We're not advisors.
We're sparring partners.
In boxing, sparring isn't a fight. It's preparation for one. A sparring partner tells you the truth and stays long enough to help you fix it.
We work with founders before the product exists and while the MVP is being built. We test the idea, the customer and the plan before you spend money and months on them. Then we build the operating system with you, and leave when it runs without us.
Most founders confuse hustle with progress.
None of it feels like a mistake at the time. We see the same four in most of the early-stage businesses we work with, and each one is cheap to fix now and expensive to fix later.
Building before the problem is proved.
The product is ahead of any evidence that someone will pay for it.
Selling to everyone.
No one customer comes first, so the message never lands.
The founder is the process.
Every decision, sale and handover goes through one person.
No rhythm.
The priorities change every week, so nothing builds on last week's work.
Nothing starts until we know what's in the way.
Growth Diagnostic
Free. About fifteen minutes.
Questions about your business, your customer and where growth feels stuck. One of us reads your answers and writes back with what is holding growth back, what is causing it, and what to do first.
Tape Up
A look at the whole business, with you.
We work through the business with you and write up what we find: where it stands for its stage, the three things that matter most, and a short test to run before you commit to anything bigger. Then we tell you plainly what to do next, even if that isn't working with us.
The first 90 days
One round.
We agree the scope at a kick-off. By day 30 something real is live in the product, in sales and in delivery. We review it together at the end.
Venture OS
Fractional COO or retained partner.
We stay in, 90 days at a time, for as long as it's useful. The operating system is yours.
Studio or fund
For some founders.
Deeper involvement: our time, and sometimes our capital, alongside yours.
We don't publish prices. Every engagement is scoped after the Tape Up.
Running an established SME? Common Thread Partners is the same team, set up for you. Either way, take the diagnostic and we'll point you to the right team.
Building a venture
Take the Growth Diagnostic →Running an established SME
Common Thread Partners →Two operators. One method.
One of us builds the organisation that can deliver: roles, process, rhythm, systems. The other builds the route to revenue: customer, proposition, pipeline. A tested marketing method sits underneath the diagnostic. Between us we have taken products from first code to acquisition and businesses from zero to exit.
About the people →Find out what's in the way before you commit to it.
The Growth Diagnostic asks the questions we'd ask in a first working session. Tell us where you are and we'll come back with what we see and what to do first.