The role of a NED in unlocking growth for mid-tier businesses
Scaling a business from startup to mid-tier is a significant achievement. But what happens when you hit the next growth barrier?
Many mid-sized companies struggle at this stage—not because they lack ambition or innovation, but because growth at scale requires a different approach.
This is where a Non-Executive Director (NED) can be a game-changer. Having worked with businesses like AgriSound, Mindlab, and GrowthBox, I’ve seen first hand how the right expertise can help mid-tier businesses unlock new opportunities, avoid common pitfalls, and build sustainable growth strategies.
Here’s my musings on how a NED can help mid-sized businesses break through to the next level.
1. Helping Leadership Teams See Beyond the Day-to-Day
In early-stage businesses, founders and CEOs are often hands-on with every aspect of the company.
But as the company grows, so do its challenges—more employees, bigger markets, complex supply chains, and increased competition - as well as costs.
At this stage, business leaders often become reactive rather than strategic, caught up in operations rather than long-term planning.
💡 How a NED helps:
Brings an external perspective, challenging leadership to step back and think about the bigger picture.
Helps CEOs and senior teams prioritise the right growth initiatives rather than getting distracted by day-to-day issues.
Encourages long-term thinking, ensuring decisions made today set the foundation for sustained success.
Fuels debate, asks the right questions and helps guide the board agenda.
✅ Example: At Mindlab, stepping back to redefine long-term vision was crucial for aligning leadership efforts and ensuring every strategic move supported sustainable business growth.
2. Bringing the Commercial Experience to Scale Effectively
Many mid-tier businesses struggle with scaling their sales, marketing, and customer acquisition efforts beyond early adopters.
A strong NED with commercial expertise can help translate growth ambition into action.
How? By providing:
🚀 A refined go-to-market strategy – Helping businesses shift from organic growth to structured, scalable sales strategies.
📈 Sales & marketing insights – Ensuring the company’s commercial function is fit for purpose.
📊 Pricing and market positioning expertise – Ensuring the company remains competitive while maximizing profitability.
💡 How a NED helps:
Identifies weaknesses in sales & marketing strategies and aligns them with business objectives.
Advises on pricing models, partnerships, and competitive positioning to accelerate growth.
Guides the transition from founder-led sales to a scalable, high-performing commercial function.
Now, I operate a little differently here to the 'NED-norm’. Working with mid-size businesses often requires being a little more ‘hands on’ while striking the balance with an objective and advisory role. To be frank, I think a Board should pull together and a good NED will do what it takes to help that happen in practice.
3. Providing Strategic Financial & Funding Guidance
Many mid-sized businesses are at a crossroads: Do we grow organically, or do we raise capital to accelerate expansion?
Raising funds too soon—or from the wrong sources—can be just as dangerous as running out of cash.
An experienced NED helps businesses make informed financial decisions to ensure they have the runway to scale effectively.
💡 How a NED helps:
Advises on whether to pursue organic growth, private investment, venture capital, or debt financing.
Helps prepare businesses for investment rounds or potential exits.
Ensures growth plans are financially viable and aligned with business priorities.
Sometimes, this is about guiding the board discussion, other times it is about sharing personal experience (e.g. for me, I have investment-raising experience and understand the opportunities and pitfalls), and sometimes, it can be about introducing external expertise to share experiences (e.g. leveraging your own network to bring deeper insight into an area that’s important and helpful to the Board discussion).
4. Unlocking High-Value Partnerships & Market Expansion
For many mid-tier businesses, the next stage of growth means expanding into new markets, securing bigger contracts, or forming strategic partnerships that drive revenue.
However, breaking into new markets or landing corporate deals requires more than ambition—it requires credibility, connections, and a clear strategy.
💡 How a NED helps:
Provides access to strategic partnerships that accelerate growth.
Leverages their network to introduce key decision-makers in target industries.
Advises on international expansion strategies and potential risks.
✅ Example: At AgriSound, building relationships with global brands dependent on nature was key to expanding its impact. Through strategic introductions and positioning, we helped the company secure partnerships that opened new market opportunities.
5. Balancing Risk with Growth
Scaling a business isn’t just about pursuing every growth opportunity—it’s also about knowing which opportunities to avoid.
Too many mid-sized businesses struggle with over-expansion, cash flow mismanagement, or entering markets they’re not ready for.
A good NED helps strike the right balance between ambition and sustainability.
💡 How a NED helps:
Identifies risks early and ensures proper mitigation strategies.
Challenges leadership on growth assumptions and ensures decisions are data-driven, not just gut instinct.
Provides an objective, long-term perspective to help CEOs make informed decisions.
✅ Example: A company I advised was eager to accelerate their growth ambitions both in the UK and build market share in Europe in the mobility sector. It became clear there needed to be changes made to their supply base to drive stronger performance and freshen up the brand, and together we unpicked the risk versus benefit, agreed a course of corrective action and implemented the necessary changes.
Final thought: why the right NED can be a growth multiplier
For mid-tier businesses, scaling is about making the right moves at the right time. The difference between stagnation and success often comes down to having the right expertise at the table.
The right NED:
✅ Brings big-picture thinking that helps leadership teams focus on long-term success.
✅ Provides commercial expertise to refine growth strategies.
✅ Helps secure funding and investment at the right stage of growth.
✅ Opens doors to high-value partnerships and new markets.
✅ Ensures businesses scale sustainably, without unnecessary risk.
If your business is at a growth crossroads and needs board-level expertise to scale effectively, I’d love to connect and discuss how a NED can help unlock your next stage of success.
