Straight answers for founders serious about scaling, acquiring, or exiting well
Everything you need to understand how I work, who I’m right for, and what to expect.
- You’re generating £5m–£50m in revenue
- Growth has stalled, plateaued, or become inconsistent
- You’re considering an acquisition, exit, or significant structural change
- You want a thinking partner who challenges you, not just validates you
- You’re ready to act, not just explore options
- You need someone who has actually built businesses, not just advised them
- You’re pre-revenue or at early startup stage
- You’re looking for low-cost or generic advisory
- You want validation rather than honest challenge
- You’re not ready to make difficult decisions
- You need a large team of consultants, not a sharp senior operator
Not sure if you’re a fit? Have a quick conversation →
Who I work with and why
I work with founder-led, private equity–backed, and scaling businesses typically generating between £5m and £50m in revenue.
My clients are usually at an inflection point — growth has become harder, complexity has increased, or they’re preparing for investment, acquisition, or exit. They’ve built something real and now need to take it to the next level without it falling apart in the process.
I work across two business models specifically: professional services firms — where I have direct experience building Brickendon from a two-person startup into a global consultancy of 300+ professionals — and technology and product businesses, where I built HybridHero from scratch into a platform operating in 40+ countries. Most advisors know one model. I’ve run both.
If you’re still at early startup stage, I’m probably not the right fit — the challenges are different and I’m most useful when there’s real substance to work with.
Most advisory firms send in teams of people who have studied how businesses scale. I’ve actually done it — twice, from nothing, with no outside capital.
I started Brickendon in 2010 with an advance on my mortgage and no clients. No funding, no investors — just execution. I grew it into a global consultancy of over 300 professionals, generating over $250m in total revenue. Then I built HybridHero, a workplace technology platform now operating in 40+ countries.
The practical difference: when I sit across from a founder and discuss their operating model, their leadership gaps, or their acquisition strategy, I’m drawing on direct experience of exactly those challenges — not a framework developed by someone else.
I also don’t send in junior people. You work directly with me, and I stay involved until outcomes are delivered — not until a report is written.
You’re likely a good fit if you have a solid business but know it could perform better — and you’re serious about doing something about it.
The founders and leadership teams I work with tend to be commercially sharp and open to challenge. They don’t need someone to tell them they’re doing a great job. They need someone to help them see clearly, decide well, and execute with discipline.
If you’re looking for validation rather than honest input — or if you’re not yet ready to act on what you hear — I’m probably not the right fit right now.
The best way to find out is a direct conversation. There’s no cost, and I’ll be straightforward about whether there’s a genuine opportunity to work together.
Still unsure whether Aduvo is right for your business?
Have a quick conversationEngagements, process, and what to expect
I work alongside leadership teams — not as an external consultant who delivers a document and disappears, but as a thinking partner focused on outcomes.
Engagements are typically structured in one of three ways: strategic advisory (ongoing input at key decision points), focused projects (a defined scope with a clear output — operating model redesign, acquisition strategy, exit readiness assessment), or 90-day execution sprints (intensive, outcome-focused periods where execution is the priority).
I work with a limited number of businesses at any one time. That’s deliberate — I don’t spread myself thin, and the businesses I work with get my full attention rather than a slice of a large team’s bandwidth.
You should expect clarity within the first few weeks — a sharper view of where the real issues are, what matters most, and what needs to change.
Tangible changes typically follow within 30–90 days. Measurable impact — in growth, commercial performance, or deal readiness — over 3–12 months depending on scope.
I’m direct about this: if it’s taking significantly longer, something is wrong — either with the diagnosis, the execution, or the commitment. I’ve built businesses at pace and I work the same way with clients.
No. I work alongside your existing team — strengthening decision-making and execution, not replacing the people doing the work.
In most engagements I become a close thinking partner to the founder and/or CEO: a senior voice that can challenge, support, and push where needed — without the politics of being inside the organisation.
If you have existing advisors or a board, I’m comfortable working within that structure. I’m not territorial. What matters is the outcome for the business.
You’ll work directly with me — Chris Burke. There’s no bait-and-switch where you meet a senior person and then get handed to a junior team.
That’s one of the practical advantages of working with Aduvo: you get direct access to the person with the track record, every time. The value I bring comes from experience, not from managing a delivery team.
Ready to understand how an engagement could work for your business?
Book a conversationWhat I help with
The situations I’m most commonly brought into include:
Growth has stalled or become inconsistent — the business grew well to a point and now can’t break through. Usually a structural or leadership issue, not a market issue.
The founder is the bottleneck — the business depends too heavily on one person, which limits scale and destroys value at exit. I’ve navigated this transition myself, more than once.
Acquisition activity — building an acquisition strategy, evaluating specific targets, or dealing with the aftermath of a deal that hasn’t integrated cleanly.
Exit preparation — improving profitability, predictability, and team strength to maximise valuation and give investors or acquirers confidence.
Leadership complexity — the team that built the business to £5m is rarely the team that takes it to £25m. Managing that transition without losing momentum is one of the hardest things a founder faces.
Yes — where there is a clear strategic rationale.
I support acquisition strategy, target identification, deal evaluation, synergy logic, and integration planning. I’ve been on both sides of transactions — as the founder selling and as the operator acquiring — so I understand where deals break down and how to keep them on track.
I am not a broker. I don’t push deals because a transaction fee depends on it. I’ll tell you clearly if I think an acquisition doesn’t make strategic sense — even if it’s one you’re excited about. The most expensive acquisitions are the ones that look compelling and aren’t.
Yes. An exit is not an event — it’s the conclusion of a process that starts years before any transaction takes place.
I work with founders preparing for exit to improve profitability and margin quality, build predictable revenue, reduce founder dependency, strengthen the leadership team, and sharpen the story the business tells to acquirers or investors.
The businesses that achieve the best exits aren’t just the ones with the highest revenue — they’re the ones that are clean, predictable, and don’t depend on the founder to function. I’ve positioned a business for acquisition myself and I know what buyers actually look for.
Yes. Many of my engagements involve businesses with PE or institutional backing, where there’s an investor timeline and specific value creation targets to hit.
I understand how to operate within that dynamic — the pressure of investor expectations, the need to show progress against a plan, and the difference between what looks good on a board deck and what actually moves the business forward.
If you’re a leadership team at a PE-backed business that needs to accelerate execution against a value creation plan, that’s a context I work in regularly.
Fees, timelines, and what you get
I don’t publish fixed rates because engagements vary significantly in scope and intensity. What I can say is that I position Aduvo as a premium advisory relationship — not a commodity service.
The clients I work with engage me because the value created — in growth, commercial performance, or deal outcome — materially outweighs the cost. If that equation doesn’t hold, it’s not the right engagement.
I’m straightforward about fees in an initial conversation. There’s no hidden complexity — you’ll know exactly what you’re committing to before any engagement begins.
That depends on scope — but across most engagements, you should expect:
Clearer strategy — sharper priorities, less noise, better decisions made faster.
Stronger execution — the gap between what you’re planning to do and what actually gets done closes significantly.
Improved commercial performance — revenue quality, margin, and growth consistency all improve when the operating model and leadership are aligned.
A more valuable, investable business — whether heading toward acquisition, exit, or further growth, the business becomes structurally stronger and more attractive to external parties.
Most engagements run between 3 and 12 months, depending on scope and objectives.
A focused project — an operating model redesign, an acquisition strategy, an exit readiness assessment — might be completed in 90 days. An ongoing strategic advisory relationship typically runs longer.
I don’t stretch engagements to generate fees. When the work is done, it’s done. Some clients come back for subsequent phases — that’s their choice, not something I engineer.
Getting started
I review every enquiry personally. If there looks to be a strong potential fit, I’ll reach out to arrange an initial conversation — typically 30–45 minutes.
In that conversation, I’ll want to understand your business, where you are, what you’re trying to achieve, and where the real pressure points are. I’ll be direct about whether I think there’s a clear opportunity to create value — and if I don’t think I’m the right fit, I’ll tell you that too.
There’s no hard sell and no obligation. It’s a genuine conversation to assess fit on both sides.
No. The initial conversation is free. If it becomes clear there’s a strong fit and you’d like a more detailed assessment of the opportunity, we can discuss what that looks like — but the first conversation has no cost or commitment attached to it.
Quite selective. I work with a limited number of businesses each year — deliberately. That limit exists so I can give every engagement the attention it deserves and actually move the needle, rather than spreading myself across too many clients.
I’m looking for businesses where I can see a clear and meaningful opportunity to create value, and founders or leadership teams who are serious about acting on what they hear. If both conditions aren’t present, I’ll say so.
The selectivity works both ways — you should be just as discerning about whether I’m the right fit for your business as I am about taking it on.
Yes. Everything discussed — in initial conversations and throughout any engagement — is treated with complete confidentiality. I don’t disclose client names, business details, or any information shared in the course of working together.
Confidentiality is a baseline requirement in this kind of work, not a selling point. You can speak frankly from the first conversation.
Most businesses don’t have a strategy problem — they have an execution and focus problem
Growth stalls. Complexity increases. The founder becomes the bottleneck. The question isn’t whether to address it — it’s when.
Start the conversationIf you’re serious about building a more valuable business, let’s talk
I’ll quickly assess whether there’s a clear opportunity to create value — and I’ll be direct either way.