.

“The breadth of our network is such that we have contacts in every sector, in every corner of the country. Our scale means we’ll almost always be able to find what you’re looking for and the network is broken down into smaller, trusted groups who we work with regularly. Our tailored approach means we know one size does not fit all. Ultimately, we will work with you to help you find what you need, when you need it.”

Cate Poulson, Head of Talent Network, BGF Read about our talent network

Digital

A common theme for many innovative businesses is the capture and interpretation of data.

Whether a firm needs a consultant digital marketer to help acquire and maintain customers, or a chief technology officer to make significant system changes,
we can help.

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Dean Maskell - Rutland Cycling

Dean Maskell joined our network after serving as head of online marketing at sports retailer Wiggle. He is an expert at building digital marketing teams and data-led infrastructure – during his eight years at Wiggle, turnover rose from £12 million to £200 million.

Given Dean’s knowledge of online sports goods, he was a perfect fit for Rutland Cycling, one of our portfolio companies, which needed help to drive rapid growth of its own digital channel.

Human resources

Our businesses often have sufficient HR resource in-house to cover tasks such as payroll, drawing up employment contracts, managing absence and performance, and basic training.

However, as they grow and encounter challenging situations, they often require flexible, senior support in areas such as recruitment at scale, organisational development and design, exits and performance management, redundancies and employee relations, reward and succession planning.

Providing senior support

Chris Bradford - TiG

Chris Bradford has held senior HR roles at Vodafone, BP, Equinix and Simplyhealth.

She was introduced to managed service provider TiG, a BGF portfolio company which helps businesses transition to the cloud. As part-time interim HR director, she provided support with people strategy development, coaching of business leaders, recruitment, onboarding, harmonising terms and conditions, and acquisition integration.

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Finance

Introducing businesses to experienced finance directors has historically been our busiest area.

The issue may be operational, such as reporting, cashflow management or systems implementation, or strategic, such as a refinance, integration planning or exit support. We also commission finance directors to review potential investment opportunities and provide opinion-led financial diligence.

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Olly Garland - Off-Piste Wines

Olly Garland joined our network after serving as finance director at businesses including Direct Wines, the international wine merchant with a turnover of £350 million that is behind Laithwaite’s and the Sunday Times Wine Club.

His background made him a great pairing for one of our portfolio companies, Off-Piste Wines, where he is supporting the finance function after the firm’s ex-finance director, Andy Talbot, transitioned to the role of managing director. Olly has helped to screen potential acquisition targets, support the enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation, improve board information and mentor the firm’s financial controller, as well as contribute to strategy with the board.

IT

If a business wants to consult an experienced chief information officer,
or any kind of IT specialist, we can make the introductions.

An external individual or consultancy may be able to assist with cost-saving initiatives, commercial negotiations, cloud-based software, cybersecurity, the replacing of legacy technology or the implementation of new systems.

Leading technology-based business transformations

Jeremy Hyland has been a senior IT leader and adviser to a range of small and mid-size organisations, advising on IT strategy and leading technology-based business transformations.

He was introduced to property law firms Equilaw and Thomas Legal, both BGF portfolio companies, to help address operational issues and perform an IT strategy review, which will assist the management team deliver operational efficiency improvements and support their growth plans.

Read more about Advanced tech, AI & data

Sales/Marketing

In small businesses it is common for the sales function to be led by our owner founders, but as businesses grow, they may need to bring in new systems, processes and improved skills.

A senior interim manager or consultant can help with setting strategic direction, pricing, developing teams and implementing a properly defined sales process with meaningful key performance indicators (KPIs).

Implementing new frameworks

Graeme Hall - Ocee Design

Graeme Hall led the sales and marketing operation at a division of Linde, selling to Tesco, Asda, PC World and more. He then set up a consultancy, Sales Blueprint.

We introduced him to furnituremaker Ocee Design, one of our portfolio companies, where he helped to implement a new framework that allowed the firm to turn around a six-month period of declining sales and ultimately increase sales by 30% year on year.

Read more about Ocee Design

Business improvement

Every growing business faces obstacles as it develops. Expert advice during difficult periods is one of the most important services the Talent Network provides.

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David Chubb

A chartered accountant and insolvency practitioner, David Chubb worked in banking before becoming a restructuring partner at PwC.

He has assisted various BGF portfolio companies through challenging periods, notably during the Covid-19 crisis, for instance by giving advice on cash management and the consequent stakeholder management.
He has also assisted boards in considering restructuring options, in particular in relation to lease costs.