In your corner.
We're operators, not advisors. We've built, scaled and sold businesses, and made most of the early mistakes ourselves. We don't watch from the sidelines. We get in the ring, test your systems, apply pressure, and transfer skill.
One method, two front doors.
Sparring Ventures is for founders building a venture. Common Thread Partners, the same team, is for established SMEs that want growth to become repeatable. Both start with the Growth Diagnostic.
Common Thread Partners →The team.
James Howard
James builds the organisation that can deliver what the founder has promised. An engineer by training (Imperial) with an Oxford MBA, he spent 17 years helping build a UBS-incubated analytics SaaS to $25M ARR, from quant developer to head of client success, keeping every client through its $14M sale. He co-founded ProgressTeaching, ran everything but sales, and took it from zero to $1M ARR across 300+ schools and through to exit. Most recently he redesigned an early-stage fintech's commercial and operating model, and revenue doubled in a quarter. He looks at people, process and systems, in that order.
Steve Needham
Steve builds the route to revenue: the customer worth winning, the claim competitors can't make, and the pipeline that proves it. He has spent more than 20 years selling and scaling SaaS, GovTech and B2B platforms. He has led sales turnarounds that doubled revenue inside a year, won multimillion-pound contracts, and helped drive exits including Firmstep's acquisition by Granicus and Gemcom Software's $360m sale to Dassault. He makes sure what the business promises is something it can sell more than once.
Sophie Adams
Sophie's marketing method is the logic behind the Growth Diagnostic: customer first, then problem, positioning, messaging and channel, each one earned before the next. She reviews every Growth Constraint Review before it goes out.
Three rules we don't bend.
Challenge without ego.
Tension without politics. We'll tell you the hard thing once, and kindly. Your outcome matters more to us than your comfort.
People, then process, then systems.
In that order. A system bought before the role exists is a cost.
Preparation, not performance.
The work happens in the 90 days between meetings.