What really changes when a consulting firm takes on private equity, and how should founders prepare for it?

Karen Thomas-Bland shares practical insights from working across private equity-backed consulting firms, transformations, and integrations. She explains that the biggest shift post-investment is not capital, but discipline: more rigorous reporting, structured governance, and collective decision-making. Founders must adapt from autonomy to accountability, while also managing cultural transition as firms move from “family” environments to scalable businesses.

The discussion explores the metrics that matter most in consulting firms, including client concentration, pipeline conversion, sales cycle length, and pricing discipline—often an underdeveloped lever in boutique firms. Karen also highlights the importance of sequencing value creation initiatives, focusing on a small number of priorities, and building operational infrastructure without over-scaling back-office costs.

The episode also covers integration strategy, arguing that firms should “transform first, integrate second” to avoid compounding weaknesses. Finally, Karen outlines how leaders can build a strong market presence through focused, insight-led content, emphasizing clarity, consistency, and relevance over reach.

In this episode you will learn

• Why private equity introduces discipline, not just capital
• The key KPIs consulting firms should track before and after investment
• How to avoid common mistakes in pricing and margin management
• Why focusing on 2–3 priorities drives better value creation than long lists
• The importance of transforming businesses before integrating acquisitions
• How to scale sales beyond the founder and embed a firm-wide sales mindset
• Practical advice for building a credible and effective LinkedIn presence

Follow Karen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karenthomas-bland

Follow Joe on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joeomahoney/

Follow Joe on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/joeomahoney

Visit Joe’s Website:
https://www.equitysherpa.com

Send us Fan Mail

Prof. Joe O'Mahoney helps boutique consultancies scale and exit.

Follow Joe on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joeomahoney/

Follow Joe on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/joeomahoney

Visit Joe’s Website:
https://www.equitysherpa.com

What does it take to build a consulting firm that lasts 25 years and successfully exits to a Big Four firm?

Adrian Moorhouse, Olympic gold medallist and former world number one swimmer, shares the story of how he transitioned from elite sport to building Lane4, one of the UK’s most respected leadership development consultancies. After retiring from swimming, Moorhouse moved into talent development in British Swimming before co-founding Lane4 in 1995 with academics and a sales partner, applying principles from sport—such as improving inputs to drive better outputs—to leadership development and consulting.

Over the next 25 years, Lane4 grew into a multi-million-pound consultancy before joining EY in 2021. In this conversation, Adrian explains the strategic choices that shaped that journey: building a team with distinct roles for sales, delivery, and account management; overcoming growth plateaus; and navigating the realities of selling a consulting firm. He also reflects on leadership, learning, and the mindset shift required to move from individual performance to leading a team-based business.

In this episode you will learn

• How Adrian Moorhouse transitioned from Olympic athlete to consulting entrepreneur
• Why separating sales, delivery, and account management can unlock consultancy growth
• The importance of “better inputs lead to better outputs” in building consulting capability
• How Lane4 broke through a revenue plateau by redesigning roles and investing in new business development
• Why understanding the difference between the customer and the consumer matters in consulting
• What founders should expect when selling a consulting firm and navigating an earn-out
• How leadership mindset shifts from individual performance to building a high-performing team

Connect with Adrian:

LinkedIn: Adrian Moorhouse

Send us Fan Mail

Prof. Joe O'Mahoney helps boutique consultancies scale and exit.

Follow Joe on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joeomahoney/

Follow Joe on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/joeomahoney

Visit Joe’s Website:
https://www.equitysherpa.com

What does it take to build a consulting firm that is global from day one?
In this episode, Joe O’Mahoney speaks with Matthieu Courtecuisse, Founder & CEO of Sia, about the long-term decisions behind building one of the world’s largest founder-led consulting firms.

Matthieu shares how Sia was built with international scale in mind from the very beginning, why founder commitment matters more than capital in global expansion, and how early investments in data, AI, and technology shaped the firm’s competitive advantage. He explains Sia’s augmented consulting model, where proprietary platforms and AI tools sit at the core of delivery—not as add-ons.

The conversation also covers Sia’s approach to growth through selective acquisitions, the balance between building and buying capabilities, and how culture-led integration supports scale. Joe and Matthieu close by discussing how AI is reshaping consulting economics, talent models, and why firms need to think in decades, not quarters, when building lasting value.

In this episode you will learn:

• Why Sia was built with global scale as a core ambition
• How founder commitment drives successful international expansion
• Why early investment in AI and data created long-term advantage
• What augmented consulting looks like in practice
• How Sia approaches M&A without diluting culture
• Why consulting firms must think long-term to build real value

This episode offers a long-term view on what it takes to build a global consulting platform—through sustained investment, founder leadership, and a clear belief in technology as a driver of scale and value.


Connect with Matthieu:

LinkedIn: Matthieu Courtecuisse

Website: SIA-Partners.com

Resources:

SIA Case Study

Send us Fan Mail

Prof. Joe O'Mahoney helps boutique consultancies scale and exit.

Follow Joe on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joeomahoney/

Follow Joe on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/joeomahoney

Visit Joe’s Website:
https://www.equitysherpa.com