The Consulting Growth Podcast

What does it take to build a consulting firm that lasts 25 years and successfully exits to a Big Four firm?
Adrian Moorhouse, Olympic gold medallist and former world number one swimmer, shares the story of how he transitioned from elite sport to building Lane4, one of the UK’s most respected leadership development consultancies. After retiring from swimming, Moorhouse moved into talent development in British Swimming before co-founding Lane4 in 1995 with academics and a sales partner, applying principles from sport—such as improving inputs to drive better outputs—to leadership development and consulting.
Over the next 25 years, Lane4 grew into a multi-million-pound consultancy before joining EY in 2021. In this conversation, Adrian explains the strategic choices that shaped that journey: building a team with distinct roles for sales, delivery, and account management; overcoming growth plateaus; and navigating the realities of selling a consulting firm. He also reflects on leadership, learning, and the mindset shift required to move from individual performance to leading a team-based business.
In this episode you will learn
How Adrian Moorhouse transitioned from Olympic athlete to consulting entrepreneur
Why separating sales, delivery, and account management can unlock consultancy growth
The importance of “better inputs lead to better outputs” in building consulting capability
How Lane4 broke through a revenue plateau by redesigning roles and investing in new business development
Why understanding the difference between the customer and the consumer matters in consulting
What founders should expect when selling a consulting firm and navigating an earn-out
How leadership mindset shifts from individual performance to building a high-performing team

Connect with Adrian:
LinkedIn: Adrian Moorhouse

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Prof. Joe O'Mahoney helps boutique consultancies scale and exit.  Joe's research, writing, speaking and insights can be found at https://equitysherpa.com.

What does it take to build a consulting firm that is global from day one?
In this episode, Joe O’Mahoney speaks with Matthieu Courtecuisse, Founder & CEO of Sia, about the long-term decisions behind building one of the world’s largest founder-led consulting firms.
Matthieu shares how Sia was built with international scale in mind from the very beginning, why founder commitment matters more than capital in global expansion, and how early investments in data, AI, and technology shaped the firm’s competitive advantage. He explains Sia’s augmented consulting model, where proprietary platforms and AI tools sit at the core of delivery—not as add-ons.
The conversation also covers Sia’s approach to growth through selective acquisitions, the balance between building and buying capabilities, and how culture-led integration supports scale. Joe and Matthieu close by discussing how AI is reshaping consulting economics, talent models, and why firms need to think in decades, not quarters, when building lasting value.

In this episode you will learn:
Why Sia was built with global scale as a core ambition
How founder commitment drives successful international expansion
Why early investment in AI and data created long-term advantage
What augmented consulting looks like in practice
How Sia approaches M&A without diluting culture
Why consulting firms must think long-term to build real value

This episode offers a long-term view on what it takes to build a global consulting platform—through sustained investment, founder leadership, and a clear belief in technology as a driver of scale and value.

Connect with Matthieu:
LinkedIn: Matthieu Courtecuisse
Website: SIA-Partners.com 

Resources:
SIA Case Study

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Prof. Joe O'Mahoney helps boutique consultancies scale and exit.  Joe's research, writing, speaking and insights can be found at https://equitysherpa.com.

What does leadership really look like when growth, pressure, and personal risk collide?
In this episode, Joe O’Mahoney speaks with Richard Goold about scaling consulting firms, leading under strain, and building long-term value without losing culture.

Richard Goold supports founders, CEOs, and boards through the hardest stages of growth—scaling sustainably, protecting culture, and preparing for long-term value creation. He has led and exited consulting businesses, including a £35m sale following an MBO, and now advises fast-growth firms across the UK and US. Earlier in his career, Richard also served as a frontline Met Police officer, an experience that deeply shaped his views on leadership, trust, and decision-making under pressure.

Richard shares his journey from big consulting firms to leading Moorehouse through an MBO, growing the business from £3m to £35m, and ultimately selling it. He reflects on the realities of leadership during high-stakes moments, including remortgaging personal assets, navigating near-deal failures, and carrying responsibility for people as the firm scaled.

The conversation explores what truly drives firm value beyond revenue—succession planning, client concentration, codifying knowledge, and leadership depth—as well as why these factors must be addressed years before an exit process begins.

Joe and Richard close by discussing today’s consulting landscape, including the cultural challenges of remote work, the risks and opportunities of AI, and what leaders must do now to stay relevant and protect enterprise value.

In this episode you will learn:

What leadership under strain really looks like in growing consulting firms
How Morehouse scaled from an MBO to a £35m exit
Why people, succession, and culture drive long-term firm value
The risks of waiting too long to prepare for an exit
How to codify delivery IP and reduce founder dependency
Why everyone—not just partners—must contribute to growth
How AI and remote work are reshaping consulting firm value

This episode offers a grounded look at leadership when the stakes are real—from scaling and exits to culture, people, and personal risk. Richard’s experience provides practical insights for consultancy leaders navigating growth, strain, and long-term value creation.

Connect with Richard:
Website: RichardGoold.com 
LinekdIn: Richard Goold

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Prof. Joe O'Mahoney helps boutique consultancies scale and exit.  Joe's research, writing, speaking and insights can be found at https://equitysherpa.com.

What does it take to scale a consulting firm internationally without external capital?
In this episode, Joe O’Mahoney speaks with Olly Purnell, Managing Partner and co-founder of Q5, about how the firm grew from a five-person partnership to a global consultancy. With nearly 30 years of consulting experience, he leads client engagements across sectors while also focusing on attracting top talent to support Q5’s growth in the UK, US, and Australia.
Olly explains why Q5 moved away from an associate-heavy model, how they built a culture around organisational health, and how their internal tool—Org Maps—supports operating model work by analysing spans, layers, and resource allocation directly from client ERP data.
They also discuss Q5’s shift from a traditional partnership to a broader shareholder structure, the targeted mergers that helped them enter new markets, and the leadership decisions that preserved the team during COVID-19.
Olly closes with insights into the future of consulting, the impact of AI, and Q5’s focus on strengthening their tools and international footprint.
 In this episode, you will learn: 
How Q5 scaled from a small founding team to an international consultancy
Why the firm shifted from an associate-led model to full-time hiring
What “organisational health” means in practice and how Q5 delivers it
How Org Maps supports operating model and workforce decisions
Why Q5 moved from a partnership to a broader shareholder structure
The leadership decision that protected the firm during COVID-19
How Q5 approaches growth, culture, and the future of consulting in an AI-driven era
This conversation offers a clear look into how Q5 has grown, adapted, and defined its approach to organisational health. Olly’s reflections on culture, structure, and leadership provide practical insights for any consultancy thinking about scale. We hope you found the discussion valuable and thought-provoking.
Connect with Olly:
Website: q5partners.com
LinkedIn: Olly Purnell 
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Prof. Joe O'Mahoney helps boutique consultancies scale and exit.  Joe's research, writing, speaking and insights can be found at https://equitysherpa.com.

What if selling your business wasn't the end of your wealth creation journey, but rather the beginning? In this fascinating conversation with Todd Taskey, M&A advisor and host of the Second Bite Podcast, we explore how marketing agency founders can transform a business sale into an extraordinary wealth-building opportunity.

Todd reveals the three currencies every business seller receives – cash, earn-out, and equity – and explains why that third component often becomes the most valuable. Through real-world examples like Social SEO (which grew from $2M to $16M in EBIT DA after acquisition) and Endrock Solutions (whose founder went from running a 20-person team to becoming Chief Growth Officer at a 1,700-person powerhouse), Todd illustrates how the "second bite" strategy works in practice.

The conversation dives deep into the human elements that make or break these deals. We explore how personality fit between sellers and buyers determines long-term success, why private equity firms in the agency space focus on growth rather than cost-cutting, and the art of structuring earn-outs that actually motivate founders post-acquisition. Todd shares his counterintuitive advice for presenting conservative growth projections during sale negotiations to ensure achievable earn-outs later.

We also tackle how AI and automation are reshaping the value equation for professional service firms. Rather than threatening agency values, these technologies may actually increase profitability by enabling firms to serve more clients with fewer people. Todd offers practical wisdom on why agency owners should focus on employee and client retention metrics as the true indicators of business quality, and how to distinguish between building a lifestyle business versus building to sell.

Whether you're years away from an exit or actively considering one, this episode provides invaluable insights into maximizing the value of what you've built while creating alignment between your personal goals and your business strategy. The path to extraordinary wealth might just involve taking a smaller slice of a much bigger pie.
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Prof. Joe O'Mahoney helps boutique consultancies scale and exit.  Joe's research, writing, speaking and insights can be found at https://equitysherpa.com.