Start with where you are.

The quickest way to begin is the Growth Diagnostic. If you'd rather talk first, email us. Either way, the first question is the same: what stage are you at?

Where are you?

Pick the line that describes you today. Stage decides who you work with.

Building an MVP, or earlier.

That's us. The diagnostic is below.

Go to the diagnostic ↓

First customers, early traction, repeatable sales or scaling.

That's Common Thread Partners, the same team's practice for founders with traction. You can still complete the diagnostic here; it reaches the same people and we'll route it.

Common Thread Partners →

For founders before the first repeatable sale

The Growth Diagnostic

Forty-nine questions about your business, your customer and where growth feels stuck. Around fifteen minutes. Be candid, not aspirational. We read every response alongside what is public about your business and send back a Growth Constraint Review: where growth is held back, what is causing it, and the next useful step.

About your business, stage and team

Where growth is held back: positioning, pipeline or delivery

Your best customer, or the one you are betting on, and what makes them buy

What you've already tried

Email us for the diagnostic

Your answers are confidential. Read our privacy notice.

The diagnostic opens here once the form link is set. Until then, email us and we'll send it.

[email protected], or James's address until the alias exists.

Where we work

Sheffield, and across the UK, in person and remotely. We teach and work with founder cohorts at Venture Community.

Before you get in touch

Common questions

Who do you work with?

Founders in the UK who are still building the product: pre-product, prototype or MVP, before the first repeatable sale. Usually one to five people, bootstrapped, grant-funded or pre-seed. If something is already working in customers' hands, Common Thread Partners is the place to start.

What happens after I complete the diagnostic?

We read your answers alongside what is public about your business and send you a Growth Constraint Review within [n] working days. A person reviews it before it is sent. Then one of us gets in touch to talk it through and, if it is the right next step, to arrange a Tape Up.

What is a Tape Up?

Diagnosis and preparation before committing: a read of the whole business, in the room with you, ending in a written readout and a clear route. Nothing else starts before it.

How much does it cost?

We scope every engagement after the Tape Up, so we don't publish prices. You'll know the cost before any work begins. We don't work by the day.

I'm pre-revenue but I have customers. Which site?

Common Thread. Stage decides, not revenue. If something is in customers' hands, that is traction.

Do I have to be in Sheffield?

No. Sheffield is home ground and where the cohorts run. We work across the UK.