Catalysis Advisory is a team of specialist advisors that helps ambitious companies put in place the human underpinnings for scaled-up and confidently-managed businesses.

We are experts in team and organisational strategy, and partner with investors and management teams to create a pragmatic roadmap for future success.

Helping companies and investors navigate the growth transition

Our deep understanding of complex business and people issues comes from the extensive senior experience our project leads bring, leveraged by robust data and processes, underpinned by and a holistic and evidence-based framework.

Evolving from a scrappy, entrepreneurial venture to a mature, high-growth company brings a unique set of challenges, not least the critical impact people as individuals and in teams have on achieving a company’s ambitions. We have worked in almost all sectors but find the main challenges depend mostly on size and stage rather than industry.

We spend time with you to understand the situation and to work out the best approach given limited management bandwidth and to ensure team buy-in.

Team and organisational strategy

We help investors understand the ability of a team and organisation to deliver a growth plan and ways to improve the chances of success by:

  • Pre-deal review (MDD)

  • Mid-way review

  • Pre-exit review

  • Clarification workshop

Executive talent optimisation

We work with investors and boards to re-frame, re-focus and re-energise their organisations, supporting them to get back on the path to growth and value creation with:

  • Role specification

  • Pre-selection and light touch assessment

  • High stakes assessment

  • Referencing

  • Assessment Plus

Partnership with Private Equity

Investing has become more complex and the pressures on investors to originate, find new ways to add value, and play an ever wider role, have grown. In that context, Catalysis seeks ways to make life easier for our investor clients beyond target/investee issues. The main areas where we help are:

  • Building investor skills on team, organisational and governance issues

  • Supporting investee portfolio events

  • Advisory projects to support the development of PE houses

  • Being helpful on pipeline

About us

A volatile environment and ever higher entry multiples have made it more difficult than ever for investors to create value. At Catalysis Advisory, we believe that, with the right guidance, tools and insights, small actions can have a catalytic impact on success.

  • Mike Hicks

    Founder & CEO

  • Anthea Vidler

    Operations Manager

  • Alysoun Stewart

    Adviser

  • Peter Fischer Brown

    Adviser

  • Caroline Gourlay

    Adviser

  • Kirsty Baggs-Morgan

    Adviser

  • Adviser - Chris Wilkinson

    Chris Wilkinson

    Adviser

  • Deborah Barleggs

    Adviser

  • Victor Vadaneaux

    Adviser

  • Katrina Zlateva-Bowles

    Adviser

Meet our team

Read our latest news and insights

Featured
The mid-market transition: Executive roles, activity portfolios and ‘role peeling’
The mid-market transition: Executive roles, activity portfolios and ‘role peeling’

…. Growth company boards spend lots of time thinking about how to get the best performance from existing executives and which new roles may be needed to cope with expansion. Bandwidth and skill constraints are weighed up against budgets, and the trade-offs between those factors are debated.

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Unbalanced: Why private equity governance and strategy-making can go wrong
Unbalanced: Why private equity governance and strategy-making can go wrong

…. There have been various research reports in the UK and US suggesting that private equity generates higher returns than public markets, even when adjusted for risk and fees. However, those returns seem to have declined over time due to increased competition, higher entry multiples, changes in debt markets and the greater instability of major economies.

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Get in touch

If you would like to find out more about how we work with investors and leadership teams, feel free to ask us for introductions to clients who know us best.