The Challenge
A technology-enabled SME at £3.5M ARR was running almost entirely on spreadsheets. The CRM was used inconsistently, financial reporting was a monthly exercise in reconciliation, and the ops team had no shared view of what was happening. As the business scaled, the spreadsheet layer was creating compounding risk — version conflicts, manual errors, and an inability for leadership to trust the numbers.
The founders needed to move fast — they had a board meeting in 90 days and needed to demonstrate operational maturity before their Series A process. Speed, pragmatism, and commercial focus were the brief.
The Approach
- 01
Ran a rapid 2-week diagnostic across all operational processes — sales, delivery, finance, customer success — to map the current state and identify the highest-leverage intervention points
- 02
Implemented HubSpot as the CRM and operational hub — configured around the actual sales and delivery process, not a template
- 03
Built a live finance and operations dashboard in Power BI connecting HubSpot, Xero, and the product platform
- 04
Automated the customer onboarding and success review process — reducing manual coordination by 12 hours per week
- 05
Operated as embedded Fractional IT Business Partner through the Series A process — owning the data room and investor reporting
“In 90 days, we went from 'we don't really know what's happening' to having a real operating layer. That was the difference going into the raise.”