The Problem
You have proved the idea. There is a real product, and paying customers.The next risk is simple: you try to grow on top of a fragile commercial system and it breaks.
The Scale-Up work at Commercial Outcomes focuses on this point. We help founders of specialist B2B ventures design and build the commercial architecture, operating model and governance needed to support a period of rapid, sustainable growth.
The founding team has done the hard part: turning an idea into something people will pay for.
Then the problems start to stack:
- Revenue still depends on the founders selling off their own networks.
- There is no clear commercial model that an investor or board can trust.
- Operations, delivery and service quality start to creak as volume increases.
Hiring begins before there is a proper structure, so new people add issues, not capacity.
Sometimes this inflection point arrives because funding is in sight and investors want to see a credible path from early revenue to a scalable, governed business. Sometimes the founders feel it themselves: too many demands, constant firefighting, no time to think.
The instinct is usually to add headcount and hope it smooths things out.
Without changes to structure, process and commercial architecture this just increases cost and complexity. Founders stay as bottlenecks because the system around them is not built to scale.
If the business is going to punch through to its next phase of maturity and commercial success, it needs an organisation-wide step up in how it is designed, how it operates and how growth is governed.
Overcoming critical barriers to growth, at critical times in growth.
Solution
We've worked with start-ups and scale-ups in finance, fintech, regtech, receivables, payments, professional services and other complex B2B environments.
The Scale-Up engagement is short, intensive and practical. The goal is clear: a commercial system that can support rapid growth, withstand scrutiny from investors and boards, and free the founders to focus on the work only they can do.
The work typically includes:
Commercial architecture and model
- Reviewing proposition, pricing, routes to market and revenue mechanics.
- Defining a simple, defensible model for how value moves from market to revenue.
Organisational and role design
- Designing a structure that separates founder work, leadership work and execution work.
- Defining roles, profiles and accountabilities so hires plug into a system, not a void.
Operating processes, policies and governance
- Creating future-proofed processes across sales, marketing, service and operations.
- Introducing practical governance and planning rhythms that keep growth under control.
Facilitating technologies and data
- Selecting and configuring tools that support the commercial engine, without over-engineering.
- Using applied AI to compress analysis, surface patterns in data and accelerate content and outreach.
Engagements blend best-practice with real-world hustle.
We spend time with the founding team, the product and the data. We discard irrelevance quickly and focus on interventions that create measurable gains.
Some clients use the resulting plan and architecture as the backbone of their investment case. Others bring us in hands-on to help deliver the initiatives inside the business.
Overcoming critical barriers to growth, at critical times in growth.
Benefit
The diagnosis and programme of work are specific to each company. The typical outcomes are consistent:
The practical benefit is simple: a venture that is structurally ready to grow, with the capacity and control to support that growth.
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A clear commercial model, structure and plan that founders, boards and investors can understand and support.
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Defined roles, performance measures and governance that allow founders to step away from tactical firefighting.
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Removal of bottlenecks so the organisation can handle a higher volume of sales, delivery and investor activity.
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Better planning and forward visibility through improved processes, policies and management information.
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Teams spending less time reacting to urgent noise and more time on the activities that drive growth.
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An organisational design that flexes with increased activity, supporting rapid growth rather than constraining it.
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Commercial functions aligned around the same objectives, with strategy, planning and execution working as a single system.
Overcoming critical barriers to growth, at critical times in growth.
How
A typical Scale-Up engagement follows this pattern. It is always adapted to the stage and reality of the business.
Joint working session with the founding team and any key stakeholders. Review of progress to date, current numbers and objectives. Deep dive on the product or service, customer base and pipeline. Access to relevant operational, financial and commercial data and tools.
Synthesis of interviews, data and observations from immersion. Identification of structural weaknesses, gaps and bottlenecks. Mapping of the current commercial system end to end.
Formulation of the initiatives required to make the system scale-ready. Draft report outlining findings, recommended changes and high-level delivery options. Design of initial scorecards and governance rhythms.
Working session to run through findings and test them against reality. Prioritisation of initiatives based on impact, risk and effort. Agreement on delivery approach and internal ownership.
Submission of a practical project plan or set of workstreams for approval. Clarification of Commercial Outcomes’ role in delivery and the client’s internal responsibilities.
Either conclude the engagement with a final report and plan. Or work hands-on in partnership with the client team to implement the agreed initiatives, with structured reviews and adjustments as the system beds in.
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