The Founder's Friend

Trusted thinking.
Practical action.

Running a business is one of the most rewarding things you can do. It can also be one of the loneliest.

Start a conversation How I help

It wasn't created in a boardroom.

It wasn't built by a branding agency.

It happened quietly.

A founder I knew needed someone they trusted. Then another did. Then another.

Somewhere along the way, I had become a founder's friend.

That is still how I approach every business today.

About Donna

I have done the work, not just advised on it.

Over more than three decades I have worked across recruitment, construction, manufacturing, beauty, medical, property and professional services. I have built businesses, sold them well, and stood alongside leadership teams through growth and change.

I have worked in boardrooms and on construction sites, with architects, contractors and founders. I personally designed and managed the build of a £4 million home, from the first sketch to the final handover.

What I have learned is that the challenge a business presents is rarely the real one. A marketing problem is often operational. A hiring problem often starts with culture. Growth tends to expose the cracks that success was quietly hiding.

So I listen before I advise. I ask questions, and I challenge an idea when I believe there is a better one. The work runs on a few simple beliefs: honesty over comfort, partnership over distance, and building for the long term. My aim is never to create dependency. It is to leave a business stronger and clearer than I found it.

I don't arrive with a fixed method. I become part of the team.

Some weeks that means chairing a board meeting or facilitating a strategy session. Others, redesigning a workflow, shaping a new brand, or standing alongside you to deliver a presentation. Whatever the work, the aim is the same: to leave the business stronger than I found it.

Strategy and structure

Business strategy
Commercial planning
Business operating systems
Workflow and process design
Governance and accountability

Growth and launch

Business launches
Product development
Brand creation
Marketing strategy
Website planning

People and delivery

Recruitment
Leadership support
Operational improvement
Project management
Board and strategy facilitation

Specialist depth

Construction and property
Compliance
SHEQ and ISO preparation
AI implementation
Documentation and reporting

I work with a small number of ambitious businesses at any one time.

Start a conversation

Selected work

Improvements that stay in the business, not on paper.

A group, structured to scale

Aztec Landscapes

Strategic projects lead

Working with the directors across strategy, operations, marketing and long-term planning. A central thread has been the Business Operating System: better visibility, stronger workflows and more consistent ways of working, with the documentation and presentations to make them stick. From there the work extended into two new divisions.

The difference

Strategy that becomes embedded in the business, not ideas left on paper.

Aztec Stonea specialist product range built from concept, with suppliers, technical data and sales tools.
Aztec Lifestylea premium outdoor-living brand shaped from a single conversation into its own identity and offer.
Aztec Back Officejoined-up systems across finance, recruitment and operations, with room to automate.

Where business meets technology

Cold Lava

Strategic projects lead

Technology is only as good as the thinking behind it. Working as part of the Cold Lava team, I translate how a business actually runs into a clear specification the technical team can build from. It began with a bespoke Business Operating System and grew into a long-term partnership. My focus is the business itself: the workflows, the decisions, the real problems worth solving.

The difference

Software built around the people who use it, so it delivers measurable commercial gains.

Bramhall 1840

Chairing monthly board meetings and shaping strategy, documentation and long-term planning for an established manufacturer.

Anmore Dressage

Board-level support across governance, operations and the policies and procedures that let a business grow with high standards.

Highland Marketing

Bridging client leadership and marketing delivery with clear go-to-market frameworks.

No one is an expert in everything.

Alongside my own experience, I have built a network of trusted specialists over many years. When a project needs expertise beyond mine, I bring in the right people and stay involved to keep things moving. You get a proven bench without having to find and manage it yourself.

AI development
Marketing
Creative and web
Photography and film
Business finance
Commercial lending
R&D tax relief
Accountancy
Legal
HR
Commercial insurance
Health and safety
SHEQ and ISO
Construction
Property
Events and hospitality

Industries

Construction, Commercial landscaping, Manufacturing, Recruitment, Medical, Beauty and aesthetics, Property and HMOs, Professional services, Equestrian, SMEs, Family businesses

Every sector is different. The principles of a well-built business barely change.

The Founder's Friend is not a list of services. It is the relationships built, the businesses strengthened, and the trust earned over many years.

To stand alongside you, help you see the bigger picture, and leave your business in a stronger position than when we began.

Start a conversation.

Tell me a little about your business and what is on your mind. I read every message myself, and I will reply personally.

Trusted thinking.Practical action.