Growth Partner

As 2024 comes to an end, there’s just one question that remains: what on earth are Alex and Jason doing here?!      Turns out that the competitive pair will do almost anything to win at THE CUBE for our Christmas party this week…     So, other than completing THE CUBE, what else have we done this year? 🤝 New partnerships with Abingdon Software Group, Gozney, Host & Stay, and Creature Comforts. What an amazing bunch of teams to be working with! 👥 New team members: Kate Voller Browning joining as Value Creation Director to turbocharge how we support our portfolio; Annabel Eden taking the reins on getting the team coordinated; intern Harsha Sankar getting stuck into the detail to support the investment team, and our latest recruit Chief Gnome Officer leading on all things business development. 🏢 New London office, near Kings Cross. Its inhabitants have ambitious plans to out-green the Newcastle office in the plant department. ✴️ Four Masterclasses for our ambitious partner teams across marketing, finance, influencers and strategy. 🍻 Our inaugural summer drinks party held at the Museum of Brands. Where we all pretended not to recognise brands from decades past to hide our age.       And speaking of brands. We’ve been beavering away with the team at Nalla on an exciting new look for 2025…     Thank you to everyone who made this year incredible. Happy holidays to all and here’s to a fantastic year ahead. 🎄 Jason Mahendran l Richard Harpin l Alex Marsh l Jade Kelsall l Callum Harvey l Phoebe Pridham l Annabel Eden | Rona Walsh l Sally Cullingworth l Clarke Sorrell l James Worrall

Victoria Lynch is our kind of entrepreneur: gritty, determined and with a deep understanding of the salons and customers she serves.   It’s been a privilege to support her journey so far.   We believe in investing in people, and Victoria and her team have made that easy with their leadership and vision. We’re excited to see what Additional Lengths can do in 2025 as we continue to work with them, with Alex Marsh and Callum Harvey leading our partnership.   🎧 Watch the full episode from Blair West for more insights into the story behind the investment, Victoria’s leadership in growing Additional Lengths from a startup to a £20 million revenue success, and much more: //https://lnkd.in/eZzFywkU

We're #hiring a new Research and Analytics Role – Project-Based (8-12 Weeks) in Greater London, England. Apply today or share this post with your network.

We're #hiring a new Research and Analytics Role – Project-Based (8-12 Weeks) in Greater London, England. Apply today or share this post with your network.

We're hiring! 🚀 We’re looking for a Research and Analytics Associate for an exciting 8-12 week project with Growth Partner & Richard Harpin's personal office. This role is perfect for students across MBA, MiM, MFA, or MiF programmes seeking hands-on experience in data analysis, research, and strategic insights while collaborating directly with multiple stakeholders. 📧 Interested? Send your CV and availability today via the link below. Jason Mahendran | Jade Kelsall | Clarke Sorrell | Alex Marsh | Annabel Eden | James Worrall | Callum Harvey | Kate Voller Browning | Hannah Guerin #CareerOpportunity #DataAnalytics #HandsOnExperience #Investment

We loved talking strategy with Host & Stay yesterday. Dale Smith, Claire Maith and team have a: 👉 Clear view of where to play in the rentals market, and the strengths they bring. 👉 Deep understanding of how the market and trends are impacting the business and what their customers want and need. 👉 Strong vision for doing more for owners than anyone else: earning them more revenue, and a fully managed service that takes away the hassle. 👉 Solid plan with initiatives and products to achieve their goals. 👉 Clear “Not To Do” list – keeping focused on what matters.   We’re excited to see what the team can do through 2025 and beyond.  Thanks for Hosting us! 🏠

Influencer marketing: love it or hate it, it's a key competency for growing brands. So our Director of Value Creation, Kate Voller Browning, has been exploring how to develop an effective influencer strategy as a scaling business. And she's distilled all the insights and experiences of all those she spoke to into something actionable. It's all in our Advocacy and Influencer Playbook - now with Part 2: Strategy Development: https://lnkd.in/gqWveQfq 1️⃣ Know who your target customers are, and how you can work with influencers to reach them. We explore how to reach this clarity. 2️⃣ Set your goals. Everything you do next should be built on what you specifically want to achieve with your influencer marketing. We dive into four main goals you might have and how they impact your choices. 3️⃣ Make strategic choices on who to work with. Here you need to make choices to match your budget, your overall marketing strategy, channels, content and influencer mix. We set out the key considerations. 4️⃣ Build into a measurable plan. There's planning and execution to be done including building strong relationships with your creators, getting contracts and scopes in place plus working with agencies and tech. We checklist what you might need to be working through. ➡ Developed in partnership with Lottie Unwin (she/her) at Brand Hackers #influencer #marketing

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝗣 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆 𝗟𝗮𝗯 𝗔𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗺𝗻 𝟮𝟰🧪 Last week, the Growth Partner community convened in London to dive into all things strategy – the good, the bad and the bold. 𝗦𝗼 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗯𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗻? Start with a strategic framework and you’re moving in the right direction.. 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝗼𝗻𝗲? That’s where it gets interesting! With so many frameworks to choose from, we decided to lean into one created by A.G. Lafley, former CEO of Procter & Gamble, and Roger L. Martin, a renowned business strategist: 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗪𝗶𝗻. 🏅 While it’s not the only option, we find Playing to Win a powerful approach that helps organisations craft a clear, cohesive, and actionable strategy aligned with their unique capabilities and goals. 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝗮 𝗵𝗶𝗴𝗵-𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸: 1. Define your winning aspiration and purpose. 2. Identify the markets and segments where you play and compete. 3. Understand how you will win in those markets. 4. Determine the capabilities required for success. 5. Establish the management systems and processes needed to execute your strategy. 𝘚𝘰, 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘸𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴? 👉 𝗖𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝘀 𝗞𝗶𝗻𝗴: Understanding your number 1 customer is critical to a successful strategy. 👉 𝗙𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁, 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁: Prioritise the features that matter most to your customers and excel in those areas. 👉 𝗔𝗱𝗼𝗽𝘁 𝗮 𝗠𝗲𝗱𝗶𝘂𝗺 𝘁𝗼 𝗟𝗼𝗻𝗴-𝗧𝗲𝗿𝗺 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲: Success and change take time; avoid the temptation for overnight results. 👉 𝗔𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗘𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗲: Be prepared to adapt, but not rewrite, your strategy as your business and market evolve. 👉 𝗕𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗘𝘅𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Too much focus on one at the expense of the other can hinder your progress. 👉 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗞𝗲𝘆: Foster top down and bottom up communication with your teams to ensure they truly understand the strategic vision of the business. A huge thank you to Kate Voller Browning and Peter Brooks for organising and hosting the day, and to Frank Hayes, experienced CEO, and Jambu Palaniappan, CEO of Checkatrade, for joining our discussion and sharing their valuable experiences with us. More to come on the topic of “𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝗮 𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆?” #GrowthPartner #Strategy #PlayingToWin #CustomerCentric #Leadership #Entrepreneurship

🚀 Achieving successful, sustainable growth requires the right partnerships. That applies to investors, and to brand and marketing. One of our Growth Partners, Stubble & Co, is a great example. They’re committed to creating products that empower people to Do.More. They collaborate with a range of creators and have recently partnered with Fergus Crawley, an athlete and coach who shares their ethos, and works with them as an ambassador. Together, they’re building something truly special. Lewis Murray at Stubble & Co is leading the charge on influencer marketing: "We started working with influencers about 5-6 months ago. Our focus has always been on building meaningful, long-term collaborations with creators who genuinely believe in our brand. This strategy has led to authentic partnerships that drive real impact." Choosing and scaling the right influencer strategy requires understanding the options out there, and working out what is right for your brand. Our Director of Value Creation Kate Voller Browning spoke to a range of experts and captured the key considerations in Part 1 of our Advocacy and Influencer Booklet to help our partners move faster on their influencer strategies. Part 1 covers: - Where advocacy fits in with other marketing activity - The types of influencers that might be right for you (nano to mega) - The importance of organic advocacy and how to drive it - How you can work with different influencers with paid, gifted or ambassador strategies - Which platforms to consider using to get bang for your buck - including Reddit and Snapchat 👉 Download your copy here: https://lnkd.in/g6-m-hd9 #GrowthPartners #SustainableGrowth #BrandMarketing #InfluencerStrategy #ConsumerBusinesses

"We build really close relationships with the influencers we work with - it's a long-term partnership for us,” says Lee Pearson, Social Media Marketing Strategist at Easy Bathrooms. She collaborates with top digital creators and influencers (amongst others!) to provide inspiration to home renovators across social media. As an example, Brad and Phil from The Home Improvements Channel are currently installing a new "Easy Bathroom" for Mat Armstrong who is a well-known personality on YouTube (pic below is of brothers Brad and Phil on the left and right, with Danny Betson in the centre). Different brands use different approaches to working with influencers. Click right for some considerations if you’re thinking about how frequently to work with select influencers. And for more info, download Part 1 of our Advocacy and Influencer Booklet, created in partnership with Lottie Unwin (she/her) at Brand Hackers. https://lnkd.in/g6-m-hd9