About Us
Our Why
There is such a thing as positive disruption. Our aim is to inspire organisations to create positive change in the business world and society. We believe progress comes from embracing innovation, ethics, and social responsibility to build better experiences. Challenges from various sources can hinder growth, but by addressing them proactively, organisations can unlock their potential.
We focus on improving organisational practices, attracting exceptional talent, and fostering creativity and collaboration. Through guidance and support, we help implement best-in-class strategies for sustainable growth and positive impact on society. Together, we can achieve success and contribute to the greater good.
Pioneer
Find your route to building a beachhead
Scale
Accelerate growth
Evolve
Overcome obstacles to a brighter tomorrow
Exit
Align effort into a final reward
Consulting done differently
What makes Tomlin & Co. different from other consulting firms comes from our unique blend of new and established practices. We have developed the methods to build positive habits in the design, attitudes, behaviours and technology used by companies to fulfil their objectives.
Making a Difference
One of the many charities we support is Hertford-based Mudlarks, which supports young people and adults with learning disabilities and mental health issues, helping them take a full and active role in the community, and lead more fulfilling lives. Visit the only vegetarian and vegan cafe in Hertford, England – and meet the people! They sell great coffee too!
The Universal Workforce Institute
As ardent advocates of inclusivity, this year we founded the UWI—a social enterprise that aims to help organisations develop effective strategies for hiring and managing a diverse workforce, with a present focus on neurodiversity. If your business is interested in the value of increased neurodiversity – why not sign up for one of our events?
In the absence of a path, the only way to move forward is to put one foot ahead of the other and see where it takes you.
Ian Tomlin
Meet Ian
With a proven track record of driving business growth and delivering exceptional results, Ian has cultivated a reputation for his strategic acumen, innovative thinking, and coaching skills.
Throughout his career, Ian has helped hundreds of businesses to grow and succeed. He has worked with and for multinational corporations, successfully leading cross-functional teams and spearheading transformative initiatives. He applies his neurodifferences to navigate complex business landscapes, identify emerging trends, envision paradigm shifts to architect new opportunities for his clients.
Ian has a passion for ‘designing in’ a culture of excellence, collaboration, and innovation within organisations. He is a founder of The Universal Workforce Institute, a social enterprise that empowers DE&I initiatives to create an inclusive workplace for all that affords a sense of belonging, develops talent, cultivates high-performing teams, and drives an experiential approach.
Ian’s expertise spans various industries, including fintech, business finance, advertising, staffing, office equipment, compliance, government and retail. He has a deep understanding of market dynamics and has consistently demonstrated his ability to drive business agility, adapt to change, and stay ahead in dynamic and competitive markets.
Beyond his professional achievements, Ian is committed to giving back to the community.
There is such a thing as positive disruption. With his wealth of experience, strategic mindset, and passion for driving business success, Ian can inject pure business adrenaline into your business.
Meet the Team
Putting the “Co” in Tomlin & Co, is our experienced team organising, consulting and creating deliverables for our clients.
Mason Tomlin
After completing his education, Mason received a diagnosis of Asperger’s Syndrome. Since then, he has been dedicated to challenging perceptions and promoting understanding of neurodiverse individuals among business leaders and society as a whole. Mason channels his passion into his special interest: guitars. In his spare time, he indulges in songwriting and designing innovative guitar concepts.
Erica Birtles
Erica is a driven and enthusiastic millennial with a deep love for words. When she’s not leading the marketing and events initiatives at the UWI, she immerses herself in the world of books, sharing her thoughts through a book blog and assisting authors in connecting with their readers. Additionally, Erica is an academic and seizes any chance she gets to pursue her passion as an art historian.
Eve Bluma
Despite English not being Eve’s native language, her command of it is impeccable. She employs her exceptional writing skills to contribute to the UWI’s content publications, websites, and community articles. Eve’s creativity knows no bounds, which is why she leads our creative team. She navigates life with ADD and falls within the autism spectrum.
Chloe Mumford
Chloe is a remarkable individual who consistently delivers results, never shying away from new challenges. Her unwavering determination and impressive eagerness to tackle any task are truly admirable. With a background in sociology and research, Chloe’s love for reading and history is evident. Her unique blend of quirkiness, intelligence, and charisma makes her an invaluable member of our team.
Jake Ellis
Jake, an individual we had the pleasure of interviewing, was determined to find a job that would take him away from Coventry. As a historian, he shifted his focus to business research and strategy and discovered his natural talent in the field. Every exceptional team requires someone with a meticulous eye for detail, and Jake fills that role effortlessly, ensuring that every “t” is crossed and every “i” is dotted. His exceptional dedication and competence make him the go-to person for challenging tasks.
Francesca Manley
Francesca’s impressive array of job titles is a clear reflection of her remarkable work ethic and adaptability. As one of the earliest team members, Francesca plays a pivotal role in ensuring the smooth operations of the organization. Despite having dyslexia, her meticulous attention to detail and unwavering determination have allowed her to excel. It’s astonishing to think that most of us were unaware of her condition until she shared it with us, a testament to her exceptional abilities.
Most of our client relationships begin with Catalyst for Growth
Supporting growth
Founders must navigate three main growth phases:
#1 Beachhead—Being able to prove business model viability.
#2 Scale/Adapt—Maturing your business, building on early success.
#3 Exit—Walking into the sunset, leaving your business in safe hands.
Our Catalyst for Growth program
For all these steps, the role of Catalyst is to formalise and articulate:
• A business strategy to bring focus and consensus towards achieving the most important outcomes; to align effort efficiently to results, to assign aligned executive portfolios (accountability and responsibility) required for conducting business outcomes, and to optionally apportion lead and lag indicators (KPIs) to measure results.
• A marketing plan aligned to the business strategy to frame the key decisions and information assets needed to progress the growth agenda that, according to need, may include: SWOT, JTBD, definition of customer value, customer profile, pitch, proposition statement, competitive Venn (optional), design behaviour model, customer influence profiling, customer credentials profiling and customer motivations profiling.
• A go-to-market plan aligned to the marketing plan to frame the go-to-market plan that may include: target audience, sales lead buckets, customer journey/conversational path, 90-day program, gift-reward strategy, etc.
Pioneer
Achieving a beachhead is the highest risk and most costly growth phase.
It is the growth phase that validates your business model and economic engine. It proves that you have a business that creates wealth made possible by creating some customers who have purchased your offer at a unit or deal value that reflects your business plan.
It is enough to persuade investors that your business (or business idea) is viable and, with suitable investment, has the potential to grow still further. Any investment you seek to achieve your beachhead will be called an angel or seed funding. Most startups never find land and gain a foothold.
You have achieved your BEACHHEAD when
• You have three customers, preferably six (depending on your market, economic engine and deal metrics).
• Deal pricing reflects your business model aspirations and proves your economic engine (i.e., your ability to profitably turn customer value into shareholder value).
• Customer profiles reflect your target buying persona.
• Customers are happy to give positive references that your customer value promise has been met.
• The resources are in place to replicate success.
What you have achieved
Once you have your beachhead, you have officially landed to expand with land and expand strategy.
The objective is to prove your business model, not create the forever-after business. While you might have achieved your first growth ambition, you may be short on skills, lack sales and creative marketing firepower, and lack the investment to build your full vision of customer value. Nevertheless, the good news is that you are in business and making money at this point.
Evolve
Organisations don’t grow organically as they should. Sometimes, a little help is required.
As organisations evolve, silos can form, processes and automations can extend beyond the scope of Systems of Record, unhelpful attitudes and behaviours can evolve… lots can go wrong.
The areas we assist with include:
• Strategy, leadership team alignment and organisational design.
• Change management covering people, process, and technology.
• Brand activation and the creation of unique brand signatures.
• Experiential strategy and change management.
•Team design and performance.
• Workforce inclusion and creating a sense of belonging.
• Digital evolution: de-coupled data architecture and information flow automation
You have achieved your EVOLUTION when
• Your leadership team is equipped for the task, with the necessary accountability and responsibility to get the job done.
• Your enterprise understands its digital DNA.
• Your enterprise has leveraged automation to build an efficient economic engine.
• Your business works responsibly and desirably BY DESIGN, reflecting regulatory demands on customer experience, data privacy, and security.
• Yours is a place where people feel safe to raise their ideas and share opinions; a place where people want to work.
• Your organisation is agile and can adapt to change.
What you have achieved
Proof of scale puts you on the map for your discipline or industry, at least in your domestic market. On the plus side, you have an attractive business that brings value to its customers, and you will soon be able to move towards an exit.
It would help if you were achieving a high absorption ratio, meaning your annuity revenues are such that you don’t need to secure new business to pay your fixed operating costs, outstanding finance, etc. While you might enjoy a healthy balance sheet and strong sales opportunity pipeline, it does not follow that your business valuation will be high.
It might be that:
- You lack sufficient value or ownership control over your intellectual property.
- Your capabilities to deliver value rely too much on third parties.
- The predictability of business is weak.
- Too much of your income depends upon the goodwill of the founder team.
- Your product portfolio is too broad.
- Your sales distribution channels/route to market is weak or not within your control.
Scale
Your next growth mission is to achieve sales and delivery performance that reflects your best customer value and reinforces proof that you can generate shareholder wealth.
Startups will be forgiven for not having a mature business engine behind their business, but there is no place to hide when it comes to scaling. There is no acceptable excuse for sub-optimal performance.
You have achieved SCALE when
• Your enterprise has both product and business value.
• You reliably achieve quarter-on-quarter predictable growth.
• You can evidence your ability to repeatedly deliver the full value of your economic engine to create wealth.
• You have the right people around the executive table.
What you have achieved
Proof of scale puts you on the map for your discipline or industry, at least in your domestic market. On the plus side, you have an attractive business that brings value to its customers, and you will soon be able to move towards an exit.
It would help if you were achieving a high absorption ratio, meaning your annuity revenues are such that you don’t need to secure new business to pay your fixed operating costs, outstanding finance, etc. While you might enjoy a healthy balance sheet and strong sales opportunity pipeline, it does not follow that your business valuation will be high.
It might be that:
- You lack sufficient value or ownership control over your intellectual property.
- Your capabilities to deliver value rely too much on third parties.
- The predictability of business is weak.
- Too much of your income depends upon the goodwill of the founder team.
- Your product portfolio is too broad.
- Your sales distribution channels/route to market is weak or not within your control.
Exit
Your final growth mission is to exit— when your effort and investments are crystallised.
As you consider moving towards the exit door, you will want to think about what you leave behind. Are you looking for a legacy? Do you want your business to live on after your departure? Do you want to reward your team and the one you left behind today?
You have achieved your EXIT when
- You know with precision your customer value, your business value, and what business you are in
- You can demonstrate you run a healthy business with a healthy opportunity pipeline that can scale without you being there.
- You can describe how your business can operate ‘as a franchise.’
- You can qualify the opportunity.
- You can qualify the safeguarding to protect reputation, integrity and business opportunity.
What you have achieved
You can present your business as a going concern to investors.
Your story includes clarity over exit plans and how the enterprise sustains. You can describe to investors the growth opportunity and put a value on the organisational assets and capability.
Catalyst