If you are a founder or CEO, or looking to support one in your portfolio, we can help you:
- Build a strong and investable business case for the business, its clients and potential investors
- Create the right culture and conditions for multidisciplinary innovation
- Navigate how to create, plan, deliver and scale the business
- Explore constraints (tech vs legal vs commercial) to identify sources of value
- Get the most out of leadership, boards and delivery teams
- Connect with tech, business, government and investor communities across sectors
- Structure strategic development across product, sales, marketing, operations, and finance
- Work out which 95 things to not do — and how to focus on the 5 things you should
- Continuously develop, test and iterate on progress based on user needs
Dgen’s founder, Gavin Starks, has 20+ years experience creating dozens of companies, employing hundreds of people, and delivering $100M’s in measurable impact. He chaired the development of the UK Open Banking Standard, was CEO of the Open Data Institute, and has led teams of 250+ across sectors spanning the web, data, science, finance, policy, and media.
In the Dgen Constellation, we have dozens of experts, from finance to development, marketing to HR, research to investment, who work on an as-needs basis to help fledgling ideas develop, funded businesses grow, and successful companies scale.
We are currently helping:
We can engage as a non-executive director, advisor, or mentor.
Ideally you’ll be based in London so we can meet face-to-face, although much of our work is on international projects (across Europe, North America, and Asia) so online + travel are options. We’ll start with a free conversation to see if there’s a fit.
Early-stage startups
Weekly or fortnightly meetings of 1–2 hours to help focus on what’s important. Compensated via an ongoing monthly fee plus options.
Later-stage startups
As Advisor, Non-executive or Chair, working with the Founder/CEO and executive management across the 18 areas below.
Executive function
Supporting communication with the board, investors, and clients.
Business plan
Development of written outputs that define outcomes, timings and how goals will be achieved.
Business strategy
Development of the vision, market positioning, and scale.
Delivery tactics
Development of the roadmap to execution.
Fundraising
Direct development of, and participation in, pitches.
Commercial models
Exploring open vs SaaS vs IP-based, for-profit and non-profit blends.
Culture development
Developing internally- and externally-facing team cultures that support growth.
Organisational structure
Modelling skills, timing, contractual form, and costs.
Hiring & people management
Defining processes and procedures for effective teams.
Resourcing
Analysing the resource needs to support the business at each stage.
Product development
Understanding user-centric design and its relationship with product marketing.
Data development
Supporting the shaping of your data roadmap.
Finance
Financial modelling aligned with strategy and resource needs.
Sales
Sales modelling, pricing, segmentation, prioritisation, and process.
Marketing
Market sizing, segmentation, and campaign approaches.
PR
How to proactively manage external communications.
Content
Developing the internally- and externally-facing assets required to support the strategy.
Monitoring
Defining and monitoring quarterly goals, holding the team to account on delivery.
Interested? Start with a free conversation to see if there’s a fit.